If there's anything wrong with the new smoking regulations for Village of Skaneateles employees, it's only that the law doesn't go far enough.

The village board this week passed a law requiring smokers to stand at least five feet away from doors on village buildings.

The idea is to keep smoke away from non-smoking employees and members of the public as they enter or exit public facilities.

Since New York state banned smoking in nearly all public buildings in 2003, a common complaint from non-smokers has been that they are sometimes forced to walk through clouds of smoke because smokers often congregate just outside doorways.

We don't want to see the rights of smokers completely eroded, and Skaneateles village officials were quick to point out there are many good employees there who smoke and that the new rules aren't meant to harass them.

But the rights of non-smokers have to be considered, too, and the harmful effects of cigarette smoke - and the “second hand” smoke that non-smokers are often exposed to - are just too dangerous to ignore.

Smoke can easily drift into open doors and windows, so it only makes sense to keep smokers a reasonable distance away from non-smokers.

When Cayuga County lawmakers passed a similar resolution in 2008, they asked smokers to stay at least 35 feet away from county buildings.

Rules like these can be difficult to enforce, but setting a standard is at least better than ignoring the problem.

So while five feet hardly seems like enough distance to keep smoke away from people who don't want to be near it, we applaud the Village of Skaneateles nonetheless for proactively addressing the issue, and we encourage other municipalities - and private businesses - to do the same.