The template is fairly easy to follow. Find some folks with kids at Moonlight Beach, point out the cigarette butts peaking out of the sand, and ask if they want their kids playing — and breathing air — on Encinitas’ shoreline.

The answer is — surprise! — “no.”

Step two is to point out (erroneously, by the way) that “Encinitas is the lone holdout” when it comes to banning beach smoking in North San Diego County (those were the exact words in two newspapers “¦ hmmm). Then throw in some stupid line about the city becoming North County’s “ashtray.”

Of course, to show objectivity, you need to find some smokers for the usual “I’m outside. If you don’t like my smoke, get outta my way” quote.

Then you transition into an interview with teen-age volunteers plucking trash from the sand. You note their “shock” at how many cigarette butts they picked up, following up with a gem reading something like, “Cigarettes, by far, contribute the most to beach litter.” Hint back at the kids building castles, using butts as flagpoles to top a sand turret.

The problem with the assumptions behind this trite template is that they dissipate faster than the smoke from my Marlboro Ultralight in the breeze at Beacon’s. We assume a smoking ban will clear the air, and the sand, in Encinitas.

The Flower Capital of the World boasts six miles of beautiful beaches. Some are among the most popular surf spots in the region — Moonlight, Beacon’s, Swamis. The City Council rejected a smoking ban 4 years ago, but it’s rearing its ugly, nicotine-stained head again. Councilman Jerome Stocks says he wants the matter to go an advisory vote — he and his four colleagues need to know what the residents think before following in Solana Beach’s footsteps.

Let’s set aside, for now, the usual arguments about public smoking bans — health, litter, personal liberty, etc. — there will be plenty of time for that if this bone-headed idea lights any fires.

If Encinitas decides to ban smoking at the beach (with a $15,000 – $100,000 price tag for the election), I’ll still light up at Moonlight. The ban is pointless — mute.

More than half of Encinitas’ stretch of sand is controlled by the state. That includes Cardiff, San Elijo, Moonlight and the stretch of sand from Beacon’s north to Carlsbad (just check out the map). The state’s rules, not the city’s, will govern whether those dirty smokers will remain beachgoers.

And here’s the kicker. Even in a state Legislature governed by lefty loons, a beach smoking ban never makes it out of committee.

So go ahead, pass your stupid ban. All this blustering is just blowing smoke.