[Samba] smbmount permission issues

[The Elkins Family]

I might have missed the statement about policy regarding smbmount 
permissions.  And, I have seen a lot of discussion in mail lists.  What 
we all have noticed is what follows.

For an ordinary mortal to mount a Samba share (equivalent to Windows 
connect network drive), one needs the following performed by the root 
(something one does not need performed on the equivalents in a Windows 
system via administrator):

1) chmod u+s {dir}/smbmnt
2) chown {user in question} {mount directory}
     [or the user does this in a directory he/she already owns
       which would make sense]

Is this the intention?  I am using Samba 2.2.7a.

Thank you in advance .. Richard