Court to weigh enforcement of smoking ban

COLUMBUS (AP) — The state’s draconian enforcement of a two-year-old smoking ban is requiring bars to exercise near total control over the actions of customers or risk fines during an already punishing economic climate, a conservative policy organization argues in a lawsuit.

The outcome of the lawsuit, now before a state appeals court, could have ramifications for bars across the state, which have received more than 44,000 complaints from individuals, 3,100 warning letters and 1,800 fines since enforcement began in May 2007.

Last week, Attorney General Richard Cordray ratcheted up enforcement to a new level, filing lawsuits for the first time against two bars he said have repeatedly flouted the law.

Cordray’s view of the law is simple: Smoking isn’t permitted in bars, and it’s their responsibility to stop it. Zeno’s in Columbus and O’Neal’s Tavern in Cincinnati owe a total of nearly $50,000 in fines for roughly 20 violations between them but haven’t paid pending the outcome of a case before the 10th District Court of Appeals in Franklin County.

In the lawsuit, the Pour House of Toledo argues that a local health department inspector improperly cited the bar after witnessing a lit cigarette sitting in a mints can within a minute of entering. The bar’s attorney, Maurice Thompson of the conservative Buckeye Institute, said the bar and the bartender did everything within their power to keep a customer from smoking.

“The bar owner has to be given a reasonable amount of time to, one, notice that someone is smoking, and two, get over to them and get them to put the cigarette out,” Thompson said. “The health department is not determining whether that’s happening.”