Judge Rules No Smoking in Cigar Bars & Tobacconists in Nebraska
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Kevin Godbee - Jan 28, 2011
- 2 min read
There is apparently no end in sight to the shockingly illogical, rights-stripping abuse of power that is a tyranny against personal lifestyle choices.
Saying you can’t smoke in a smoking lounge is like saying you can’t pray in a church.
We might not all want to go to church to pray, but that doesn’t mean we should stop others from doing so.
We might not all want to smoke either.
Anger inside local cigar bars in Omaha, Nebraska is flaring up after a Lancaster County judge’s ruling that certain exemptions to Nebraska’s smoking ban are unconstitutional.
The law took effect June 1, 2009. Judge Jodi Nelson said she agrees with the law’s exception for research facilities. But she said cigar bars, hotels and tobacco shops aren’t different enough from other workplaces to warrant special treatment.
For the time being, cigar shops are still allowed to have people smoke cigars inside. Still, cigar bar owners and legislators that support them expressed anger Thursday over the ruling.
“If these items constitute special legislation then our jobs are going to get a lot easier,” said state Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, who sponsored the cigar bar law. “Likely, all the sales tax exemptions would be special legislation.”
Phil Vanderpool, who owns Nickleby’s Smoke Ring, said the latest ruling, if upheld, would keep his cigar shop smoke-free. Vanderpool said that would be detrimental to business.
“Two months, three tops, out of business,” said Vanderpool. “I think smokers, period, have been targeted,”
Vanderpool’s shop is one of maybe a dozen in the state that offers high-end cigars and pipe tobacco from all over the world to tobacco enthusiasts. Smoking, Vanderpool said, is a big part of what they do.
“We get samples in from tobacco companies, cigar rollers every day, and we have to be able to try them to see if we like them,” said Vanderpool. “That’s part of our business. I don’t think it’d make it as a stand-alone without smoking in it.”
Vanderpool said Nickleby’s never has and never will be a place for those who don’t smoke.
“It’s a destination point,” said Vanderpool. “People want to come here.”
The state and cigar shops are asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the ruling.
Hotels would also be affected if Thursday’s ruling is upheld.
Nickleby’s Smoke Ring
http://www.nicklebys-cigars.com/
2464 S 120 Street
Omaha, NE 68144-2811
Phone: 402.330.4556
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Written by Kevin Godbee
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“This cigar is sold from a smoke-free shop”
Laughable…. but very very serious!
Some of the things the ASN’s come up with are laughable to the extreme, but one should never ever underestimate what sounds laughable. It very much has a more serious side to it.
Next step….. a Bar that doesn’t sell Beer, and doesn’t allow drinking Beer on the premises.
Ohhhhh, I see Ammendment 18 coming round again. Lets drag Elliot Ness out of mothballs!!!
Unbelievable. I thought this nonsense was limited to California, the only state that will protect a tiny fish (Delta smelt) at the sacrifice of the California Central Valley Farmers and water rationing to the public choking off the water supply so the fish doesn’t get ground up in the water turbines.
Let’s place some real laws on the books which say any further nonsense like this coming out of our legal system gets the judge removed from office, their pensions taken away and time in jail (their pension will cover the incarceration costs). For the private citizen(s) who waste public funds on attempts to take away our (and their) rights steep fines and public humiliation. OK, humiliation to these folks wont work.