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Posted: 11:18 PM Feb 17, 2010
Decision On Smoking Ban Violation On Hold
Jim Suwalski had an administrative hearing Wednesday on a citation for violating the city's smoking ban. A decision isn't expected for 25 days.
Reporter: 13 News |
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2 Comments 
Topeka (WIBW) - It will be more than three weeks before a hearing officer decides whether a Topeka business owner violated the city's smoking ban.
Jim Suwalski had an administrative hearing Wednesday night at the city's Holliday building. He was cited last month for smoking a cigarette inside his tobacco shop.
The shop's boundaries are marked off with duct tape inside the "Hot Pockets" bar owned by his wife.
Suwalski says he's not in violation since the ordinance makes exceptions for smoke shops, and he was smoking inside the smoke shop boundaries. The city, however, says he is skirting the intent by being within the physical confines of a business at which smoking is not allowed.
Suwalski says what's written and the intent are two different things. He says the city would need to rewrite the ordinance.
The hearing officer gave both sides 15 days to submit written arguments and says he'll issue his decision ten days after that.
Latest Comments
An alternative to smoking bans If the public was honestly and truthfully informed about the effects of second-hand smoke, there would be fewer no-smoking laws in this country. There has never been a single study showing that exposure to the low levels of smoke found in bars and restaurants with decent modern ventilation and filtration systems kills or harms anyone. As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology. Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking. Thomas Laprade Thunder Bay, Ont.
It is against the law to use or permit a legal product on 'private' property especially in his own tobacco shop?? You can buy 'em but you can't smoke 'em. http://thetruthisalie.com
