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Article published: Feb 9,
2007 Businesses
sue to stop Charleston smoking ban
Bar and tobacco shop owners
in Charleston have sued to stop the city's smoking ban from taking effect in
July.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, resembles one filed last year against
a smoking ban in Sullivans Island. But it goes a step further, challenging an
exemption in Charleston's ordinance.
The owners of The Smoking Lamp and
Kingston Tobacco say they want to turn their cigar shops into cigar bars but the
ordinance blocks their plans.
Kingston Tobacco owner James Rittinghouse,
who operates a cigar bar in Summerville, called it "government intrusion" into
private business.
The Charleston ban would prohibit smoking in most
workplaces, including bars and restaurants, but exempts retail tobacco shops,
designated hotel rooms and cigar bars operating before Jan. 23, when City
Council approved it. The cigar bar exemption applies to just one business, Club
Habana, and prevents others from opening.
A Circuit Court judge upheld
the workplace smoking ban in Sullivans Island. That ruling has been
appealed.
Greenville's smoking ban also faces a court
challenge.
