Posted on 06/03/2004 5:21:39 PM PDT by b-cubed
Appeals Court Snuffs Pierce County Smoking Ban
POSTED: 4:55 pm PDT June 3, 2004
TACOMA, Wash. -- The state Court of Appeals has reopened smoking sections in Pierce County, at least as long a legal battle rages over the county's indoor smoking ban.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health imposed the ban in January, but it was quickly overturned by a Pierce County judge who ruled the agency lacked authority to impose it.
A Court of Appeals commissioner initially reinstated the ban while that decision was appealed.
But Thursday, the Court reversed that decision.
The county's smoking ban was the most sweeping in the state, applying to bars, taverns, restaurants, bowling alleys, minicasinos, hotels, private clubs and most other nontribal businesses.
Petitioners are collecting signatures for dueling initiatives on the issue. One pushed by anti-smoking interests would impose a ban like Pierce County's statewide. The other is pushed by a coalition of establishments where smoking is currently allowed. It would ban smoking in public places open to minors but block more restrictive local bans.
That is kind of an all-purpose headline, huh?
latest: O'Reilly still blows.
Well...I kind of screwed that up Didn't I?
Sounds to me like perfectly good grounds for overturning it. Most regulations which are not explicitly authorized by legislation should be overturned.
FMCDH(BITS)
My, how times have changed. When I left Tacoma twenty years ago, they were just beginning to hand out free needles for heroin users.
Title-change bump.
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