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New hookah bar says smoking ban doesn't apply

Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Lincoln Journal Star

A hookah bar that opened last week in Lincoln says it believes it is operating legally despite a state Supreme Court ruling last month that threw out exceptions to the state's indoor smoking ban for cigar bars and tobacco shops.

Gus Weinstein, an Omaha attorney representing Rotana Club LLC, says the Lincoln hookah bar is not in violation of the smoking ban.

The bar is a private club, he said, requiring people to fill out applications and become members.

"Therefore, it does not fit within the definition of 'public place' under … the Lincoln Smoking Regulation Act," Weinstein said in an email to the Journal Star.

Also, Weinstein said a hookah, which is a water pipe used for smoking flavored tobacco, "does not fit within the legal definition of a smoking device, as it is not a cigarette, cigar, or pipe."

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said it had not heard about the club, which opened Friday at 1623 O St., and referred questions to the City Attorney's Office.

City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick said he had not had any contact with the club and would have to do further research before being able to say definitively whether it is violating the law by allowing smoking.

He called Weinstein's arguments interesting but said if all one needs to be a private club is to require people to fill out membership applications, "why didn't Big John's Billiards just do that?"

Big John's Billiards of Omaha, which used to have a pool hall in Lincoln, sued over the statewide smoking ban, hoping to get it overturned. Instead, the state Supreme Court upheld the ban but threw out most exceptions, including the one allowing smoking at cigar bars.

Other hookah clubs in the city have been operating under the cigar bar exemption.

Kirkpatrick said he and his staff will need to examine state law and how hookah bars fit into it. What comes out of that examination will guide the city's actions.

"We're not looking to go after people who don't fit under the definition, but if they do, we've got an obligation to enforce the law," he said.

The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008 has language similar to the city's smoking ordinance about public places and the definition of smoking devices.

http://journalstar.com/business/local/new-hookah-bar-says-smoking-ban-doesn-t-apply/article_97051c4f-5cda-55bd-bb7f-b3a724473006.html#comments

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