Theater nights threat at Sabins in Chisholm

MY comments in red, Greg Lang of http://freedomtoact.com and this blog.

All such actions should be reported and a log kept. I am not a lawyer but I would suggest a voice recorder device be used in all discussions with the government agents that you might deem to be "hostile". Go "by the numbers" and inform the public official that they are being recorded. Make them agree "on tape" with this. Basically, unless it is part of a FORMAL criminal investigation or something very personal (like a disease transmission report that covers something like tracking a sexually transmitted disease or "bird flue") The MN Department of Health has great powers for imminent "epidemic" threats but if they try to use them for something like "secondhand smoke" this is a dramatic abuse of power in the current legal environment of "smoke theater".

There are assorted legal strategies to fight this but if the city gets "thuggish" and for example, threatened unrelated punitive actions and it fails the government agency faces regular and punitive damages plus reasonable legal fees from the plaintiffs.

I hope it doesn't come to this but we are not "goofballs" doing "street theater" dramatics

On my own I have devised a legal strategy. As I see it the best solution is for local governments to allow well posted "smoking bars" subject to a reasonable licence structure.. I don't see urban municipalities opting this option. It's ironic because the urban areas offer a lot more entertainment options. Even on the iron range one story posted here quote a non-smoking pizza place. From my reading even t he local smokers respected this "non smoking" establishment status. Just my two cents work Greg Lang

Greg - Can We Post

----- Original Message -----
From: Terry Horridge
To: markbenjamin@msn.com ; sheiladk@comcast.net
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 8:56 PM
Subject: Theater night threats

Sheila and Mark,

My husband and I own Sabins bar in Chisholm, on the iron range. We started hosting theater nights 3 weeks ago, with the assistance of Doug Fochi from the Sports Palace in Virginia. We are the only ones in a town with 9 bars that has been hosting them. Our business increased immediately, and has been up ever since. Instead of laying off a bartender, and reducing our hours we were able to hire another one. The Chisholm police were just here and we were told that if we do not stop our patrons from smoking that they will issue us a ticket, our patrons tickets, as well as our bartender. The officer said that this is coming from the chief of police, and the health department who them they have to enforce the smoking ban. The officer said they will be back tonight, and keep coming back until we stop. At the time the police arrived, there were about 40 patrons here. There are now 9 people at the bar. We are having a St Patricks day celebration tonight, and have even hired a band. I would like to point out that before the smoking ban we were doing just fine. As soon as the smoking ban took effect on Oct 1, our income from the bar dropped by about 60 percent, and we started having trouble paying the bills. Not only did the law put our business in a tailspin, it also made it virtually worthless. Who would want to invest in a bar now?? We don't want to break the law, and if we thought we were, we would not be hosting theater nights. As I'm sure most bar owners on the iron range would agree, we never expected to get rich, we just want to make a living. I would like to thank you and Mark Benjamin for everything you have done, and know that we intend to continue with theater nights as long as we can.

Kind Regards,

Mike and Terri Horridge
Sabins Bar
2 West Lake St.
Chisholm MN 55719
218-254-2318
thorridge@fnbcnet.com