Cigar Weekly

June 28, 2010

Original publication with comments section

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The fight is on as several health agencies push to get the state-wide smoking ban cleared for the City of Wichita.

Last week three businesses, Morts, Walts and Heat Cigar Bar and Hookah Lounge filed for a temporary injunction against the law that is set to go into effect on Thursday. A judge granted the injunction. The American Lung and Heart Associations along with the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and Tobacco Free Wichita are calling the judge's order appalling.

"We're very disappointed in this. The argument behind the injunction is that the Wichita ordinance is stronger  than the state law. That is certainly not the case," said the American Lung Association's Diane Tinker.

The state law would ban smoking everywhere except on the floor of state-owned casinos. Wichita's ordinance allows smoking in certain businesses that have a permit or ventilation. A hearing on the issue is set for July 15.