Smoke'em if you got'em

First Minn. bar cited for ‘theater nights’

To avoid the statewide smoking ban, Minnesota bars have been using a ‘theater night’ loophole to allow their patrons to smoke. Now, a bar in Babbit, Minn., is the first to be cited for breaking the law.

Tom Marinaro, the owner of Tank’s Bar, proudly displays the ticket he received for breaking the law, and says he is happy that the issue may once and for all be settled in court.

"It's the start of something, you know. We got to get this thing resolved," Marinaro said.

Marinaro’s ticket is the first in the state to be issued by law enforcement to an establishment holding theater nights to circumvent the ban and it’s just what Marinaro’s attorney, Mark Benjamin, has been waiting for.

"Finally for the first time in five weeks, we will have an opportunity to prove to the world that theater nights in bars is a legal activity," Benjamin said.

Benjamin has been encouraging bar owners to take advantage of an exemption to the ban lawmakers created to allow actors to smoke on stage.

However, on March 5, the health department came out with a statement saying theater nights are not exempt and violators could be fined $10,000.

Bar owners say it’s a matter of survival after losing thousands of dollars in business from people who enjoy smoking.

"We were down about 30 percent sales and we had to do something. Once we started that, we got people to come back in here," Marinaro said.

"We are doing this to ask the legislature to rewrite the law to help these small bars that are being devastated economically by the smoking ban," Benjamin said.

Marinaro’s court date is set for April 4.