Published: October 09, 2008 07:46 am      

Suit challenges constitutionality of smoking ban

Two business owners filed suit Tuesday in Hopkins Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of a smoking ban set to take effect Sunday.

The suits asks for an injunction to prevent the ban from being enforced until the legal questions it raises are settled.

The ban is similar to one enacted by the Madison County Board of Health that took effect in June 2007.

The suit challenges the interpretation of the Kentucky law, which the boards of health claim authorizes them to ban smoking in public places.

Under the Kentucky Constitution, such power is reserved to the elected bodies of cities and counties, the suit claims.

Paducah attorney Michael O. Walker, who filed the suit on behalf of James Haulk and Thomas E. Richardson, said he expects the case to reach the Kentucky Supreme Court.

If the Hopkins County challenge is upheld by the state’s highest court, similarly enacted bans in Madison, Scott and other counties could be overturned.

The Madison County ban has not been challenged in court.

The Hopkins County Board of Health last year examined Madison County’s smoking ban and the process used to enact it, Jim Rousey, director of the Madison County Health Department said this past August.

Scott County’s board of health also consulted with Madison County before acting to ban smoking in public places.

Rousey was not in his office Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

A message left Wednesday for Jack Morris, director of the Hopkins County Health Department, had not been returned by press time.

The litigants are supported by a group calling itself the Freedom Coalition, according to Hal Latham, a former Richmond resident who now lives in Hopkins County.

“I don’t smoke,” he said. “This is not a question of whether smoking should be banned in public places. It’s about how a smoking ban may be imposed and who has the power to impose one.”

The organization’s motto is “Education, Not Legislation,” he said.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.