It could be months now before a Kanawha County bar or gambling parlor gets convicted of violating the county's expanded smoking ban.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - It could be months now before a Kanawha County bar or gambling parlor gets convicted of violating the county's expanded smoking ban.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department has been forced to refile criminal complaints against six businesses, after an assistant Kanawha County prosecutor notified the agency that the paperwork wasn't filled out properly.
The Health Department neglected to cite the specific department regulations that the bars and gambling parlors violated in the initial complaints filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court last fall. The health agency also failed to specify that the infractions occurred in Kanawha County.
As a result, the previous charges were dismissed.
"We've become frustrated with the length of time it's taken to enforce this," said Board of Health President Brenda Isaac. "They've been rewritten and refiled. It's just one more thing that's going to delay this."
Bar and gambling parlor owners, who had their initial appearance in Magistrate Court on Nov. 14, must show up to answer a summons again, this time on Feb. 4. Hearings likely won't likely be scheduled until March or April.
The Health Department has refiled charges against: the Blackhawk Saloon (the only business facing two complaints), The Cantina and the Hot Spot Coffee Shop in Charleston; Lisa's and the Moose Lodge in Nitro; and McNalley's Pub in Cross Lanes.
Health Department officials said they sent copies of their initial criminal complaints to the Kanawha County prosecutor's office but didn't learn about the filing mistake until last month.
Also, the assistant prosecutor who was helping the health agency with the criminal complaints last year has been reassigned to other duties under new Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants, health officials said.
"We're having a new person assigned to us," said Anita Ray, who directs the Health Department's environmental health division. "I anticipate filing more of these. Hopefully, there won't be any future technical problems."
Isaac said the health agency plans to file public nuisance charges in Kanawha Circuit Court against bars and gambling parlors that blatantly ignore the smoking ban, which took effect last July. Those filings, however, will have to wait until the Health Department's new chief health officer, Dr. Rahul Gupta, starts work in March, Isaac said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - It could be months now before a Kanawha County bar or gambling parlor gets convicted of violating the county's expanded smoking ban.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department has been forced to refile criminal complaints against six businesses, after an assistant Kanawha County prosecutor notified the agency that the paperwork wasn't filled out properly.
The Health Department neglected to cite the specific department regulations that the bars and gambling parlors violated in the initial complaints filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court last fall. The health agency also failed to specify that the infractions occurred in Kanawha County.
As a result, the previous charges were dismissed.
"We've become frustrated with the length of time it's taken to enforce this," said Board of Health President Brenda Isaac. "They've been rewritten and refiled. It's just one more thing that's going to delay this."
Bar and gambling parlor owners, who had their initial appearance in Magistrate Court on Nov. 14, must show up to answer a summons again, this time on Feb. 4. Hearings likely won't likely be scheduled until March or April.
The Health Department has refiled charges against: the Blackhawk Saloon (the only business facing two complaints), The Cantina and the Hot Spot Coffee Shop in Charleston; Lisa's and the Moose Lodge in Nitro; and McNalley's Pub in Cross Lanes.
Health Department officials said they sent copies of their initial criminal complaints to the Kanawha County prosecutor's office but didn't learn about the filing mistake until last month.
Also, the assistant prosecutor who was helping the health agency with the criminal complaints last year has been reassigned to other duties under new Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants, health officials said.
"We're having a new person assigned to us," said Anita Ray, who directs the Health Department's environmental health division. "I anticipate filing more of these. Hopefully, there won't be any future technical problems."
Isaac said the health agency plans to file public nuisance charges in Kanawha Circuit Court against bars and gambling parlors that blatantly ignore the smoking ban, which took effect last July. Those filings, however, will have to wait until the Health Department's new chief health officer, Dr. Rahul Gupta, starts work in March, Isaac said.
"People are blatantly and maliciously going against the ordinance," Isaac said. "They're becoming a public nuisance, and they are causing great harm to people. It disturbs me that people think it's OK to break the law."
Isaac cited a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed a significant decrease in heart attacks after Pueblo, Colo., imposed a ban on workplace smoking.
"The filing delay is not going to deter us," Isaac said. "People's lives are at stake. Secondhand smoke kills."
Bars and gambling parlors face fines of $200 to $1,000 if they're found guilty of violating the smoking ban in Magistrate Court.
"This may have been delayed, but the sanctions are going to come," Isaac said. "We're making this a priority."
The filing snafu wasn't the first time the Health Department has stumbled while trying to enforce the smoking ban.
In November, the Nitro Moose Lodge filed a petition in Circuit Court, alleging that the club is exempt from the smoking ban because the Health Department improperly filed the new smoking rules with the county clerk. The lodge says the smoking ban doesn't apply to bars and gambling parlors outside Charleston's city limits. A judge has yet to rule on that petition.
McNalley's, Lisa's and the Blackhawk Saloon also are outside the city limits.
Six months ago, the Health Department expanded the county's smoking ban to include bars, gambling parlors and the Tri-state Racetrack & Gaming Center in Nitro.
Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.
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Tri-State Race Track & Gaming had the right idea, the whole 1st floor was non smoking what was the problem? Most people go there to drink,smoke and gamble, is their money they spend there banned due to the smoker that handled it? i think not.