Columbus Dispatch...
Zeno’s bar will argue smoking-ban case before high court
By David Eggert 

The Ohio Supreme Court will hit the road to hear one of its biggest cases of the year — a challenge of Ohio’s indoor smoking ban. 

Zeno’s, a Victorian Village bar challenging the 4-year-old law, gets its day in the high court on Oct. 19 in Hillsboro, 60 miles southwest of Columbus. 

The case is being argued there as part of the court’s semi-annual program that allows students to see Supreme Court proceedings outside Columbus. Hillsboro is not far from Brown County, the heart of tobacco country in Ohio. 

Zeno’s, which owes the states tens of thousands of dollars for smoking-ban violations, is challenging the law on two main fronts. 

One is that the Ohio Department of Health is going beyond what the law allows and fining bars and restaurants even if they have posted no-smoking signs and removed ashtrays — at the same time refusing to cite smokers who violate the ban. 

The other argument is that the ban invades businesses’ property rights. The state says it has the power to protect the public from secondhand smoke. 

The case is attracting plenty of attention. 

Twenty-three organizations or individuals have filed friend-of-the-court briefs. They include the Ohio Liberty Council (a tea party group), the Cleveland Clinic, American Cancer Society, the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association and the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch