The State - News from June 3, 1988

A Southern California man chose the wrong person to confide in when he said he was going to secretly smoke a cigarette in the restroom of a Southwest Airlines jet. Ray Garrison’s seatmate was a Southwest employee, who reported the incident to the flight crew. Garrison, 47, a plumber from Norco, was arrested after the flight from Little Rock, Ark., to Houston’s Hobby Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration on April 23 banned smoking on all domestic flights of less than two hours. During the 66-minute flight, Garrison told his seatmate that he “just had to have a cigarette” and intended to smoke one in the restroom, Houston Aviation Department spokesman Bill Ainsworth said. The flight crew “demanded that Mr. Garrison open the door to the restroom, whereupon he was discovered smoking a cigarette,” Ainsworth said. Garrison faces a fine of up to $2,000.