Bar Owner Challenges Ban on Smoking

The owner of Crazy Jack’s Country Bar & Grill in Burbank pleaded not guilty Friday to violating the state’s ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, becoming the first bar owner in Los Angeles County to challenge the 4-month-old law in court.

Jack Tavares was arraigned in Municipal Court for an infraction of the state law, a category of offense less serious than a misdemeanor and punishable by, at most, a few hundred dollars in fines.

“I’m not the kind of guy to go to court and make a stand like this,” Tavares said, taking a deep drag on one of his Tarrington 100 cigarettes on the courthouse steps. “But I love my business.”