Bar Owner Drags Smoking Ban Into Court

If the state’s ban on smoking in restaurants and bars is overturned as an infringement of individual rights, Jack Tavares may very well be the puffer’s Patrick Henry.

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

He was arraigned in Municipal Court on 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 from one of his Tarrington 100 cigarettes on the courthouse steps. “But I love my business.”

Apparently so do his customers, who smoke at Crazy Jack’s despite the two posted signs forbidding them to do so--a janitor had to sweep more than 300 stubbed-out cigarettes from the bar’s floor last Saturday night.

Tavares even has a log book, signed by hundreds of patrons who acknowledge having been warned not to smoke.

Which they then do anyway.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Mike Nolan, a 33-year smoker who stood with a handful of other inhalers in front of the courthouse to show support for Tavares. “I signed the book. I was smoking there just last Saturday night. That’s what bars are for.”

Since Burbank licensing inspectors cited his bar in January, Tavares has begun to organize bar owners across the Southland in a loosely connected alliance to fight the smoking ban. He claims to have contacted and gained the support of some 90 bar owners, from the South Bay, Gardena, Burbank, Hollywood “and all across the state.”

“We don’t have a name, we’re just getting started,” he said. “We’re trying to organize meetings and get people together to fight this thing.”

Although Tavares was up until 3 a.m. the night before his arraignment working at his bar, his quiet voice shook with anger when a flock of reporters asked him if the ban has hurt business.

“Yeah, it’s hurting us,” he said. “To me this is not fun. They say the law is for employees of bars. But all my people smoke. I can’t have them run outside all the time to smoke.”

He lighted another extra-long cigarette and rubbed his eyes, pausing for a moment to take in the reporters and onlookers who had gathered at the courthouse in the morning chill.

“The law is wrong, it is a violation of rights,” Tavares said. “We’ve done everything the law requires. We’ve asked people not to smoke, we’ve posted signs. They just smoke anyway. The state needs the National Guard to enforce this thing. Or they should just let people smoke.”

Tavares said he would not consider pleading guilty and paying a fine.

“I have to stand up against this thing, and I am not alone,” he declared.

“This stinks,” said Jack Wineland, a bartender at Tony’s Dartsaway, the first bar in Burbank cited for flouting the smoking ban. Unlike Tavares, the owner of that bar pleaded guilty and was fined $81.

As the pack of reporters and supporters began to disperse, Taverse invited everyone to his bar for a free lunch or drink.

“It’s on me,” he said.

Beyond general case information, Burbank City Atty. Dennis Barlow would not comment.

A hearing was set for April 17, according to Tavares’ attorney, James Lindeman.