| | |  Health & Beauty | September 2008 
New Mexico Man Loses Round in Smoking Ban Fight
 Deborah Baker - Associated Press
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Santa Fe, N.M. (AP) - Stephen Brown was so opposed to New Mexico's ban on smoking in public places that he got himself cited for lighting up in a Catron County bar just minutes after the new law took effect.
He has been battling it ever since - so far to no avail. He lost the most recent round in the state Court of Appeals last week.
"I guess next is the (state) Supreme Court," Brown said.
Brown, a disabled veteran who worked as a cook before he retired, lives in Reserve in southwestern New Mexico. He recalls that he and his wife were the only customers at Uncle Bill's Bar when he lit up a cigarette just after midnight on June 15, 2007.
"I had to have my wife call the sheriff so he'd send a deputy down and issue me a ticket," Brown said.
The law prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants, stores and most other indoor workplaces. The fine for a first violation is up to $100.
Brown contends the law discriminates against smokers, effectively making them "second-class citizens."
"Even if I wasn't a smoker I'd be doing something about it, because it's just not right," he said.
His legal argument is that the exemptions in the law - including for casinos, cigar bars, private clubs and designated hotel and motel rooms - violate a section of the state constitution that prohibits giving some persons or businesses rights or privileges not accorded to others.
"Our challenge is to the exemption scheme," said Brown's lawyer, Amavalise Jaramillo of Belen.
The argument hasn't swayed judges in district court - where Brown appealed from magistrate court - or in the Court of Appeals, which said on Sept. 16 that the exemptions are reasonable.
Jaramillo plans to ask the state Supreme Court to review the appeals court's decision. The high court could take the case or not.
Armed with a 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's report that secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and non-smoking adults, advocates of a ban got the Legislature to pass it overwhelmingly in 2007.
New Mexico is one of two dozen states that have passed broad smoke-free laws covering restaurants and bars.
Constitutional challenges to those laws haven't fared well, according to Nathan Bush, vice president of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
"The courts have consistently ruled that workers and patrons have a right to clean indoor air protections under the law," Bush said.
At least one other New Mexican also is challenging his convictions for violating the statewide smoking ban.
Henry Morgan Smith, who formerly ran a bar and restaurant in the Alamogordo area, was repeatedly cited by Otero County sheriff's deputies a year ago and was found guilty in magistrate court on 15 charges. He is appealing to state district court.
Smith also has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against the county, in which he's seeking $165 million in damages.
Before the statewide ban was enacted, business owners and others tried to block enforcement of a similar anti-smoking ordinance that Roswell enacted in 2004. A federal judge tossed out that challenge. |
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