Court: Bar's 'theater nights' violate smoking ban
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has agreed with a judge's ruling that "theater nights" in a northeastern Minnesota bar were violating the state's smoking ban.
Tank's Bar in Babbitt had allowed patrons to smoke under a loophole in the smoking ban that allows actors to smoke as part of a theatrical production.
But a St. Louis County judge ruled in May that wearing a badge that says "Actor" doesn't make it a theatrical production. On Tuesday, the appeals court agreed.
In its decision, the appeals court says "Gun SMOKE Monologues" was not real, but a sham.
Bar owner Tom Marinaro had wanted the court to offer a definition of "theatrical performance," but the court declined, saying it wouldn't discuss hypothetical situations.
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