Health district must ‘calm down a little’

Shortly after the Southern Nevada Health District was designated the sole local enforcement authority for the Clean Indoor Air Act, agency employees became regulars at Bilbo's Bar and Grill.

Bilbo's management had opposed the initiative, and they made it clear they would allow customers to smoke in defiance of the voter-approved law, which bans smoking inside bars that serve food, as well as most other businesses.

The health district quickly obtained a court order from District Judge Valerie Adair mandating that Bilbo's remove all ashtrays and matches from the establishment on West Charleston Boulevard.

Since then, health district inspectors have been dispatched often to determine whether the watering hole is complying with Judge Adair's order. Lately, there have been no sightings of ashtrays. Instead, customers have been seen using shot glasses to hold cigarette ashes.

Then there was the time this summer when a company official lit up a cigar right in front of inspectors and demanded to know whether other businesses were being subjected to similar scrutiny.

Hell hath no fury like bureaucrats scorned. The health district's lawyers dragged Bilbo's back into court, seeking a contempt finding.

Bilbo's attorneys sought a similar finding against the Southern Nevada Health District, alleging the business was a victim of harassment and selective prosecution.

On Wednesday, after about two hours of arguments between counsel, District Judge Joseph Bonaventure declined to find either side in contempt of court. But he did order the health district to pay $1,000 to help cover Bilbo's attorney fees.

"I do think you need to calm down a little," Judge Bonaventure told health district attorney Stephen Minagil. "Think this out. ... Think this through. ... That's my opinion."

That's solid advice. The health district has spent untold thousands of dollars on attorney fees, investigative costs and employee time in an effort to impose a $100 fine on Bilbo's. That's not a productive use of taxpayer resources.

Mr. Minagil made it clear that he won't take Judge Bonaventure's recommendation. He said he would go back to Judge Adair to seek clarification on the definition of "ashtray."

"This isn't the end of the case. We are in the second of nine innings," Mr. Minagil said.

The health district should drop this vindictive pursuit, as well as its plan to begin citing individual smokers, which will pile more work on already-overwhelmed Justice Courts.

Bilbo's isn't overflowing with victimized customers. Of all the taverns in the valley, why would anyone who abhors smoking want to do business with this place? And because its primary mission is serving alcohol, children are not being forced to breathe secondhand smoke -- the scare tactic that led so many voters to support the law in the first place.

As we wrote last month, the health district should "focus on the voters' intent and concentrate their enforcement efforts on places where 'the children' could be exposed to secondhand smoke. Investigate citizen complaints and cite businesses only if aggrieved parties can be identified and demonstrate harm."

The health district and Mr. Minagil should concern themselves with fair, equal enforcement, not extracting their pound of flesh from a taxpaying business that has raised legitimate questions about the law through civil disobedience.