Health Dept. takes action against another bar for 'theater nights'
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The Minnesota Department of Health is taking court action against a third bar for violating the statewide smoking ban.
The department filed papers in Crow Wing County District Court seeking an order barring the Bird's Nest bar in Garrison, Minn., from holding 'theatre nights' in violation of the smoking ban.
The Freedom to Breathe Act prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars, but it allows smoking in theatrical productions.
Some bar owners have been calling their bar a theatre, and their customers actors as a way to exploit the loophole.
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Department of Health Spokesman John Linc Stine said bars need to accept the law.
"There are businesses that are surviving during this new law, and they've found ways to comply with the law sand continue their business operations, and we think that while there are some bars that have been adversely affected from a business standpoint, there are ways to comply with the law and successfully operate," said Stine.
Stine said the Health Department will continue to pursue bars that violate the ban.
An employee of the Birds Nest who asked not to be named told Minnesota Public Radio News that the bar is no longer holding theatre night.
