Letter: Frivolous lawsuit mocks majority of voters

Sunday, May 6, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.

The recent attempt by the owners of Bilbo's Bar and Grill to overturn the will of the citizens of Nevada, who wish to ban smoking in most public places, is certainly lame. The Southern Nevada Health District's promotion of the necessity to restrict such items as ashtrays and matchbooks, which support nicotine addiction, is certainly not a significant limitation on First Amendment rights.

A check of just one Internet site selling printed advertising materials showed that there were 449 items that can be purchased to advertise the name of an establishment without using smoking paraphernalia. The items sold as advertising merchandise include such things as pens, caps, cups, koozies, magnets and mints (which smokers would certainly benefit from).

The more than 2,000 complaints filed with the Health District concerning violations of the smoking law show that people strongly support the law and this lawsuit should be thrown out as obviously frivolous.

Wallace J. Henkelman, Henderson