Take a deep breath - or don't. Your neighborhood watering hole could be filled with cigarette smoke again.
The Indiana Supreme Court reversed an Evansville ordinance that banned smoking in eating and drinking establishments.
Steve Alsop is the President of the Vanderburgh County Tavern Owner Association Inc., and he owns the Peephole Bar & Grill on Main Street.
Alsop said he’s pleased by the decision.
“We had to go all the way to the top, but we got it," Alsop said.
The Tropicana’s riverboat casino was exempted from that ordinance. Justices ruled today that the Indiana Constitution’s Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause prohibit giving privileges or immunities not extended to everybody. In this case, one "adult" establishment had a privilege.
Now that the ban has been lifted, Alsop said he’s not sure if he’ll restore smoking in his bar.
"I'm going to get feedback from my customers and decide," Alsop said. "We'll have time because I have to wait for the state exemption to be approved, which I'm going to file for and get, and then decide on my own.”
Besides, Alsop said, the owners of these adults establishments are adults, so they have the right to make that decision.