Article: Smoking ban hits tax till

The drive by West Virginia bar owners to protect their businesses from the smoking ban has taken a hit from the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Winston cigarettes.

Kerry "Paco" Ellison, owner of the Blackhawk Saloon in Charleston, took the double blow after resisting the ban for more than a year and becoming prominent statewide in the movement by bar owners.

Reynolds charged Ellison with using an inflatable balloon of a pack of Winston cigarettes to the detriment of the company by promoting "unlawful smoker rights and to encourage patrons of your bar to violate the county's smoking ban."

Ellison told Gazette staff writer Eric Eyre, "It just ...

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