Colorado Bar Charged With Smoking

Michael Moretti
Posted: September 8, 2006

"What're you going to do? Charge me with smoking?" said Katherine Tramell (played by Sharon Stone) to police after lighting up during the now famous scene from the 1992 film Basic Instinct. Colorado authorities, asked the same question, might answer: "Well…yes."

Yesterday, Orios, a bar in Durango, Colorado, was accused of violating the state's Clean Indoor Air Act, which went into effect on July 1. This is being described as the first time the state has filed charges against a smoking offender, and it happened despite District Judge David Dickinson's temporary injunction in late August to review the law.

Todd Risberg, an attorney for Orios, called the criminal filing "disappointing," saying: "I don't think there's any legal or factual basis to it."

The row revolves around humidors. To qualify as a "cigar bar," the state calls for 5 percent or $50,000 in yearly revenue to come from the on-site sale of tobacco and rental of on-site humidors. While the figures are not in dispute, the prosecution claims that the humidor Orios keeps does not qualify them as a cigar bar. Orios says it does, and that smoking should be allowed under the "cigar bar" exemption built into the law.

Orios could face a $200 fine if found guilty. The state's hospitality industry is watching the outcome of the case closely.