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'No smoking' signs come down as bars, restaurants get respite from ban until challenge to county law decided
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

By Anita Srikameswaran, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The ashtrays are back on the tables and the warning posters have come down from the walls of bars and restaurants in Allegheny County.

A state appeals court decided yesterday that the smoking ban will not be enforced in those settings until it rules on an appeal, filed by the owners of two Downtown restaurants, that challenges the county ordinance.

"We're still in limbo," said Robert Borgoyne, assistant county solicitor. "I wish they would have made the decision, right, wrong or indifferent. Then we could decide whether to appeal it further or not."

James G. Mitchell of Mitchell's Restaurant and Bar and John Petrolias of Smithfield Cafe requested an injunction from Commonwealth Court after Common Pleas Judge Michael A. Della Vecchia refused Monday to further delay implementation of the county's smoking policy in dining and drinking establishments.

After that hearing, "we rushed back to the office [and] we got our paperwork in" to the appeals court, Mr. Mitchell said.

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