LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, February 9, 2006 6:00 pm
A private, Turkish smoking club in Lincoln is weighing its options after getting a letter that it’s in violation of the city’s smoking ban.
People puffing tobacco from water pipes called hookahs is a common site in many Middle Eastern coffee shops. But in Lincoln, it’s being called a danger to public health and a violation of city ordinance.
Jamal Husein opened Sultana’s Kahve with his wife Sana nearly three years ago, selling Middle Eastern sandwiches, gyros, Turkish coffee — and puffs of scented tobacco from a hookah.
In a letter dated Jan. 31, Bruce Dart, director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, demanded the club immediately stop all smoking there.
He said the ordinance is very clear: It applies to all businesses, including private clubs like Husein’s that require a membership to enter.
“He has to comply with it like everyone else,” Dart said.
Hookah may not be specifically listed in the ordinance, but it’s not listed as being exempt either, he said. It has the same negative effects all tobacco products have, he said.
Dart said health department staff have made two visits to Sultana’s to explain smoking isn’t permitted there. And the letter came after a young person, helping the city with smoking compliance checks, saw people smoking inside and told them about it.
Since the ban went into effect Jan. 1, 2005, Dart said they’ve taken about 70 complaints of violations and police have written 27 tickets.
“Our goal was to educate and then regulate,” he said of Sultana’s. “They’ve just chosen not to comply.”
Husein said the letter came as a shock, considering the ban went into effect more than a year ago, and, he says, he hasn’t heard from the city until now.
“I’m going to fight the city,” he said, standing inside his club in a strip mall near First Street and Cornhusker Highway.
A note on a sheet of paper taped to the front door tells members the club is moving.
Husein said he’ll take a month or two off then look for a new location downtown. He has no intention of backing down.
“My attorney says that we are 100 percent OK,” he said.
Omaha attorney Bassel El-Kasaby said he doesn’t have a problem with the ordinance itself, but the problem comes in the definitions.
The most contentious being the distinction between public and private space, he said.
Because Sultana’s is a private club, and the general public isn’t allowed, El-Kasaby said it shouldn’t apply.
By ordinance, the city defines a public place as “an indoor area to which the public is invited or … permitted,” other than a residence.
El-Kasaby said that could apply to every poker and bridge game in the city where people are smoking.
“Clearly they’ve gone a little too far,” he said.
El-Kasaby also takes issue with the fact that hookah isn’t specifically included in the smoking definition, that Sultana’s doesn’t have any employees and that the purpose of the club is to celebrate Middle Eastern culture, of which hookah is a part.
But the next step isn’t clear, though a lawsuit is an option.
“We’re certainly keeping our options open at this point about what we’ll be doing,” El-Kasaby said.
Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.
What is a hookah?
A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian water pipe used to smoke scented tobacco. It’s said to have originated in India or China in the 17th Century.
Hookah smoking is popular in sheesha parlours (coffee shops) in the Arab Middle East, where people go to socialize or for a night of cards or backgammon.
Source: Wikipedia