By Casey Northcutt
Madisonville, KY – Two Madisonville businessmen are fighting for the right to smoke. Circuit Judge James Brantley says Thomas Richardson and James Haulk filed a suit contesting a smoking ban imposed by the Hopkins County Board of Health. The ban, called the Clean Indoor Air Regulation, forbids smoking in enclosed public areas, but the two plaintiffs claim the Board does not have the Constitutional right to impose such regulations. Brantley, who will hear the case, says the Board of Health has agreed to suspend the ban's enforcement until both sides have presented their cases. Although no hearing date has been set, the judge hopes it will occur in early November.