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Judge suspends fine in city's first smoking violation case  

The first violation of Greenville's no-smoking ordinance went to court on Wednesday, where a city judge gave a restaurant manager a suspended fine after a debate about whether bar patios count as a forbidden zone.

Greenville police Maj. Gary McLaughlin told the judge that the law is being enforced under the opinion that patios aren't exempt from the ban, in part because they are considered part of the restaurant and would exclude nonsmokers.

"This has not been tested," McLaughlin told Municipal Judge Matt Hawley after the general manager of Bailey's Sports Bar & Grille asked the judge why patrons couldn't smoke on an outside patio.

Trevor Timmons, general manager of Bailey's, told the judge that he assumed that patrons could legally smoke on the restaurant's covered patio because there was no one eating. Instead, Timmons said, customers carried their drinks outside and stayed beyond black tape put down to mark a 10-foot distance from the door.

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