Attorney General starts investigation
Jump to full article: Charleston (WV) Gazette, 2009-09-23
Author: Eric Eyre Staff writer
Intro: The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department has asked the state Attorney General to investigate a Charleston bar owner who flouted the county's expanded smoking ban by setting up a giant inflatable cigarette pack replica outside his bar.
Health officials allege that Blackhawk Saloon owner Kerry "Paco" Ellison violated the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that limits cigarette marketing and advertising. Last month, the 16-by-18-foot inflatable Winston cigarette pack was visible for weeks to motorists on Interstate 64, just east of the state Capitol.
"It was visible to children," said Brenda Isaac, the health board's president. "We thought people should look into whether it's breaking federal law. You can't put up a billboard like this and advertise cigarettes."
Ellison, who has butted heads with the Health Department over the county's expanded smoking ban for more than a year, said he put up the custom inflatable to help advertise a "smoker's night" at his bar on Aug. 19. . . .
"I'm going to have to get that up again," Ellison said. "I'll have to do that. I call it my inflatable doll." . . .
Ellison said the Winston inflatable was originally displayed at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts NASCAR races. The product replica was discarded at some point, he said.
"It was in a Dumpster down there, and some guy fished it out," he said. . . .
Ellison said Winston did not pay him to display the air-blown advertisement.
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