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WU hookah bar owner hosts freedom event  

Smoke clouds billowed from the variety of patrons smoking at the Petra Café and Hookah Lounge on South Grand on Sept. 23. Scents of watermelon, lemon mint and "Threesome," Petra Café's original mix of tobacco, lingered in the air.

However, the day was not just for the regulars of the café to converse and collude as usual. The day was set aside as a place for an event to bring awareness to the encroaching smoking ban the Missouri government is attempting to enforce. "The Hot Box of Freedom" event was created to rebel against the ban in which flavored tobacco would be included as illegal to smoke in public. Co-owner and senior broadcasting major at WU Michaela Garcia said she believes this would ultimately mean an end to her only source of income.

"This ban would include all flavored tobacco, which is the number one thing that we sell," Garcia said. "What we are trying to do with this event is stop the government from telling us what we can and can't do. If we have one bad habit, and it's smoking, we should be allowed to do it."

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