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• Blackhawk Saloon giving up smoking battle  

A Charleston bar owner who flouted the Kanawha County smoking ban for more than a year will no longer allow his customers to light up.

Kerry "Paco" Ellison, who owns the Blackhawk Saloon, said the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration threatened to revoke his liquor license Tuesday night, if he continued to allow patrons to smoke.

"They said if they see one cigarette, they'll begin the revocation process," Ellison said. "In other words, checkmate."

Earlier this year, Ellison was convicted in Kanawha Magistrate Court of violating the smoking ban. Ellison appealed, but a Kanawha circuit judge upheld the conviction.

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