RESTAURANT OWNER LOSES MONEY AFTER SMOKING BAN CHANGES
A West Knoxville restaurant owner says lawmakers told him his
cigar room was legal under the new smoking ban. But when the ban
went into effect, health officials told him to shut it down.
"I was very shocked and disheartened," says Peerless Restaurant
owner Gary Kalogeros.
Days before the ban began, Kalogeros advertised that cigar
aficionados were still welcome in his restaurant.
Kalogeros built a cigar room that, he says, lawmakers told him
would be allowed under the law. However, that law changed at the
last minute.
Customers used to come to Peerless specifically for the cigar
room.
