Nicotine Nazis On The March

Smoker sued for lighting up in her garden

AKARP, Sweden, March 9 (UPI) -- A Swedish woman has been sued for smoking in her own garden.

Her neighbor in Akarp in southern Sweden, a lawyer, demands 15,000 kroner ($2,000) in damages for her previous smoking plus another 2,000 kroner ($280) every time she lights up in the future, The Local reported. She has received a district court summons to respond to his complaint.

"It makes me sad and angry," the 49-year-old single mom told Aftonbladet. "Should somebody else be able to control my life?"

The woman said she has already made concessions to her neighbor's dislike of cigarette smoke, including picking a spot to light up that is more than 20 feet from his property.

In court filings, the lawyer complains that he is hit with cigarette smoke every time he enters or leaves his house and has been unable to open his windows.

Boehner's Favorite Smoke-Filled Room

His own party's club won't let him light up, so House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been sneaking over to the National Democratic Club to smoke. Ironic, and a tad scandalous -- considering Boehner sits on the board of the Capitol Hill Club, where Republican members of Congress do their boozing and schmoozing.

But the Capitol Hill Club, unlike the Democratic Club, never got an exemption to get around the District's new smoking ban. And Boehner and other members are no longer allowed to smoke in the House Speaker's Lobby, thanks to Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) new rules. So what else is a Republican to do when he's jonesing for a smoke?