Woman Banned From Smoking In Her Own Garden

AKARP,Sweden - A Swedish woman who was barred from smoking in her own garden is appealing the order to the country's Environmental High Court.She has been banned by court order from smoking in large parts of her garden following a complaint from a neighbour, according to a local press.

"I will submit to the court's ruling because otherwise I am afraid of paying fines, but I am livid," the woman told Swedish daily paper Sydsvenskan. The 49-year-old single mother from Akarp, Sweden,Ingela Olofsson, was temporarily banned by the Environmental Court in Vaxjo from smoking close to her neighbour's hedge.

"This is insane," Olofsson said.

The ban was put in place until a conflict between the woman and her neighbour,a lawyer,who claims an aversion to cigarette smoke can be resolved.

However, the court must now wait on the outcome of the appeal before proceeding. The woman claims the partial outdoor smoking ban has no legal basis.

The woman's neighbour claims he has to wear an oxygen mask to walk from his home to his car because of his sensitivity to the smoke.He said that without the mask it took only seconds for the effects of the smoke to take hold, leaving him struggling for breath.

"He walks around with the mask on regardless of whether I'm smoking or not. It used to annoy me but now I don't care any more," Olofsson said.

The row started when the lawyer bought the house next to Olofsson three years ago. Berggren says that he initially asked her to smoke somewhere else than next to his garden.

The neighbours stopped talking to each other and recently all the communication between them has occurred via their legal representatives - and the media.

"We have no other choice to enter or exit our house but passing the garden path that faces your house and we can therefore no longer accept that you poison our lives with your disgusting and unhealthy tobacco smoke," the lawyer wrote in an angry letter to Olofsson.

"The best thing is for you to quit," he added.

But the woman did not stop smoking, and the bemused city has watched as the friendly neighbourhood atmosphere degenerated into a catfight.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2007/08/23/woman_banned_from_smoking_in_her_garden/8491/