POT-SMOKING BATTLE GOING TO COURT

Restaurant Owner Opts Not To Settle

A three-year battle between a Burlington restaurateur and a medical
marijuana smoker is going to court.

Ted Kindos, owner of Gator Ted's Tap and Grill on Guelph Line, agreed
last spring to settle with Steve Gibson rather than spend an
estimated $60,000 on eight days of an extended Ontario Human Rights
Commission tribunal.

Now, he fears allowing Gibson to smoke marijuana at the restaurant
will threaten his liquor licence.

Gibson took Gator Ted's to the commission in 2005 after Kindos told
him not to smoke marijuana outside the doorway of the family
restaurant and sports bar.

Kindos wants the Superior Court of Ontario to declare provincial laws
banning marijuana from licensed establishments overrules Gibson's
right to smoke marijuana there.

No date has been set yet for the hearing.

"I changed my mind," Kindos said last night about any settlement with Gibson.

He would not sign off on a deal paying Gibson $2,000 for mental
anguish and requiring Kindos to post a sign saying the restaurant
accommodated customers with medical marijuana exemptions as well as
institute-appropriate training for staff.

Kindos said he chose not to sign because he got a letter from the
Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario -- which regulates the
Liquor Licence Act -- telling him marijuana on the premises would
endanger his liquor licence.

"So we're going to court," Kindos said.

"We did not settle. We'll let the court decide the issue."

Gibson, who suffered a neck injury in 1989 that prevents him from
working, uses legally prescribed marijuana to manage pain.

The Burlington father of two -- who does not smoke marijuana in his
home but retreats to a backyard smokehouse built by friends -- says
the restaurant discriminated against him because Kindos told him to
leave the spot outside where tobacco smokers are allowed to light up.

Gibson said last night he is confident he will win the case when it
gets to Superior Court.

Although he plans to represent himself, he said a lawyer will be
present representing the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

"(Kindos) changed his mind on the settlement because he thinks it's
(to be decided) on a technicality," Gibson said.

But, Gibson added, it is his understanding the Ontario Human Rights
Commission's rulings supercede other Ontario laws unless specifically excluded.

"I think I won the case (the first time) and now he can go to a
higher level and I am confident," he said. "I don't have any worries."