HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979 02-27 'Yen hock' law brings suit by store DISPATCH 'Yen hock'
law brings
suit by store
By LINDA KOHL
Staff Writer
If you should ever happen to see a yen hock,
would you know what to do?
If you saw it in Maplewood,you should probably
call the police.Yen hocks are illegal in Maplewood,
although no one seems to know what they are.
A Maplewood ordinance banning yen hocks and
other items is being challenged in U.S. District
Court by a Maplewood music store owner. The
ordinance, passed in 1972, bans the sale of"any
stem bowl, lamp, yen hock or other narcotic or
controlled substance smoking paraphernalia or
accessories."
MAPLEWOOD POLICE recently tried to en-
force the ordinance by ordering employees of Third
Stone Music in Maplewood Square Shopping Cen-
ter,3035 White Bear Ave.,to remove various items
from the shelves. Timothy Swenson, majority
owner of Third Stone Music,filed a lawsuit instead,
claiming that the Maplewood ordinance is uncon-
stitutional.
See Yen Hock,Page 36
1 ,. Yen Hock : Owner sues
Continued from Page 19 as water pipes and small orna- never used one. I have an idea it
Q\ mental spoons, are sold primari- has something to do with opium
The Maplewood branch of ly as novelties or worn as jewel- smoking."
c•\ Third Stone Music is one of six ry,Swenson said. A St. Paul narcotics detective
stores in the Twin Cities selling Other items, such as cigarette said he thought"yen hock"was a
records, tapes, waterbeds and papers and holders, clamps, 1920s term for some kind of opi-
1 items gingerly classified as tweezers and tubes, are appro- urn pipe. "Exactly what it is, I m
"paraphernalia." priate for smoking "tobacco and not sure," he said. "I've been
various herbal preparations." working here for 30 years and I
PARAPHERNALIA, SALES Maplewood City Attorney haven't heard the term used
make up 22 percent of the store's Donald Lais said Monday that no yet."
gross sales and a third of the one has ever been charged with
store's profit,according to Swen- violating the paraphernalia ordi-
son. Some$6C,660 worth of para- nance.
phernalia is expected to be sold
in the Maplewood store this year. THE ORDINANCE, which is
Swenson said in the lawsuit similar to ordinances in other
citMaple-
that the Maplewood ordinance wood was Councilpossed by the 2."forces me to guess which items re City gtin 197 late"We
are prohibited and which are were coming out of the 60s
not."reHdisputed the belief f and there was a lot of reaction or
police that such items are main- anxiety to the drug scene," Lais
ly used to ingest illegal drugs. saW.
When asked what a yen hock
SOME OF THE ITEMS, such is, Lais said, "I don't know, I've