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LACEY, Wash. -- On one side of the wall that separates two businesses, hookahs are prepped and ready to smoke.



On the other side, patients sit in dental chairs for their exams.



The owner of Cascade Dental Care says there's no way she'll allow a hookah bar to open just one door down from her clinic. Dr. Devi and her husband are asking the City of Lacey to deny a business license for the lounge on grounds it violates state law that bans smoking in certain public places.



"It's not healthy for me, it's not healthy for my patients," says dental assistant Whitney Turner. "There's a tiny little wall dividing our office from their facility and I was thinking, oh my gosh, all this second hand smoke that I'm going to be breathing."



Dental staff claim the hookah bar owners and their friends have already been smoking over the past few weeks, and the smoke permeates the dental clinic.



"I don't like it. It's not pleasant," Turner said.



She worries how it might affect her patients.



"There's a large military presence in our community, so we get a lot of moms and kids coming in. So we have the young little guys, we got the moms and the dads, and we also have a large retirement community here," she said.



But the owners of the hookah lounge say the people at the dental clinic are overly sensitive and exaggerating.



"I don't know why they are so upset," said Andy Hassan. "We are doing everything to make sure the smoke does not bother others."



Hassan says he just installed a powerful fan that will generate enough pressure to prevent smoke from escaping the lounge.



He plans to operate as a private club and will not have employees. Hassan and his partner will serve customers, so no workers will be exposed to smoke, which is against the law.



"I don't care about their complaint," said Hassan. "I just want to run a legal business. If you want to smoke, smoke. If you don't, then I'm not forcing you to smoke."



He says an inspector from the Thurston County Health Department visited the lounge after the dental clinic complained.



Public health officials must determine whether the business would violate the public smoking ban, which among other provisions, prohibits smoking outdoors within 25 feet of an entry, exit, window of air intake.



Lacey's city manager said he's waiting for a determination from the health department before issuing a business license to Sultan Hookah Lounge. If health officials conclude the lounge violates state smoking laws the city will not issue the license.



A decision could come as soon as Friday.