Confronted by the state's new smoking ban in bars, a Mill City smoker lit up anyway — setting a "No Smoking" sign in a Medford club afire early this morning after he was told he couldn't have a cigarette.

The fiery protest, which reduced the paper sign to ashes and filled a bathroom at The Office with smoke, didn't cause any damage, but landed William Gary Wahl, 44, of Mill City, in jail on disorderly conduct and reckless burning charges, Medford police Detective Sgt. Mike Budreau said.

Police were called to the club at 3 S. Riverside Ave. at about 1:50 a.m. Witnesses told officers that Wahl had tried to light a cigarette and been told he couldn't smoke inside under a state law that took effect Jan. 1. He became argumentative, then went into the club's bathroom, where other patrons reported he was smoking, Budreau said.

A bouncer went in to tell him to stop and Wahl held his lighter to a recently posted "No Smoking" sign. The sign burned and left a scorched mark on the tile wall, but no other damage resulted, Budreau said.

Wahl was lodged in the Jackson County Jail on the two misdemeanor charges and remained there this afternoon on $9,000 bail.

— Anita Burke