Accusing storeowners Mike Miller and Todd Marsh with possession and sale of drug paraphernalia, officers seized and carted off the store's stock of 273 hookahs, water pipes, glass pipes, metal pipes, and pipes disguised as cigarettes. They have not been fined and no charges were filed, but the back half of their tiny 26- by 16-foot shop is empty, while the front still sports a range of cigars, cigarettes, and packaged tobacco.

Miller and Marsh are outraged. The two men, both in their late 30s, opened the Admiral last September--a small shop located at the corner of California and Admiral in West Seattle between a bakery and a shoe-repair shop.

Miller, a tall stout man with a shaved head, says he and his partner don't sell the illegal "glass rose" crack pipes that have gotten other Seattle business owners into trouble ["Crack Pipe Crack Down," Amy Jenniges, April 11], and they throw out anybody who asks for water pipes by illegal names.

But according to Police Operations Lieutenant Mike Nolan, selling any sort of paraphernalia is illegal, and the Admiral's 13 signs--"Waterpipes are for tobacco use only"--are no excuse.

Nolan says every shop in the area that continues to sell paraphernalia will get its turn.

Marsh, a quiet former pool champ whose long black hair is slicked back, isn't so sure. "I think we're being unfairly singled out," he says.

Trouble began at the Admiral on January 4, 2002, when Officer Willie Askew, a member of the South Precinct Community Policing Team, first visited the store following a complaint from an irate customer. Askew refused to comment on this story.

Miller, who later discussed the complaint with the customer, says the patron complained to police because Miller had refused to let him use the bathroom.

However, according to Miller and Marsh, when Askew arrived, he was only interested in drug paraphernalia.

"If someone wants to use [my products] for illegal purposes, they're not telling me when they buy [them]," Miller says.

Since the bust, Miller says authorities continue to harass him. Raj Veluppillai and Jim Martines from the Washington State Liquor Control Board visited the shop, stating that they'd received a tip Miller was selling untaxed tobacco. However, the agents found that the tobacco was on the up and up.