The old saying holds that you can't fight city, er, town hall, but that is exactly what Yaakov Mann, of West Hempstead, is intent on doing.

Mann, a self-employed accountant and attorney from West Hempstead, last week filed papers in Nassau County Supreme Court, asking that it overturn the Town of Hempstead's anti-burning law as unconstitutional.

Though the law was intended to prohibit town residents from burning garbage in their yards, Mann is contending that the ordinance was written so broadly that people could be cited for as little as lighting a match.

"And certainly, lighting a match in one's yard shouldn't be punishable by 15 days in prison... but it is in the Town of Hempstead," he wrote.

According to the West Hempstead resident, he is seeking this legal action in response to a citation he received from two Nassau police officers last October, who charged him with violating the anti-burning law while barbecuing chicken in his backyard.

Of course, when one reads of a charge like this, they also assume that there's more to the story, and indeed, there is more to this one.

You see, there is a large brick barbecue in the backyard of Mann's home on Walnut Street, and it has been there since the day he bought the home in 1995. Because the barbecue has a particularly deep pit -- close to three feet -- it requires burning wood to produce a fire that will cook meat. That wood, naturally, generates a certain amount of smoke, and that's where the story of the October incident begins.

That smoke, lead to a complaint being called in to police by one of Mann's neighbors, Nancy Garland. Initially, Mann contends, police came to his home, saw the barbecue and left without issuing a citation.

Garland, however, was still apparently being annoyed by the smoke, and called police a second time. When the police returned, they asked Mann to do them a favor and cook inside.

Without hesitation, the attorney refused, asking instead that the police issue him a ticket, which he vowed to fight in court.

He was cited for violating section 138-4 of the Hempstead Town Code, which prohibits the burning of refuse or garbage on any residential property in the township.

Yaakov Mann could not be reached for further comment for this article. Nor could Nancy Garland.

Hempstead town officials also declined comment, pending a review of Mann's lawsuit.