Tuesday, April 06, 1999
29 retailers cited in undercover tobacco check
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In a recent undercover police operation, more than a third of 79 randomly selected stores in Butler County sold tobacco products to underage youths.
Officials of the Middletown and Hamilton health departments, which worked with police on the operation, said they were disappointed that 29 stores — 36 percent of those checked — sold tobacco to youths under 18.
In similar countywide check in August 1997, 19 percent of the merchants sold tobacco products to underage teens.
“The increase is certainly discouraging,” said Dr. William Karwisch, director of Hamilton's health department. “It indicates they don't take the law seriously.”
In an effort to improve compliance, police cited 24 of the 29 merchants for violating the law. First-time offenders can be sent to jail for up to 30 days and fined up to $250.
Undercover police agents accompanied 14 teens between 14 and 17 years old in three checks in late March and one on April 1. Police departments in Hamilton, Middletown, Fairfield, Union Township, New Miami and Oxford were involved in the checks.
This is the third countywide check on the illegal sale of tobacco products since 1995. Federal regulations require periodic checks to qualify for maximum federal funds for health services.
In Butler's first countywide tobacco sales check in 1995, 41 percent of the merchants sold to underage youths.
The police were not involved in the first checks, and no one was cited.
The Middletown and Hamilton health departments sent letters and packets to merchants to educate them about the law and to urge them to ask for identification before selling tobacco products to youths.
But after several checks in Hamilton and Middletown during 1996, the health departments brought in the police to cite merchants who violated the law.
“We hate to do that, but that's how people learn,” said Kristy Duritsch, Middletown's health programs administrator.
“We've tried to educate them. But they listen more when the police are involved and they have a chance of being cited.”
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