Board Suspends Three Stores for Selling Tobacco to Minors

Source from:  By Matthew K. Roy , Staff Writer Salem News 12/29/2007

The Board of Health yesterday suspended the tobacco license of three businesses caught selling cigarettes to someone under 18. Lynnfield Street Shell, 85 Lynnfield St.; A&P Variety, 60 Aborn St.; and Gulf Gas, 136 Newbury St., will not be allowed to sell tobacco products for seven consecutive days next month. The suspension is tied to a third violation in each case. The businesses must also pay the city a $300 fine. The board, which doled out its first suspension last month to C&R Gas and Oil, 139 Lowell St., has decided to crack down on businesses repeatedly caught selling to minors. It previously fined businesses and gave out warnings but never went as far as a suspension. The occurrence of multiple violations at multiple locations showed that a tougher stance was necessary, Chairman John Barry said. "To me, it's evidence of a pretty systemic disregard for the fulfillment of obligations under the ordinance," Barry said. "Across the board, things are not getting better, they're getting worse in terms of violations." The three businesses were caught in a routine sting carried out by the North Shore Tobacco Control Program. Working on behalf of the city, the North Shore Tobacco Control Program is a regional agency that conducts random, unannounced compliance checks at least two times a year at each of the 63 establishments in Peabody permitted to sell tobacco products. William Gasinowski, manager of Lynnfield Street Shell, said that the three violations, which occurred within the last two years, were unintentional oversights. "I have a good crew over there," Gasinowski said. "They messed up." Barry was encouraged that Gasinowski planned to send six employees to a North Shore Tobacco Control Program training program next month. Anyone who doesn't look 27 years old must provide identification that proves his or her age, according to regulations. Rakesh Patel, owner of A&P Variety, asked for leniency. He said he had health problems and that the suspension would hurt his business. "That's my life over there," he said. But Barry said that the board had to be consistent in its enforcement of regulations. "I don't see how we could be arbitrary on who gets suspended and who doesn't," he told Patel. "The ability to sell tobacco products is a privilege, not an absolute right. There are certain obligations that go with it." Facing a third violation, a 7-Eleven at 24 Lake St. will appear before the board next month. "We have an ordinance that's been implemented for a purpose," Barry said. "There's no point to having an ordinance if there are no ramifications for violating it." Enditem