Police and Oregon Liquor Control Commission officers, working with underage Eugene Police explorers, cited a total of 44 stores for selling alcohol and tobacco to minors in a sting operation held April 12-14.
The explorers, students interested in a career in law enforcement and whose ages ranged from 16 to 20, were sent in by officers and attempted to purchase alcohol and tobacco. Those stores that sold to the minors were cited at once; those that didn’t received an appreciative letter from the Eugene Police Department.
Of the 86 stores checked for illegal alcohol sales, nearly 40 percent were cited. But of the 75 stores checked for tobacco sales, only 13 percent received a citation for failing to check identification.
Jan Power, public information assistant for the EPD, said the department was disappointed that this year’s results for alcohol were not that much smaller than a sting in July of 1998 that cited 45 percent of the stores checked.
She added, however, that the program shouldn’t be viewed in terms of success or failure as it is more of a “wake-up call for store owners.”
Bail for the citation of selling alcohol to a minor is usually set for $265, and the maximum fine for such an offense is $500, Power said.
The OLCC levies fines against store owners who sell to minors. Jon Stubenvoll, the OLCC’s communications director, said the commission’s fines range from $1,650 for a first-time offender or a 10-day prohibition from liquor sales to the revoking of a liquor license for fourth-time offenders. Stubenvoll said the OLCC has begun a program that reduces fines for store owners who participate in an educational campaign.
Robert Rice, owner of Tom’s Market at 1490 E. 19th Ave., said police cited one of his clerks for selling both alcohol and tobacco to the underage explorers on Thursday.
“It happened to a clerk with less than five hours of training,” he said.
Although Rice did admit his store is at fault, he said the citations he received were because of just one mistake and his store is usually exemplary at refusing tobacco and alcohol to minors.
“It makes us look bad, and we don’t deserve to look bad,” he said.
One of the majority of store owners who successfully passed the test was Sue McGuire, owner of the Alder Street Market at 798 E. 11th Ave.
“I have a good solid rapport with the police, and I respect them and know they have a job to do,” she said.
But Stephanie Young Peterson, a coordinator for Tobacco Free Lane County, said there are several owners who don’t take much time in educating their employees.
“It is hard to get clerks trained when some owners don’t see a point to it,” she said.