Seminar shows ins, outs of tobacco laws

One Halloween night in New Mexico a man in a gorilla suit entered a convenience store and asked for a pack of cigarettes. He put his driver's license on the counter for identification, and the clerk sold him the cigarettes -- without checking to see if the ID matched the customer under the gorilla head. The clerk was reprimanded for making a sale that could have been illegal.

About 50 convenience store managers and employees came to the Plaza Conference Center in Cape Girardeau Tuesday to learn more about "We Card," a program that promotes enforcement of laws banning the sale of tobacco products to minors.

Complying with the law goes beyond just trying to keep young people from developing an unhealthy habit, said Terry McKenna, an instructor for the Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing Inc. It involves money: the store's, the cashier's and the state's.

The federal government controls millions of dollars in Federal Substance Abuse Block Grant money it gives to states to fund substance abuse programs.

"Three years ago the federal government said states not in 80 percent compliance run the risk of losing funding," McKenna said.

Investigators send minors into stores that sell tobacco to see whether they can get away with buying it. The first state to lose its funding was Pennsylvania, which had a 45 percent compliance rate.

"It cost Pennsylvania $23.2 million," McKenna said.

McKenna said he didn't know Missouri's current compliance rate or how much it could lose by not complying.

McKenna walked the group through ways to spot a fake ID. Fake identification may have dates altered by nearly invisible pinholes through the lamination. It's also possible to melt the laminated covering for a few seconds in a microwave to get at the paper identification document and change the information on it.

Often, McKenna said, clerks don't check the back of the ID card. One sharp-eyed clerk did and found that the phony ID was glued to the back of a card issued by a video rental store. The backs of some are left blank, which is never the case with a legitimate ID card.

The group learned which forms of identification are acceptable and which are not. McKenna advised them on ways to politely refuse to sell to a minor or an adult who may be buying for a minor, and how to train and encourage staff to be diligent about being on the lookout for illegal sales.

Bobbie Mitchell of Jackson, who works for D-Mart, said this was her first time at a "We Card" seminar. Although she works the midnight shift and does not see many minors at that hour, she said she found the seminar enlightening.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160