Modesto—Stanislaus County health officials say they hope to curb a rise in tobacco sales to minors with a proposed licensing requirement for tobacco retailers.

Health Services Agency representatives received verbal support for the proposal from the Stanislaus County Planning Commission last week, and the proposed ordinance should go before the county board of supervisors in October.

“We see it as a good tool to try to reduce the sales rate,” Health Educator Mark Loeser of the county Health Services Agency said this week.

Specifically, the proposed ordinance would require stores selling tobacco products in unincorporated areas—some 80 retailers in all, to pay the county treasurer a $150 annual fee for a tobacco retail license. Money gained from the licensing fee would be used to pay the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department to increase enforcement of tobacco sales laws.

Sammy Obeid, whose family owns One Stop Market in Grayson, noted that a new California law already requires stores to get a state license to sell tobacco products. Store owners must pay a one-time fee of $100 for a store license, and all licensed stores must post their license in a visible location.

Obeid said such licenses make it more difficult for competitors who sell stolen cigarettes to operate, so he supports the state license. The county license would probably have the same effect, he said.

“I think it benefits a lot of people,” he said of the state license, adding a county license would be a good thing, too.

Stores caught selling to undercover decoys would have their licenses suspended for 30 days on the first offense under the proposed county license, though they could attend a one-time tobacco education class instead of facing the suspension.

A second violation within a five-year period would cause the store’s license to be suspended for another 30 days. A third violation would cause the license to be revoked for a year, and a fourth offense would cause it to be revoked for five years.

More than 30 similar ordinances exist in cities and counties throughout California, including ordinances for Santa Barbara and Contra Costa counties.

The proposal comes as tobacco sales to youth appear to be on the rise in the county. Some 26 percent of Stanislaus County stores surveyed, 19 out of 70, were found willing to sell tobacco to youth during a sting operation in 2002. That compares with a 19.3 percent rate statewide that year and a 12.7 percent rate countywide in 2001.

Stop Tobacco Sales to Youth, a committee composed of county officials, citizens and representatives of groups such as the American Cancer Society, has discussed the tobacco licensing proposal the past year and a half, but the discussions have really become serious within the past six months, Loeser said.

Some 60 groups, businesses and individuals have endorsed the proposal, include the Grayson Neighborhood Council, a group that aims to promote issues relevant to Grayson, Westley and Vernalis.

Stanislaus County Planning Commissioners generally showed support of the proposal following a Health Services Agency presentation during the August 5 Planning Commission meeting in Modesto.

“I think it’s a much-needed program because I see so many children chewing tobacco,” Commissioner Marie Assali said.

She and commissioners Jim Poore and Mike Navarro said the only problem they had with the proposal was they though it needed to include stiffer penalties for tobacco sales violations.

However, Loeser said this week that the goal of the licensing program is to educate, not merely punish.

“We want to be a resource for stores that sold (tobacco to minors), not just smack their hands,” he said.

West Side merchants in unincorporated areas had mixed reactions this week when they heard about the proposed ordinance.

Roberta Vega, a manager at El Paisano Westley Market, said the intent of the proposed county license sounds good.

“If it’s for helping someone else, it’s OK,” he said.

On the other hand, Sammy Obeid’s uncle, Mohammed Obeid, was not so optimistic. “The government gets greedy,” he said of such increased charges.

To reach Jonathon Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or email Jonathon@pattersonirrigator.com.