by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Four Sartell businesses failed recent tobacco-compliance checks by the Sartell Police Department.
The department does compliance checks twice a year by sending minors with their own identification cards to stores. The minors then ask to buy tobacco products. If they are sold without checking the minors’ IDs, it’s considered a violation.
First-time violations are subject to a fine of $75. Second violations (within 24 months of the first violation) can be punishable by a fine of $200. The businesses have a right to appeal the violation citations before the city council.
Those who failed the recent compliance checks are Coborn’s Superstore, Country Store, Holiday gas-and-groceries (at Riverside Avenue) and Family Dollar. It was Coborn’s Superstore’s second violation within a 24-month period, said Sartell Police Chief Jim Hughes at the last city-council meeting.
The solution to the problem, Hughes said, is for employers to keep emphasizing to employees to be sure to check identifications of younger-looking people.
