Lynn stores punished for tobacco sales to minors

LYNN – Two local stores – Enjoy Liquor at 53 Union St., and 7-Eleven at 3 Lynnfield St. – will begin serving seven-day suspensions of their tobacco licenses on March 11 for selling tobacco products to minors during a compliance check.Joyce Redford, director of the North Shore Tobacco Control Program said the compliance checks took place Feb. 19, 20 and 21, in which a total of eight stores were fined for not checking identification before selling tobacco to minors.Of the eight stores, Redford said only Enjoy Liquor and 7-Eleven were suspended for second offenses and were each issued $200 fines.Union News on Union Street, Lucky 7 Market and Lynn Liquor Mart on Boston Street, D&M on Commercial St., Del Pueblo Market in Market Square, and 7-Eleven on Essex Street were all fined as first offenses and issued $100 tickets.”These stores should all be very accustomed to checking identification,” Redford said. “This was also done on a week when school kids were on vacation, so you’d think that the stores would have a heightened awareness.”Mary Ann O’Connor, director of the Lynn Health Department said in addition to the monetary fines issued to stores for illegally selling tobacco products, a new law was adopted roughly one year ago to suspend the stores’ permits for the second, third and fourth offense.”The regulations were revised and stores will have to serve a 30-day suspension for a third offense including a $300 fine, and six months for a fourth offense and a $300 fine,” she said. “However, if the store hasn’t had a fine in a 24-month period, they are back to square one.”Overall, Redford said Lynn has a 98 percent compliance rate, which is relatively good for the size of the city.”We’d of course like to have it be 100 percent, but this check was slightly better than the last one,” she said. “I don’t think the clerks are intentionally selling to kids, but 16 and 17 year olds certainly don’t look like they are 21.”Redford said clerks are required under state law to request identification for any person under the age of 27, and for the sale of alcohol, anyone under the age of 30.Sometimes however, she said a person’s age is difficult to judge, so quarterly training sessions are offered to clerks to gain the skills they need to make a proper sale.”Someone that’s 27 most likely doesn’t have acne or isn’t wearing a baseball hat to the side?those are typically age indicators,” she said. “But quite frankly, the older I get, the less I can tell the difference between a 16, 17, or 18 year old.”