Compliance visits show illegal sales to underage teens

You never know until you try.

That’s particularly true for underage teenagers who try to purchase alcohol or tobacco products.

And when Sallisaw NOW Coalition and People Inc. recently conducted their annual compliance checks at retailers throughout Sequoyah County, they found that even when teens presented identification that clearly showed they were under 18 years old, there were those retailers who still completed the purchase transaction.

Now those retailers are being scrutinized by the Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement (ABLE) Commission.

Heather Silva, community educator for Sallisaw NOW Coalition, told Sequoyah County Commissioners at their Monday meeting that their compliance checks resulted in five convenience stores selling alcohol to decoy shoppers under the age of 18.

“Everybody asked for the IDs, but five sold, still even after asking for IDs,” an astonished Silva told the commissioners. “We’re gonna follow up with the ABLE Commission to see where we need to go from here.”

Last week’s purchase transactions were completed even after the teenaged shoppers presented valid government-issued identification that revealed their true age, Silva told the commissioners.

“We don’t have anything fake,” Silva said, explaining that “if you’re over 21, your ID’s gonna be sideways (horizontal). If you’re under 21, it’s gonna be up and down (vertical), and it’s got big stamped red letters: Under the age of 21.”

Silva said the underage decoy shoppers entered the store and attempted to make an unauthorized purchase using their valid ID.

“We tell [the decoy shoppers], ‘You can’t lie to them if they ask you how old you are, you have to tell them how old you are’,” she said.

Giving the store cashiers the benefit of the doubt, District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers asked Silva, “You think maybe they don’t know?”

But District 2 Commissioner Beau Burlison remained skeptical of store personnel who ignored the underage IDs: “They’re just going through the protocol, just going through the motions.”

“A lot of them will scan [the ID], their computer system has a scan, and it will tell them, it’ll beep,” Silva explained. “But one even beeped and somehow they ended up overriding it and still sold to them. I think he got the manager, and the manager came in and did something.”

Those stores that subverted the law received written warnings from Garrett Fargo and Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office interdiction agent Steven Edwards.

“We’ll go back again, and if they sell again at those places, then they’ll get a fine or something like that,” Silva said, who declined to identify the stores that were cited.

Tobacco sales to underage teens also occurred when People Inc. conducted its tobacco retail checks.

“Several have sold, or were going to sell — we don’t let the youth actually go through with the purchase,” Lindsie Dyer of People Inc. told the commissioners.

“Ours is about education, educating them about what they need to be doing. But it looks like we’re about to get the ABLE Commission involved as well, because they look at [the IDs], but they’re not paying attention to it, they’re not serious about it,” Dyer said.

Later on Monday, Jayna Tillman of People Inc. said 40 tobacco retailer education visits were conducted throughout the county as part of People Inc.’s TSET Healthy Living Program grant work. The visits featured support from an underage buyer along with Tillman making contact with each clerk at the point of sale immediately following the purchase attempt.

The tobacco retailer education visits are not intended to be punitive, Tillman said, “they’re gentle reminders and guidance on best practices for checking ID. Our visits are typically well-received as many clerks are in the habit of correctly identifying buyers. When a clerk follows proper protocol, we provide a small incentive and thank them for their support in keeping tobacco products out of the hands of youth.”

Tillman said she is pleased that the majority of the visits resulted in the clerks requesting the buyer’s ID. “However, I do have concerns about the frequency of clerks who simply ask for the date of birth or age and not their ID.

“I observed what would’ve been a sale to an underaged buyer once in each of the following jurisdictions: Muldrow, Sallisaw, Vian and Roland. In these instances, each clerk was reminded to always request the buyer’s ID or risk a fine should the next visit be a compliance check conducted by the ABLE Commission or local law enforcement,” Tillman said.

Because the visits were not intended to draw negative attention to the tobacco retailers or their clerks, Tillman would not release the locations where there was a lack of compliance.

“However, this issue does evidence a need for jurisdictions to take a stronger stance on tobacco/vape laws and enforcement. Efforts are underway to partner with communities throughout Sequoyah County to pass ordinances to prevent youth access to tobacco/ vapes and work with law enforcement to conduct compliance checks,” Tillman said.