Undercover teens on trail
of stores who sell smokes

TOBACCO RETAILERS ~ im
continue to steadily supply .'

teenagers with cigarettes,
despite a three-year cam-
paign targeting them to
stop selling to minors, says
an environmental health
officer.

David: Butt, a Smithers
health worker who uses
undercover teens to catch
tetailers who sell tobacco
to minors, said Terrace
shopkeepers sold 15 packs
of cigarettes to undercover
teenagers in the past six
months, |

“We were surprised and
disappointed how success-
ful the youths were in buy-
ing tobacco in Terrace
over the past six months,”
Butt said.

“We thought businesses
in Terrace were far more
conscious of this.”

Butt and undercover
teenagers regularly visit 40
outlets selling cigarettes
to check up on retailers,
The purpose of the ag-

' gressive tobacco legisla-

tion is to protect children
from becoming addicted to
nicotine. According to sta-

Blaze
destroys
home

A CHIMDEMASH family

lost all but a few posses-

sions. when fire destroyed
their three-storey home
March 28.

. Susan Gogag and two
‘teenage daughters were

_ home just after lunch that

day and noticed smoke

"seeping from the attic of

their rental house.
Although they saved
canned food, clothes and a

‘washer and dryer, the fami-

ly lost an estimated $70,000
in personal belongings.

‘The fire began when a
stray chimney ember landed
on a wooden roof shingle.

The Gogags, Dennis and
Susan and three children,
had na insurance.

Damage to the home is

_ estimated at $80,000,

-- “The second storey has
heavy smoke and fire
damage,” said Thornhill de-
puty fire chief Wes Patter-
son.

The fire completely de-
stroyed the altic and upper
floor, as firefighters had to
open up the upper level
walls to make sure the fire
hadn’t spread into the walls
of the building.

’ Patterson said spring is
especially bad for chimney
fires because wooden shin-

. gle roofs dry out and creo-

sote in chimneys tends to
build up.

. The solution, said Patter-
son, is to clean chimneys re-

‘gularly and treat wooden

shake and shingles with a
fire retardant.

“They're pretty shaken,”
said Nancy Marshall a
Thornhill Community
Church member and a
friend of the family. “But
they’re also encouraged by
how much people have
helped.”
~ The church contacted bu-
sinesses for donations and a
fund has been set up in the
Gogag name at the Bank of
Nova Scotia.

Two men
wanted in
assault

RCMP are looking for two
men who sexually assaulted
a woman in the 4600 block
of Davis Avenue Friday,
March 31,

The woman was attacked
between 11:30 and 11:45
p.m. near the south side of
Kalum Street Copperside
Foods store.

RCMP believe the sus-
pects sexually assaulted the
woman and ‘ran off in a
south-westerly direction.

One of the suspects is
native and both are thought
to be 18-23 years old.

The attack is the second
in Terrace since March 22. -

Anyone who witnessed _

suspicious activity in the

_area Friday night are asked:
‘to-call ‘the RCMP at at 638~

MARK SMITH at 7-11, says every employee in his

store must ask anyone who looks under the age of
25 for ID before selling tobacco products.

listics about 80 per cent of

smokers start smoking be-

fore they are 19 years old.
Bult said the program

is an attempt to decrease

direct sales of tobacco to
minors by making it more
difficult for youngsters to
buy cigarettes.

Tobacco retailers who
sell smokes to teenagers
under 19 years of ape may
draw fines of up to $2,500
for first offences.

Retailers who receive

two convictions in a five-
year period could be sus-
pended from selling tobac-
co for six manths. Retai-

lers with three convictions -

will receive 12-month sus-

‘pensions and- those with

four or more convictions
will get 24-month suspen-
sions.

Bult said most retailers
who are caught aren't pur-
posefully trying to sell to
minors — sometimes new
employees simply forget to

ask,

Mark Smith, from 7-11
said his store has never
been fined.

That’s because every

7-11 employers practices

the “ID ZONE”, which
means workers must ask
anyone under the age of 25
for ID before selling them
tobacco products.

“We ID everyone,” he
said,

Smith said every. week
he turns away one or two
youngsters who want to
buy smokes.

Terrace teenagers admit
it isn’t hard for them to get
smokes.

“I just go to any store,”
said an underage teenager
who was smoking outside
Caledonia.

“I can buy beer, whis-
ky, cigarettes,” he added,
“I know kids that are 13

-whe can buy: cigarettes.”

Other underaged smo-
kers. said -they rely on
friends or strangers to buy
them cigarettes.

“People buy them for
me all the time,” said one
youth.

In 199§ only one ticket
was issued to a Terrace re-
taller who sold tobacco to
minors.

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