Officers sting county stores for under-aged tobacco sales
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan KIRBYVILLE POLICE OFFICER Scott Duncan writes up a citation during last Wednesday's tobacco sales sting operation. Jasper Police DARE officer Wanda Brister helped with the operation which targeted seven Kirbyville stores.

In an effort to make an impression on tobacco sales outside of Jasper, authorities conducted a sting operation on stores in Kirbyville and Buna Wednesday, April 18.

Of the 15 stores that were tested, seven failed as they sold tobacco products to an under-aged participant.

"I feel this sting will accomplish a lot more now that they actually see that we are serious about doing it," said Jasper Police and DARE officer Wanda Brister, who helped coordinate the operations in Kirbyville and Buna. "I don't think the county stores really expected it. They know we do it in Jasper regularly but this was the first time we ever hit county stores.

"I think it made these stores sit up and listen," Brister said. "They know the laws are there - it's up to them to enforce them and not sell to minors."

Clerks who sold the products to the minor were cited for sale of a tobacco product to a minor, which is punishable by a fine up to $500.

Brister was involved in the operation because she teaches the DARE program in schools in Kirbyville and Buna. During that time, parents had encouraged her to run her tobacco sting operations in their areas as well.

Kirbyville Police Chief Paul Brister also had heard complaints about the sale of tobacco products to minors and sought to run a sting operation in his town.

"Once I ran through it one time with them, then they can do the same thing over again," Brister said. "They now know the procedure and what to do."

Brister said that stores in Kirbyville and Buna should be forewarned that future stings are planned for these areas.

"We want the stores in the area to think that this is going to continue being done," Brister said.

Brister has worked on reducing the cases of tobacco sales to minors in the city of Jasper through the DARE program and through sting operations.

"We realize that tobacco is a growing problem with our young people, and we plan to work hard to reduce the demand side of it in our community," Brister said. "We plan to make known that our community is serious about the prevention of tobacco products and their availability to minors and if sales are made, citations will be issued and violators brought before the city judge."

Through the DARE programs taught through the schools, Brister is able to reach the children with the message about tobacco.

"The best way we feel to reach the largest number of children is through our school systems," Brister said. "We feel that school assemblies to educate the children about the dangers of tobacco products are essential, because our relationship with the school system is very important to us.

"We feel that by educating the public to the fact that there is a tobacco use problem by minors and the dangers of such use that it may make parents more aware and want to open up a more effective line of communication with their children and their surroundings," Brister said. "Sometimes the infliction of stiff penalties will get more attention, than education. We feel that with our commitment to this effort and the past success we have had with our community's devotion to support worthy causes, we can surely make a difference in our area and with our most valuable resource - our children."