A STEP TO SNUFF YOUTH PUFFING

San Jose: Council moves to outlaw self-service cigarette displays in stores.

San Jose took a step Tuesday toward preventing stores from giving customers
direct access to cigarettes, but the city council rejected a second proposal
to require licensing of tobacco retailers.

On a unanimous vote, the council asked the city attorney to draft an
ordinance outlawing self-service cigarette displays, following the lead of
Palo Alto and several dozen other cities around the state.

Advocates of the self-service ban believe that keeping cigarettes in locked
cases or behind counters minimizes the opportunity for underage smokers to
shoplift cigarettes and discourages them from attempting to buy the products.

The council also asked the city attorney to study whether the city legally
can prohibit stores from displaying tobacco advertising below four feet from
the floor -- such as at checkout counters and on ice cream freezers in
neighborhood markets -- where children are most likely to see them.

But council members Margie Fernandes and Frank Fiscalini -- backed by about
50 youths and adults wearing ``License tobacco sellers'' stickers -- failed
to persuade their colleagues to launch a new city licensing procedure for
tobacco sellers. Such a licensing system -- strongly opposed by the
California Grocers Association -- would allow the city to assess its own
fines if retailers were caught selling tobacco to minors.

``There are adults out there who are selling cigarettes to kids,'' Fernandes
said. ``That amounts to child abuse to me.''

City administrators and a strong majority of the council joined the retail
industry in opposing the licensing measure, arguing it would create a new
bureaucracy that would do nothing to assist in efforts to crack down on
retailers who sell to minors in violation of existing state law. San Mateo
County enacted its own licensing system earlier this year, charging
retailers $25 for a five-year license.

``Licensing, I strongly believe, is absolutely unnecessary,'' said City
Attorney Joan Gallo. Instead, Gallo said the city will be able to use an
existing ordinance regarding public nuisances to file civil actions against
retailers who repeatedly violate the state law, potentially leading to court
orders that would prevent the stores from selling cigarettes or even closing
the stores down.

As part of a series of actions taken Tuesday night, the council authorized
giving the police department $125,000 over the next five years to boost
enforcement of tobacco regulations. That money comes from $1.5 million the
city received last year from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco as part of a $10 million
statewide settlement concerning use of the ``Joe Camel'' figure in its
advertising.

The remainder of the city's share will go into education, advocacy and
advertising programs aimed at reducing smoking among youngsters. Some of
those efforts will include reviews of billboards to check to see if they
comply with a new state law that prohibits the advertising of tobacco
products within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

One speaker showed the council a photograph of a tobacco billboard across
the street from the city's Ice Arena, a favorite recreation site for children.

City officials say that since police began sending minors into local stores
to buy tobacco products in 1993, the number of successful purchases has
dropped from 52 percent to 5 percent.

Such statistics, however, did little to placate anti-tobacco activists like
Kurt Ribisl, a research associate with the Stanford Center for Research in
Disease Prevention. He reported to the council research data that said a
majority of eighth- and 10th-graders surveyed locally reported that it was
easy to buy cigarettes.

``It only takes one store to sell to teens to supply an entire high
school,'' Ribisl told the council.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett