Superstitious or not, Friday, Feb. 13th was bad luck for eleven area businesses after being cited by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office for selling alcohol or tobacco to minors.
A total of 12 summonses were issued in a joint operation between the SCSO’s Juvenile Investigations Division and the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
One store manager, Connie Gainer, with the Pit Stop 2 in Luling, said her employee admitted she made a mistake.“The girl that made the sale told me, look, I screwed up,” Gainer said. “But they (Sheriff’s Office) had so much make-up on that girl, I just couldn’t tell. And truthfully, I did question it in my mind at the time.”
Gainer said she saw her employee’s point, and she could see what the employee was talking about when she looked at the videotape recording of the sale.
St. Charles Parish Sheriff Police Information Officer Captain Patrick Yoes expressed a way to avoid such confusion in the future.
“It is wise to I.D. everyone under 40,” Yoes said.
He also believes the program is working and feels good about making area residents aware of which businesses are doing the right thing.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Look at the businesses on the compliance list. That’s why we make those names available to the community, so they can see who is operating within the law.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the penalty for the unlawful sale of tobacco, alternative nicotine products, or vapor products to persons under the age of 18 is a fine not more than $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second violation, $250 for the third and $400 for any subsequent violation.
For alcohol, the fines and penalties are more severe.The unlawful sale of alcohol to persons under 21 years of age is a fine not less than $500 and not more than $1000, or imprisoned for not less than 30 days, nor more than six months, or both.
One of the 18 businesses recognized for compliance by the Sheriff’s Office is Big River Food and Fuel in Destrehan. Store manager April Boyd said they haven’t had an issue for two very specific reasons.
“First, our employees are people who want a job and need a job,” Boyd said. “Furthermore, in every paycheck envelope they receive a reminder to always, always I.D. everyone.” For a complete list of the businesses cited and those who asked for I.D., read this story at www.heraldguide.com.
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