One manager says carding customers hurts his business
In a tobacco and alcohol sting operation by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office last week, 10 store clerks were caught selling alcohol, tobacco or both to minors.
Cashiers at the following stores were issued misdemeanor citations: Brothers Food Mart (St. Rose), Valero (Destrehan), Shell Carolyn (Destrehan), Shell LA 52 (Luling), Big River Shell #16 (Destrehan), Country Corner (Luling), Big River Food (Paradis), Birdies (Hahnville), Winn Dixie (Luling), Jif’s #3 (Luling).
Thirty-two stores were targeted in the department’s operation. Some of the clerks who were cited were immediately fired while others are still behind the counter.
Jif’s, on River Road in Luling, was one of the stores to fire the cited employee. The manager of the store said that Jif employees regularly take a class to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.
Brahim Mohamed, manager of Birdies in Hahnville, was also cited for selling alcohol to a minor. While Mohamed said he understands the law and the reasoning for it, he doesn’t always think it’s practical.
“My only complaint is that he didn’t look like a juvenile; he looked older,” Mohamed said.
He said that sometimes he feels he has to choose between losing business or carding someone.
“You assume, if you’re busy, that they’re old enough,” he said. Mohamed said that he has lost business before because he carded someone who became offended because he was older than 21 years old.
Everyone who was issued a citation will have to go to court where a judge will determine the fine they must pay.
Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said that the operation was meant to deter people from selling alcohol and tobacco to minors.
“There’s a huge problem with underage drinking as well as drugs, so we wanted to make sure that the businesses here in St. Charles Parish are following the law,” LaGrange said. “Several businesses have failed to check for proper identification. It’s just unfortunate that these establishments do not take this thing seriously and they tend to place a dollar amount over a juvenile’s well being.”
LaGrange said that not only were the individuals cited, but that the businesses will also be reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and will be issued a citation and investigated.
“We want to send a strong message that it will not be tolerated here in St. Charles Parish,” LaGrange said. “I also want to add that Sheriff (Greg) Champagne wants to commend the businesses that did follow the correct procedure and did check for proper identification.”
LaGrange added that it was the employee’s responsibility to inform the employer of the individual citation, although the business will find out eventually when the state investigates the situation.
The manager of Brothers Food Mart in St. Rose said he wasn’t even aware that someone who worked for him had been issued a citation until he read about it in the newspaper.
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