During the month of February Deputies from the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office along with the assistance of several underage confidential informants conducted a Tobacco Compliance Operation. The operation was funded by a Tobacco Prevention & Cessation grant provided to the Sheriff's Office by the St. Mary's County Health Department. In the Tobacco Compliance Operation 87 businesses throughout St. Mary's County were checked. Of the 87 businesses checked only 38 refused to sell tobacco products to the underage informants. Of the other 49 businesses, where the sale of a tobacco product was made, 26 businesses failed to ask for I.D., 22 businesses checked I.D. and still made the sale and 1 business checked the I.D. as well as asked the underage informant their age. Even after the clerk looked at the I.D. and was told by the informant they were under 18 years of age the clerk still made the sale. The businesses that failed the compliance checks were given warnings and will be provided educational materials to review with their employees. Another round of Tobacco compliance checks can be expected within the next two months.
The following businesses are to be commended for passing the tobacco compliance check operation:
New Market Texaco, Laurel Grove Station, Boatman's Mini Mart, Quade's Store, McKay's Grocery Store in Charlotte Hall, Rite Aid Pharmacy in Charlotte Hall, Food Lion in Charlotte Hall, 7-11 Store # 21067 S/B side of Rt. 5 in Charlotte Hall, Chaptico Market, Hill's Country Store, Charlotte Hall Shell, Murphy's Town & Country, Mattingly's Finer Foods, Leonardtown 7-11, Rite Aid Pharmacy in Leonardtown, Snellman's General Merchandise, Sheetz in California, ABC Liquors & Lounge, Bay Country Liquors, WaWa in California (Rt.235 & Rt.4), Wildewood Wine & Spirits, Bob's Sunoco, Sheaffer's Food Mart, Hermanville Mobil, Sign of the Whale Liquors, International Beverages, Hal's Food Mart, FDR 7-11, 2000 Liquors, Canopy Liquors, County Liquors, Stop-N-Shop, Rod-N-Reel, Rick's Marine, Cook's Liquors in Park Hall, Buzzy's Country Store and the Gas Booths at the Mechanicsville & Leonardtown Burchmarts.