DATE: Wednesday, September 3, 1997          TAG: 9709030444

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   61 lines

TEENS WILL HELP ENFORCE ALCOHOL, TOBACCO SALES LAW

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is recruiting teen-age volunteers to help enforce state laws barring sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco to anyone under 18.

The program is part of a joint effort with state health officials to comply with new federal tobacco regulations and to enforce state laws that rarely have been applied to merchants who make illegal tobacco sales.

Officials say they won't try to trick sales clerks with teen-agers who could pass for young adults.

``We want people 15 and 16 (years old) who look 15 and 16,'' said S. Chris Curtis, director of enforcement at ABC. ``We want young-looking people.''

The program marks the first time ABC agents will work routinely with teen-age volunteers to enforce state laws against illegal sale of alcohol and tobacco.

Retailers could face civil penalties of up to $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $500 for each additional violation.

ABC officials expect to begin undercover operations by mid-September at almost 500 stores throughout the state. Those stores failed compliance checks last spring by health department teams using volunteers who were younger than 18. Those checks did not result in illegal sales or citations, only warnings if a merchant was about to sell tobacco to the underage buyer.

Anne P. Petera, chairman of the Virginia ABC Board, said she hopes the agency does not have to enforce the law with citations.

``Believe me, we're much happier when we catch someone doing something right,'' she said.

The agency will depend on public education and media campaigns to persuade most merchants and teen-agers to obey the law. It helps that about 80 percent of the estimated 7,800 retail tobacco outlets also have ABC licenses, department officials said. Still, the department has 110 field agents and about 12,500 alcohol licensees.

``The numbers just don't add up for us to be everywhere,'' Curtis said.

The ABC teams will not enforce a new federal regulation that requires merchants to check the photo identification of anyone under 27 before selling them cigarettes or other tobacco products.

``Our focus is going to be on the state statute,'' Curtis said.

ABC officials said the department had hoped to be commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration to enforce the additional federal regulations. However, they said the FDA required the agency to submit a lengthy proposal without any chance of receiving federal financial help in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. So Virginia will wait for the next fiscal year to seek commissioning.

``It's not that we don't want to do it,'' said J. Craig Vanderland, director of management services and public affairs at ABC.

Supervisors in the state's eight ABC enforcement districts are recruiting teen volunteers. The agency is working with the Explorer Scouts, schools and youths who helped the health department with its undercover checks.

The program could require the underage buyers to go to court to help the state obtain convictions against offenders, Curtis said.

Once young people are recruited, they must learn the nuances of undercover work, such as avoiding behavior that could be construed as entrapment. KEYWORDS: TOBACCO ALCOHOL

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