Wed, May 17th, 2023 - 7:00pm
August 07, 2022 - 8:34pm | By Kyle Cornell
(Grand Forks, ND) -- Four Grand Forks businesses have been cited for selling tobacco to underage buyers.
Grand Forks Police tell WDAY Radio that this past Thursday the Department's Education and Outreach Bureau along with area under-age buyers conducted tobacco compliance checks. These tobacco compliance checks were done in compliance with SYNAR grant funding through the Grand Forks Public Health Department and the North Dakota Department of Health.
The officers and under-age buyers checked 16 businesses within the city of Grand Forks that had tobacco licenses that were issued by the state of North Dakota. Of the 16 businesses that were checked there were four failures. These four failures had a citation issued to the clerk that sold the tobacco product. The store will also face an administrative sanctions.
The business’ that sold tobacco products to our underage buyers were:
• Simonson’s (310 Gateway Drive)
• Simonson’s Travel Center (4720 Gateway Drive)
• Hugo’s Grocery Store (1315 S. Columbia Road)
• Walmart (5755 Gateway Drive)
The Police Department uses under-age buyers from the community who are under 21 years of age. The under-age buyer enters establishments that sell tobacco products under the supervision of a police officer in accordance with city ordinance 9-0217. The under-age buyer attempts to purchase tobacco products while in no way concealing their actual age and promptly displaying ID when asked for it.
