An undercover operation aimed at reprimanding stores that peddle tobacco to minors would be scuttled if Salt Lake County Commissioner Jim Bradley has his way.

"I do not believe in using children as decoys or operatives in sting operations," said Bradley. "In fact, I find it somewhat repulsive. We ought not be going around trying to set up our small-business men."The program in question would be funded by small grants funneled from the Salt Lake City-County Health Department into Murray, Sandy and West Valley City to pay for police cadets in each city. The cadets would buy cigarettes and other tobacco products from local merchants.

Already in place in Murray, the effort involves high school-age cadets who stop at Murray retail stores and try to buy some form of tobacco. They are shadowed by a uniformed police officer who waits in the parking lot, appearing at the decisive moment when the sale is either rung up or the underage cadet is rejected. The store is praised if it did the legal thing; it is issued a warning if it made the sale.

Bradley and his peers on the County Commission have considerable say in the program's fate because they decide how the county spends its money. The anti-tobacco patrol has a $2,100 price tag, $700 going to each participating city, an amount that is supposed to be paid out at the rate of $1 per "attempted buy."

Bradley said he plans to put a stop to it - nip the cigarette crackdown in the butt, as it were.

"I'm going to recommend we not fund it," he said, predicting a majority of the three-man commission will see it his way. "I know I've got at least one other vote.

"It's just not a good use of scarce public resources. . . . Our money is much better spent in the area of education and prevention rather than law enforcement."

Mayor Lynn Pett said Bradley is missing the point.

"The County Board of Health asked us to help them out . . . it's an educational tool," said Pett. "It's a problem, and the idea is to make stores and store employees aware of it."

Pett said that regardless of whether the city gets its $700 from the county, it will continue the program.

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"We'll finish it up this year," he said.

Government officials say tobacco-sales laws are among the most frequently ignored because judges rarely dole out punishment for such offenses, and police officers therefore have little incentive to enforce the law.

Still, state statutes spell out penalties for selling tobacco to minors, which range from 90 days in jail plus a $500 fine for first-time offenders, and up to $1,000 in fines for businesses. Second-time offenders can do up to six months in jail and face a fine of $1,000; business can be fined up to $5,000. Third-time offenses can net a one-year jail term and a $2,500 fine for individuals, $10,000 for businesses.

Valerie Billmire, the tobacco prevention and control coordinator for the Salt Lake City-County Health Department, has touted the program as an anti-tobacco education drive with an implicit anti-substance abuse message as well, because "tobacco has been found to lead to the use of drugs."

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