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Show Who's to Help a Youth? lie's a boy just sixteen, but tike many of his companions the car he drives is his own. He pulls Into the filling station and as the youthful attendant, not much older old-er than his customer, fills the car, the boy walks over to the vending vend-ing machine, deposits the proper colus and quickly pockets the cigarettes. No need for him to read the posted notice on the machine, ma-chine, he already knows that clty ordinances supposedly forbid for-bid this purchase which he just made .... but who's to stop hint? The youthful station attendant at-tendant Is his school chum, still - a minor himself, and even if he saw the purchase he'd never squeal, he'd only be losing a customer and perhaps his job. uxe many 01 nis scnooi cnums this boy smoke regularly. At first It was smart and clever and acceptable to the gang to which he belonged, but it's a habit now . . . . perhaps a lifetime habit that will cost him hundreds of dollars and perhaps his health. Thf citizens parents of the community in which this boy lives believe that tobacco and alcohol al-cohol will Impair the health of their sons and daughers. They realize that despite what they could, or might do, in the home their children could not always Judge wisely for themselves and would come up with temptations In which they would indulge. Because Be-cause of this they made laws and ordinances to protect their children from the sale and possession pos-session of tobacco and liquor until un-til the time th.-.j boys and girls could leave their parents' jurisdiction. juris-diction. Thus Sections 336 and 337 of our city ordinances were passed. These laws forbid the sale to, or purchase or possession of tobacco tobac-co and narcotics by minors. But for numerous teenagers in our city who do smoke and purchase these products, these laws are void. The merchant who has a fgarette vending machine In any place of business In which he does not forbid minors, for him, this city ordinance Is also void; and for the parent, or any citizen who does not report and file any Instance of this knowledge where a merchant sells by machine, or over the counter, cigarettes to minors these laws are also void the very laws he felt needed to be made. . Is the boy who easily purchases pur-chases a pack of cigarettes chant who sells the pack by permitting per-mitting a vending machine in his place, breaking the law? Are you, a member of this community, communi-ty, breaking the law by permit-tingg permit-tingg such business men to have machines? - Believing the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors to be a major problem in our community, commun-ity, the officers of the- Cedar Stake M. I. A. met with the Cedar Ce-dar City Council to discuss this problem, how to keep these products, pro-ducts, which tempt our youth, out of their reach. But a dilemma was cited by our law enforcement authorities: While a merchant is permitted to have a cigarette vending machine he can only be arrested and lose his license for selling tobacco to minors if someone some-one makes a formal complaint, backed by evidence against him, so for the few cents the merchant mer-chant gets from this machine our youth are almost free to purchase as they will, to break the laws " " """ """" j |