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Show Juvenile Judge Backs Tobacco Laws We arc all aware that the practice of smoking by juveniles is becoming a very serious problem. prob-lem. It has become such a common com-mon practice that many of our youth are of the opinion that it is the natural and correct thing to do. We all are aware of the injurious injur-ious effects tobacco has on the minds and bodies of our young people. It is the purpose and intention in-tention of the Juvenile Court to take any and al lsteps necessary to stop this practice among the youth of our communities. Our object in working with our youth is to help them in every way possible to solve their many problems and help them develop into the fine law-abiding citizens they and all of us want them to be. It is our intention to handle every child referred to this court for smoking and do all we can to induce them to give up such practices. prac-tices. We all know that our legislature le-gislature has provided very spe-cinc spe-cinc laws pronibiting any chiiu under the age of 19 from having in his possession or using tobacco tobac-co in any form. Therefore, not only Is the child injuring his body in using tobacco but he is also fctig the habit of violating violat-ing the laws of the State. We want to remind the public that It is the responsibility of each citizen to do his part in overcoming this bad practice among our young people. The Juvenile Court and ofliccrs of your community will follow through but they must have your help. We have very definite information inform-ation that certain business establishments estab-lishments have made it possible for young people to obtain cigarettes cig-arettes without any trouble at all. The Juvenile Court is preparing pre-paring to file action against each and every individual, either business bus-iness or private, who gf.os, sells, jor permits any juvenile to get or I purchase cigarettes from them or their business establishment. I would like to call attention to Section 59-18-12 of the Utah Code Annotated 1953 which reads as follows: "Any person who furnishes fur-nishes to any person under the age of 19, by gift, sale or otherwise, other-wise, any cigarette or cigarette paper or wrapper, or any paper made or prepared for the purpose pur-pose of making cigarettes, or any tobacco of any kind whatsoever, is guilty of a misdemeanor." It is elear that this statute exempts none from responsibility. The proprietors of some business busi-ness houses say they have cigarette cigar-ette vending machines and they say that they cannot watch the machines all tho time and that the juveniles get cigarettes from around or not watching. May I "all their attention to Section 59-18 59-18 18 of the Utah Code Annotated, Annotat-ed, 1953, as amended 1963, which throws full responsibility on them. "Any person who maintains main-tains after June 30, 1963, in his ilacc of business a tobacco vending vend-ing machine accessible to persons under the age of 19 or provides my method of self-help for the disposition to persons under the age of 19 by gift, sale or otherwise, other-wise, of any cigarette or cigarette cigar-ette paper or wrapper, or any paper made or prepared for the imrpo.se of making cigarettes or tobacco in any form whatsoever, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Cig- arclte vending machines shall be deemed accessible to persons under un-der the age ol 19 except where they are in locations where persons per-sons under age of 19 are prohibited; prohibit-ed; where the machine can be operated only by the owner or his employee, either directly or through a remote control device which is Inaccessible to the customer cus-tomer and must be operated for each sale; In private industrial places where only adult employees employ-ees are customarily allowed, provided pro-vided such locations are inaccessible inacces-sible to persons under the age of 19, and in adult private clubs; provided that such locations are inaccessible to persons under the age of 19." It is further to be noted that the statute provided that any vending machine used to dispense dis-pense tobacco or tobacco products prod-ucts must have posted on it in lettering between three and six Inches high the words: "WARNING: "WARN-ING: PURCHASE BY, or a POSSESSION POS-SESSION BY or SALE TO a YEARS OF AGE, of tobacco products prod-ucts is a violation of: Penal Code 76-42-5; 76-42-4; Civil Code 59-18-12, and 591818, Utah Code Annotated 1953." The Juvenile court will enforce these provisions of the Utah Code to the fullest extent. It is my belief that no leniency need be shown to any adult who de liberately or thoughtlessly violates vio-lates these provisions of the code to the detriment of our youth, i We suggest that the proprietor of any business where there is n . cigarette vending machine, make I sure that he nor any of his em-1 ployees or agents violate or permit per-mit the law to be violated. The law provides punishment up to $300.00 fine and up to six months Imprisonment in the County Jail or either the fine or imprisonment. imprison-ment. We of the Juvenile court feel that anyone who will let his de-1 sire for a few pennies profit to I overshadow his duty to protect ! our youth, does not deserve leniency len-iency in any respect. We get the further excuse, "It is hard to tell whether a person is under 19 or not." All we can say Is that the burden Is on the seller to make sure that he is over age 19, and If a sale is made and it is shown that the person Is not over 19 years of age, the seller will be held liable. Some of our young people say that they are addicted to the habit ha-bit and cannot overcome it. In young people this Is a matter of mind and they can overcome the habit. We of the Juvenile Court are willing to give our help to any youth who expresses a desire to quit smoking. Recently the Juvenile Court sponsored a "Smoking School" which was attended by about 20 youth and several parents. It takes cooperation of both parents par-ents and children to solve this problem. At this "School" the film "Is Smoking Worth It?" was shown and Dr. Verl Broad -bent, M.D., of Cedar City gave an excellent talk on lung cancer can-cer as caused by smoking. Slbmitted by: Sterling R. Bossard. JuTnil Judge |