Tobacco Minor Sting Operation -Polk County

The Coalition, Inc. has partnered with the Polk County Sheriff’s Department in an effort to prevent and reduce the harmful use of tobacco products in rural areas like East Texas, where tobacco-related health problems are more prevalent.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Department targeted area businesses that sell tobacco. The age limit to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, is 21, per the new guidelines from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Out of the 38 attempts done in June and July, 6 citations were issued to the business that sold tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to minors and 32 businesses did not sell to minors:

• Stripes Store 41037H; 702 S Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Uday #11; 619 N Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Brookshire Brothers #24; 100 S Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Corrigan One Stop; 2901 E 2nd St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Family Dollar #28490; 303 S Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• HPP Truck Stop; 1001 N Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Lucky Food Mart; 100 N Home St, Corrigan, TX 75939

• Paw Paw Smoke, 105 S Home St Suite 1, Corrigan, TX 77351

• Jack's #1; 1600 W Church St, Livingston, TX 77351

• Circle K #2740589; 313 S Houston St, Livingston, TX 77351

• Corner Shell; 5701 US Hwy 190 W, Livingston, TX 77351

• Beacon Bay Food Mart; 7384 FM 3126, Livingston, TX 77351

• Lake Grocery; 2825 FM 2457, Livingston, TX 77351

• Scenic Loop Grocery; 3375 FM 3277, Livingston, TX 77351

• Circle K (7001069); 313 S Houston Ave, Livingston, TX 77351

• Goodrich Mart; 7183 US Hwy 59 N, Goodrich, TX 77335

• Goodrich Liquor; 6688 US 59 S Ste B, Goodrich, TX 77335

• Holiday Lake Grocery; 141 Drews Landing, Goodrich, TX 77351

• On the Road #154; 6688 US Hwy 59 S, Goodrich, TX 77351

• Big Bens; 16281 US Hwy 59 N, Moscow, TX 75960

The five businesses that sold to minors received a toolkit to assist store leadership in training employees on the importance of checking IDs and not selling to minors. The businesses that failed include:

• Holiday Lake Grocery; 141 Drews Landing, Goodrich, TX 77335

• On the Road #154; 6688 US Hwy 59 S, Goodrich, TX 77335

• Energee; 2911 FM 2457, Livingston, TX 77351

• Beacon Food Mart; 7384 FM 3126, Livingston, TX 77351

• Paw Paw Smoke; 105 S Home St Ste 1, Corrigan, TX 75939

Sharon Kruk, Executive Director of The Coalition, Inc says, “Our ultimate goal is to keep the youth in our community safe from the harmful effects of underage tobacco use; we are proud to partner with the Angelina County Sheriff’s Department, TABC and TxDOT to work towards that goal.”

Many businesses that were visited did not sell tobacco to minors and The Coalition and the Polk County Sheriff’s Department commend them for protecting the youth of Polk County from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine. To see the full list of businesses and weather they sold to minors or not, visit https://www.angelinacoalition.org/.

For additional information, please contact The Coalition at (936) 634-9308.