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County educator: 4 Stevens Point retailers sold tobacco to underage buyers during Wisconsin WINS checks
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Summary
Bridal Drexler reported the Wisconsin WINS youth-compliance checks: 44 retailers were targeted, 35 checks completed, 4 retailers sold to underage buyers (all in Stevens Point); Drexler said she has reported repeat offenders and is coordinating further with law enforcement.
Bridal Drexler, a community health educator, told the Portage County Health and Human Services Board the Wisconsin WINS compliance route covered 44 retailers for this fiscal year and 35 checks have been completed so far.
"Unfortunately, 4 retailers did sell tobacco to the youth," Drexler said, and she added that all four incidents occurred in Stevens Point. She said 31 retailers were compliant and nine inspections remained.
Drexler described the program as a state-level effort to reduce youth use of nicotine and commercial tobacco and said the county’s protocol is to document sales, confiscate product when youth were used for the checks, and notify a law-enforcement listserv that includes local police and the sheriff’s office. "I notify them of what the clerk looked like, their age, gender, where the location of the product was that was sold," she said.
Drexler said one selling location is a repeat offender and that she filed a complaint with the Department of Revenue; she said county staff aim to secure greater buy-in from law enforcement because citations are handled by officers and have not consistently followed these reports.
Board members asked whether citations or license suspensions had followed. Drexler said she was not aware of any citations to clerks or owners for the instances she documented and that Marathon County’s practice — having law enforcement ride along and cite immediately when the product is purchased — yields quicker enforcement.
Drexler also outlined outreach requirements for the WINS program: four general-media outreaches (social posts, billboards or letters to the editor) and five public-retailer outreaches; she said she had completed one media outreach and one required youth assistant helped with a large batch of checks.
The board did not take formal action on the update; members recommended continued coordination with law enforcement and follow-up reporting to the committee.
