TOBACCO-SALE RULES PROPOSED NEW LICENSE FOR STORES MAY BE REQUIRED.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- City officials have proposed requiring a new city license for stores that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, as a way of gaining authority to crack down on retailers that sell to juveniles.

The ordinance introduced at last week's City Council meeting does not impose new restrictions or duties on businesses that sell tobacco products, officials said, but is a way for the city to make sure stores comply with state and federal laws after a recent test found that 20 percent were willing to sell to juveniles, officials said.

``It's a matter of coming up with means of enforcing state law. Obviously the law isn't being enforced if we have a rate of sales that high,'' Councilman Andy Visokey said last week.

Controls on tobacco sales and smoking in public places are being pushed by a nonprofit organization called Pueblo y Salud, which also supports Palmdale's new ban on smoking in several places in Palmdale parks and favors a complete ban on smoking in city facilities.

``If there's a community anywhere in this county that needs to have tobacco issues addressed, especially on their impact on youth, it's the Antelope Valley,'' Javier Flores, Pueblo u Salud's executive director.

Flores said he believes Lancaster should enact further regulations that would give it the authority to bar new tobacco retailers from locating closer to schools.

``We believe it can be stricter,'' he said.

The No. 2 and 3 causes of death in the Antelope Valley are emphysema and lung cancer, for which the main risk factor is smoking, and the No. 1 is coronary heart disease, in which smoking is among the risk factors, according to a 2002 Los Angeles County study.

Antelope Valley's death rate from emphysema is the highest in Los Angeles County, twice the overall county rate, the study found.

The valley's death rate from lung cancer is the third highest in the county, about 30 percent higher than the county average, the study said.

The Antelope Valley also has Los Angeles County's highest rates of asthma among children and adults.

Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce leaders have not taken a stand on the license ordinance but are expected to review the proposal this week, president Steve Malicott said.

Malicott said he assumed legitimate retailers would not object since the license seems to be aimed at enforcing existing federal and state laws.

``We didn't receive any feedback from any business that would be impacted,'' he said.

Lancaster School District trustee Diane Grooms said she supports licensing tobacco retailers because smoking is starting among middle school students.

``It's very easy for them to access tobacco products by saying, I'm buying it for my mom,'' Grooms said.