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SODA plans upbeat drive Cigarette sale violators will receive information By SUSAN JAY A group of local teenagers will be shopping around for cigarettes this weekend, but they won't be buying any. The 20-plus teens are from Southern Oregon Drug Awareness, a substance prevention group, and are launching an education campaign funded with a grant from the state's tobacco tax. The teens will try to buy cigarettes from 250 local stores starting this weekend and going through May as part of their Sales of Tobacco to Minors Prohibited, or STOMP, campaign. If they're successful in their attempt to buy, they will leave a packet of information for employees on the law, which prohibits the sale of tobacco to minors. If the teens aren't successful, the stores will be named, when the project's results are announced, as a way to publicize the merchants' efforts to follow the law. SODA director Stephanie Soares-Pump said, "this is not a sting." The state has conducted sting-type operations in the past, employing teenagers, and stores have been fined $500. "We're hoping that a positive approach will be an effective approach," Soares said. Anything may be more effective than what's been tried so far. Jackson County has seen a dramatic jump _ 44 percent _ in the percentage of stores selling tobacco to minors in surveys over the past four years. Those surveys, however, contacted fewer than 40 stores. A combination of factors is responsible for the jump, said Brady Webb, the county's prevention program coordinator. While the community seems to have become lazy about tobacco sales to minors, the tobacco industry has boosted its advertising spending and movie stars are smoking more in movies. The youth group also will be conducting a second project at the same time called Operation Storefront. During their store visits, the teens also will use cameras and a written checklist to document in-store cigarette advertising. They will take special note of ads at child-eye level, "We Card" signs, alcohol promotions and the proximity of alcohol to soft drinks. They will then give slide presentations of their findings to community clubs and service organizations. "What we really want to do is increase community awareness of this issue about how the tobacco industry targets young people and how addictive tobacco really is," said Jane Stevenson, with the county's tobacco prevention program. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA