SLPD offering tobacco sales class

In cooperation with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, the Storm Lake Police Department is offering a training class to local tobacco retailers on how to effectively refuse tobacco sales to minors.

The Iowa Pledge Retailer Certification Class, which will be held on Monday, Nov. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Storm Lake Police Department, will teach clerks the basics of Iowa's tobacco laws as well as fundamentals of driver's license evaluation, age verification, and situational evaluation. Registration for the free two-hour class is available exclusively on the Iowa ABD's Web site, www.IowaABD.com.

Clerks who attend the two-hour class and pass an online test will receive a certificate valid for two years. Retailers may use the certification program as an affirmative defense from a civil penalty once in a four-year period if a certified clerk slips up and sells tobacco to a minor. In order to assert the affirmative defense, the clerk that made the illegal sale must have been certified through the Iowa ABD's training program.

For more information on the Iowa Pledge Program, visit www.IowaABD.com.