CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Olean grocery case still in limbo 8 months later
OLEAN — An 8-month-old case against an Olean grocery store accused of violating state Public Health Law when a clerk sold a pack of cigarettes to a minor will remain in limbo for at least another month while the Cattaraugus County attorney reviews the circumstances.
Members of the Cattaraugus County Board of Health, after learning Wednesday of complications in the case against Ried’s Food Barn of Olean, postponed a Dec. 19 response date until County Attorney Dennis Tobolski is able to look at the facts.
The enforcement action against Ried’s was on a list of cases presented Wednesday to the County Board of Health for a final disposition. But instead of routine recommendations to close cases or impose fines and penalties, Administrative Hearing Officer David Porter told board members that a full hearing had not been conducted and the Health Department had not had a chance to present its case before the department’s sanitarian decided to withdraw the charge in preparation for filing new charges.
A Nov. 26 letter sent to the board by store owner David Ried complained about the amount of time the case has taken, requested the second case be terminated by the board and questioned the second prosecution. Ried said the case is stressful and pointed to a 50-year family ownership of the store, its good corporate citizenship and his employment of more than 100 workers. He said he decided to fight the charge in part because the cashier has been employed for 17 years with a spotless record.
County Legislator and Health Board member Jim Snyder, R-Olean, pushed to resolve the matter and said he doesn’t want to see a long-standing business get hurt. He urged dismissal of the case “based on the fact that the process has been botched.”
But Environmental Health Director Eric Wohlers pointed out, “They admit the sale took place, but they were insisting we produce the minor. Our policy is not to put an underage kid on the stand, but we do provide the testimony of a witness.”
“You have to have principles and follow through” with the process, said Cattaraugus County Legislator Linda L. Witte, D-Olean, protesting an outright dismissal.
Porter said his duties as a hearing officer are carried out as a private contractor and he had just received a copy of Ried’s letter but pointed out that Ried’s was offered a $600 civil compromise and was asked to respond to the transcript and compromise offer by Dec. 19. He said the case is serious because this is the grocery store’s second cigarette sale violation.
Several Board of Health members discussed the possibilities of dismissing the case, but some asked whether other establishments, which have been penalized with the loss of Lotto concessions and licenses to sell cigarettes for months, would also want the same treatment.
Board member Sondra Fox said the case wasn’t “flowing” in the usual way and supported board member James Lapey in a motion to postpone the response date and to seek advice from County Attorney Dennis Tobolski.
After a 6-1 vote, Snyder withdrew his motion to dismiss the case, stating, “I see nothing coming out of Dennis [Tobolski] that would change any of this.”
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