Waterbury Democrat., 1901-01-04
SEEMS 10 BE A DEAD [ET1ER|
The Law Regarding Sale of
 Cigarettes to Boys.

= Mothers Who Claim Their Sons Are
 Becoming Steady Cigarette Smokers
 Clash Between Police Department and Deputy Sheriff Allows the Sale of the Cigarettes to Be Carried On. Out of the action of Deputy Sherin Rlsney anu Guy ouerln 1,,cnons,iu Ill lns,stlng upon luhing some prlscnefS Whom tIiey arreSLeu 10 JaiI sUule tiiue ago tnefe Has aflsen a pretty stiile or ;tlialrS between Ine ponce department ana Ine ouIce or deputy SncrlI, Ill wnicn the moraiS or young Doys nave alreauy greatly Suliered and q cerraln | law passeu by the IeglsiarurG of !'5 or 50 Is openly ana peISlStentiy Eiclateu without any atrenlpJ on the part or tne ponce 10 mrerIere. Some weeks ago compialit was iuade at ponce head quarters by a numuer Of women tnas Inelr sens, small boys, were Deing rulned by cigarette smoking; that ali | their attempts to ind out where they i bought the injurious weed were fruit l less and they wanted immediate acton l to prevent their boys becoming con- | tirned users of cigarettes. They com | plained that tho entrances to thearers 1 were the main rendezvous for the boys and that they could be found there whenever a performance was going ! on. They dreaded the evil effects of | cigarette smoking on their boys and 1 they wished some steps to be taken at once. Such is the story Of one side ! of the parties to this matter. The fact that no arrests were made for 1 violating the law which makes it an | otfense for any one to sell or give cigarettes to any boy under the age of 16 years is taken as evidence that no steps were taken in accordance with the complaint lodged at the po- lice station Some of the women who made this complaint later reported to Deputy Sheriff Rametti. having given l up all hope that the police would take any action in the matter for they were tired of making complaints there.
 One woman, | resident of South Main street, was particularly anxious that something should be done With her boy and the deputy sheriff, doubting that the law in question could be violated
 as frequently and openly as this wom- an complained, took with him one day <! a boy of about 13 years of age and | went forth in question of evidence.
 AIr Rametti had the boy ask for a D.
 cent package of cigarettes at eleven stores and in eight of them he sue
 ceeded in buying a package. After the boy had made his purchase, MT Rametti would take him back into the i store and inform the storekeeper that he had violated q certain law. The | package of cigarettes was then stamped with the sellers name and all other items of evidence noted
 Armed then with aC.faDca nf oi
 storekeepers having violated this cig- arctic law, the deputy sheriff present
 ed it to Prosecutor Durant. On ac-
 count of the conflict between the po-
 lice department and SheriHs Rigney
 and Mcdonald. as told above. Mir Dur
 ant preferred to present the evidence
 to Judge Burpee before taking any
 definite action. To his surprise, Judge
 Burpee decided that while the case
 Inerlted the attention of the authori-
 ties. It was solely q matter for the
 police department 10 handle. The
 city could not afford to pay Mir Ramet-
 ii the expenses he incurred in collect
 ing evidence to prosecute the eight
 cases. This amounted to about S2O at
 the utmost. while the income to the
 GUY II the storekeepers Were found
 guilty. about which there would be no
 doubt. the sheriff and the small boy
 referred to being in possession of all
 that could be necessary would amount
 10 over $500. The law has provided
 ! penalty of from $1O to $50 with the costs for each and every violation.
 Judge Burpee wanted Sheriff Rametti
 to hand over his evidence to the po-
 lice and the cases would then be talk
 en up. The sheriff declined to do this oil the grounds that the police had pre-
 viously refused to act in the matter
 and that as he had worked up the
 cases. whatever recompenst. or blame
 was due should go to him.
 A number of lively interviews be
 tween Judge Burpee, Prosecutor Dur
 ant and Sheriff Rametti took place in
 the judges office, but it was impossi-
 ble to come to nh amicable under
 standing. MT Durant held that he was
 hearing from all sides for his evident
 tisincljnation to prosecute the cases,
 yet he could not proceed without Ra-
 metti's help, and Rametti would not
 hand over his evidence without due
 recompense for his work. Judge Bur 1 pee would not back down because of the expense to the city and the possi- ble arising of further complications with the police department. And thus l while many mothers were wondering
 what would become Of their boys
 through their evident fondness for cig.
 arettes, and while the law prohibiting
 the sale of tobacco to boys under 1G
 years of age was being openly violated
 the measures to effect 3 cure were in the hands of denuty sheriff and be , cause of some weak technicality, q feal , of further trouble with one branch of t the law, nothing has been done.
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