Tobacco 21 petitions fail to qualify

The Lake County Elections Board recently announced that the referendum part-petitions submitted to place the Wickliffe ordinance that raises the sales age of tobacco from 18 to 21, on the ballot were deemed invalid.

Since the petitions that were submitted did not meet all the requirements, Wickliffe voters will not get a chance to approve or reject the issue in the Nov. 6 General Election.

Elections Board Director Ross McDonald said the primary reason the petition is invalid is because the circulator statement was left blank.

“The circulator is required to attest to how many signatures he/or she witnesses,” McDonald said. “The circulator must sign and list their address. Not completing this section is considered a fatal flaw on the petition.”

As a result, the signatures were not evaluated, he said.

The petitions were submitted July 6 and the Board announced the decision July 12.

“The ordinance was supposed to go into effect on June 29,” said Wickliffe Law Director Scott Zele. “The petition put it on hold, but since it

failed the ordinance went into effect immediately upon the rejection of the petition by the Lake County Board of Elections.”

The ordinance amends chapter 537.16 of the Codified Ordinance, Illegal distribution of cigarettes, to-

bacco products or alternate nicotine products, which prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21 in Wickliffe.

Lake County General Health District Health Educator Catherine BevanHewitt said Tobacco 21 will not cost Wickliffe anything to enforce.

“Compliance checks are never done by the police de-

partment,” she said. “They are done by the sheriff’s department. When Tobacco 21 goes into effect, it will not be on the police officers, it will be on the Lake County General Health District and on the sheriff’s department. Tobacco 21 will save thousands of lives in the long run.”

While advocates for the ordinance are pleased to see it go into effect, Wick-

liffe resident Jim Corrigan said he is disappointed that the voters will not get the opportunity to decide.

“It amazes me that a mayor and some council members that claim to want to make it easier to do business in Wickliffe and draw more businesses to the city would vote for an ordinance like this that will clearly hurt the businesses in our city,” Corrigan said.