SOUTH SIOUX CITY -- The City Council was unhappy to learn Monday that clerks at a few South Sioux City stores have brought down the city's usual good scores for obeying tobacco and alcohol sales laws.

Linda Phillips, executive director for Siouxland CARES, and Hannah McElroy, 18, reported the results of an Oct. 28 compliance check to the council during Monday's regular meeting.

Store clerks are responsible for checking to be sure they don't sell cigarettes or other tobacco products to customers younger than 18, or alcoholic beverages to anyone younger than 21.

Underage buyers working with Siouxland CARES and the South Sioux City Police Department carried out compliance checks at nine businesses.

The teens tried to buy alcohol in four stores and succeeded in two, for a 50 percent compliance rate. At the other five stores, attempts to buy tobacco products succeeded only once, for an 80 percent compliance rate for checking customers' IDs correctly and following the law.

According to the data presented Monday, clerks failed to follow the law at the following stores:

* Sam's Tobacco & Liquor sold Marlboro Lights to a 17-year-old girl.

* LaMichoancana sold a six-pack of Bud Light Lime to a 17-year-old boy.

* The Attic sold Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade to a 15-year-old boy after checking his ID and commenting that he was born in 1994 and "had a face like a cop." It was the clerk's first day on the job, according to the Siouxland CARES report.

The recent check returned the lowest compliance rate for alcohol sales among 10 checks dating to 2004. The prior checks showed three 100 percent compliance scores and a low score of 60 percent compliance.

Councilman Gary Hallstrom and other councilmen said they were disturbed that the 15- and 17-year-old were able to buy alcohol in the local stores.

Councilman John Sanders suggested contacting the state. "I don't think anyone should be selling (alcohol) without training," he said. Phillips said police go in after a purchase by an underage buyer and explain the law to the clerk and how to check the age of a customer, although it's the management's responsibility to do that.

Phillips told the council there is no standard procedure for checking IDs. In fact, she said, Siouxland CARES sent a packet to the holder of each tobacco and alcohol sales licenses in the city about three weeks before a compliance check in March, complete with examples of all three Siouxland states' driver's licenses and clues to determining who is underage.

The subsequent check netted 100 percent for alcohol sales compliance but only 50 percent for tobacco.

City Administrator Lance Hedquist wondered if the city could require vendors to use a digital swipe machine that would tell the clerk whether to sell or not by scanning the magnetically striped licenses.

Phillips said clerks have sold in previous compliance checks even when a swipe machine said not to.

"The kids are disappointed that they sell," Phillips said of the teenagers posing as customers. "They're always shocked by the fact they look at the ID and still sell."