Troubled Cottage Grove tobacco shop gets license renewal

Talk about it

The Cottage Grove City Council voted last week to issue a tobacco sales license to a smoke shop that has run afoul of the law in recent months.

Cottage Grove police cited the owners of the Cottage Grove Smoke Shop, formerly Smokes 4 Less, at 8641 East Point Douglas Road earlier this year for carrying more than 3,700 pieces of illegal drug paraphernalia.

Officers seized glass pipes, water pipes, grinders and cocaine snifters — items not legal for resale under city ordinance — following a March inspection and cited its former owner, 20-year-old Omar Wazwaz, with a misdemeanor.

The shop’s owners have not been convicted of wrongdoing in connection with that incident, however, public safety officials have said. That, said City Attorney Corrine Heine, made it difficult for the city to deny renewal of the tobacco license.

The Council had voted last month to delay issuing a new license. It voted unanimously at its June 6 meeting to approve the renewal.

Heine said last week the grounds for denial of a tobacco sales license renewal are “very specific,” and include a court conviction.

“And there was not a conviction in this case,” she added.

–Jon Avise

Tags: cottage grove, updates, government