06/08/2009

Associated Press

State law prohibits selling cigarettes to anyone younger than 18, but that doesn't stop stores from providing Marlboro Reds to 16-year-old Cass Clark.

"If the store doesn't have Marlboros, I ask for something else," Clark says.

The Pendleton High School sophomore isn't overly choosy because he doesn't smoke. He's one of 10 decoys sent by the Oregon State Police to make sure stores aren't selling to minors.

Clark has brought in dozen citations so far this year.

"You'd be surprised how many people look at my ID and still sell me cigarettes," says Clark, who earns $8.40 an hour and gets to travel throughout Eastern Oregon.

Clark got his unusual job when a state police recruiter went looking for a responsible teen. He found a one with a 3.56 grade point average, a varsity letter in tennis and membership in Pendleton High's Astra Club leadership program.

Besides the paycheck, the program gives Clark a taste of working in law enforcement, the field he plans to enter after college. "I don't want to sit behind a desk and do the same thing every single day," Clark says.

His father, Chris Clark, 40, characterizes his son as mature and respectful of adults. Carol Blanc, Clark's biology teacher at Pendleton High, describes him as a "very calm kid," a trait that has come in handy.

One time, a Milton-Freewater convenience store owner erupted in anger when Clark tried to buy.

"'Are you kidding?'" Clark says she shouted. "'You're only 15 years old! I could get fired, and you could get in trouble!'"

She refused to return his ID, and a plainclothes officer who accompanies Clark stepped in to defuse the situation.

Recently, Clark confronted a different emotion when a middle-aged convenience store owner broke into tears after being cited.

"He thought they were going to shut down his minimart," he says. "When you get a $310 fine and you don't make that much money, it's pretty rough."

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com