and we are joined by derek smith he is a health program coordinator at the department of health tobacco free project. >> if you could go over the meeting guidelines and conduct the swearing in. >> the board requests that you turn off all phones and pagers so they will not disturb the proceedings and carry on the conversations in the hallway. the board's rules of presentation are as follows, appellant's and permit holders and department representatives each has seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for rebuttals. people affiliated with these parties much include their comments in the 7 and three minute periods. the members of the public who are not affiliated with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttals. to assist the board in the accurate preparation of minutes, members of the public who wish to speak on an item are asked but not required to submit a speaker card or business card to board staff when you come up to the podium, and the speaker cards and pen are available on the left side of the podium. >> the board welcomes your comm

we have derek smith from the department of public health and given him ten minutes to address the board and of course he will be available to answer any questions that you might have. >> there you go. >> good evening, commissioners, derek smith, the department of public health, the tobacco free project and i hope to speak to you on a non-controversial issues the number of sales to tobacco to minors. i have given you some, as well as some that we offer from the department of health. there is a lot to be said and i will spare you that and let you read it. and just a base line to let you know that tobacco is the number one cause of death on earth. since we are talking about the matter of sales of tobacco to mine minors, keeping down the impacts of alcohol use verses tobacco, it is the number one cause of every cancer in fact. additionally there is research that shows to proximity to tobacco is related to youth. and it shows that schools that are surrounded have students that smoke at a higher rate. >> additionally, the sales to minors has decreased, as they introduced a permit ordinance in