Sheetz says billboards staying put

  By Joe Mandak
  TRIBUNE-REVIEW

  Sheetz Inc., the Altoona-based convenience store chain, on Tuesday announced it will not take
  down 36 billboards in the state that advertise tobacco products.

  Sheetz's decision is the latest salvo in a war of words between the chain and Attorney General Mike
  Fisher, who last week sent Sheetz officials a letter asking them to remove the signs.

  Fisher's office believes the signs should come down under a settlement that Fisher's office and 45
  other state attorneys general reached with Big Tobacco in November 1998. That master settlement
  agreement calls for the tobacco companies to pay $206 billion to the states over the next 25 years -
  $11 billion of which will go to Pennsylvania.

  The settlement resulted from a lawsuit filed by the states alleging that the major tobacco companies
  knowingly advertised and promoted their products in a way designed to addict customers -
  including children.

  As part of the settlement, the tobacco companies agreed to stop using billboards to advertise their
  products.

  By extension, Fisher believes, retailers, too, should stop using billboards to advertise tobacco -
  although his office has stopped short of explicitly saying that doing so violates the settlement.

  In the Greensburg area, the billboards in question read:

  "Leading brand cigarette packs as low as $2.34 plus tax. Limited time at participating stores. Any
  cheaper, we'd be in jail. Sheetz."

  However, the lawsuit that spawned the settlement did not target tobacco retailers, nor were they
  involved in settlement discussions.

  Further, Fisher spokesman Sean Connolly told the Tribune-Review last week that the "language in
  the settlement was purposely ambiguous ... (because) the goal under the national settlement was to
  take down the billboards so that children aren't exposed to this advertising."

  Connolly said advertisers and retailers weren't targeted in the tobacco lawsuit, in part, because there
  were "First Amendment" questions about whether they could legally be forced to stop advertising a
  product they sell legally.

  As such, Sheetz officials claim the settlement doesn't bind them or other retailers, and that's why
  they decided not to pull their billboards yesterday.

  Louis Sheetz, executive vice president of marketing for the chain, was unavailable for comment
  yesterday.

  But his office issued a short press release in which he is quoted as saying: "Sheetz officials spoke
  with a representative from the Attorney General's office late (Tuesday) morning. .... Although no
  formal resolutions were reached, Sheetz and the Attorney General's office will continue to work
  through the issues.

  "The Attorney General's office did once again agree that `Sheetz is doing absolutely nothing
  improper, illegal or in violation of the current master settlement agreement,'" the release continued.

  "Sheetz currently has 36 billboards posted in Pennsylvania that advertise tobacco messages. At this
  time, the company will not change its current advertising schedule and will keep the billboards up
  until the first part of January as planned."

  Connolly expressed disappointment that Sheetz declined to pull the billboards, but stopped short of
  threatening legal action.

  "However, we disagree with (Sheetz's) statement that we have cleared them of any violation of the
  master settlement agreement," Connolly said. "It's unfortunate that Sheetz has decided to continue
  this billboard campaign when other retailers have decided to take theirs down."

  Last month, Wawa Food Markets, a Delaware chain with several stores in the Philadelphia area,
  pulled their cigarette billboards after Fisher's office threatened legal action.

  Connolly said the Sheetz statement was correct in saying that Fisher's office "will continue to work
  with Sheetz on this issue."

  "There are no meetings set ... but we are open to discussing it with them. We're also going to be
  discussing it with other attorneys general at a national meeting this week that will also include
  representatives from the tobacco manufacturers," Connolly said.

  "I'm sure the Sheetz issue will be a topic of discussion."

  And Connolly promised that legal action has not been ruled out.

  "That's being mulled. I guess the simple way to put it is we've asked them to voluntarily take down
  their billboards and they have declined. Now we'll see where we go from here," he said.