Royalston board hears from residents on tobacco permit

ROYALSTON – Dozens of Royalston residents showed up for a public hearing Wednesday, July 30, to voice support for reinstating the town’s only tobacco sales license.

In early 2022, following the closure of the Royalston General Store in the South Village, the Board of Health voted to ‘sunset’ the town’s sole tobacco sales permit made available by the state. In January of this year the store was purchased by Helder and Winter Vieira, and the couple said securing a tobacco license is crucial to ensuring the store’s economic viability.

BOH Chair Phil Leger explained that the purpose of Wednesday’s hearing was not to determine the community’s level of support for the store.

“The topic at hand is do you want to allow retail tobacco sales in town,” he said. “When the store was just sitting there empty, when we re-did our regs, we sunsetted the permit. There was no activity happening at the time.”

Ruth Suyenaga, a member of the Royalston South Village Revitalization Committee, was the first to speak in favor of the change.

“I know the Board of Health wants to make decisions in service to the community, so I’m glad the community has a chance tonight to weigh in on how we feel about this issue. As for me, I say ‘yes,’ I do want retail tobacco sales in town because it is a legal substance and adults have the right to buy it wherever they can.”

While recognizing the health effects of tobacco use, Suyenaga said she also feels “the health of the town would be affected by having no store in town.” Lack of the store, she said, would fray the fabric that holds the community together, “especially for elders and for residents who rely on the store.”

Don Shambroom read a letter from Miley Shoul in support of reinstating the permit. Shoul, a native of Royalston now living in Orange, has a master’s degree in public health and has worked in the field of addiction treatment for the past eight years.

“I’m very aware of how addictive and deadly tobacco products are,” said Shoul’s letter. “That said, I believe that tobacco products should remain legal in Royalston if it is clear the majority of Royalston residents are against the (current) ban.”

Given widespread public support for reviving the tobacco sales permit, Shoul wrote that by maintaining the ban “the Board of Health risks losing the trust and goodwill of the town, making it more difficult to pass and enforce other, more important public health initiatives in the future.”

“I’ve been here for five years and I love this town,” said Mike Parmentier. “I am for the tobacco license for the store. They deserve every right to succeed. I’m a former smoker. In the early 2000s, CVS quit selling cigarettes; I switched to Walgreen’s and Walmart because I couldn’t get a pack of cigarettes (at CVS). People will do that. I want to be able to get a quart or a gallon of milk without having to run to Athol. The only way that’s going to happen is if these people are allowed to open the store – with a cigarette license. South Royalston, Royalston need the general store.”

“I want the store,” Steve Egan told the board. “I’m a non-smoker but I fully support the store having the right to sell a legal substance. It might be easier for me to run to Athol, but I’d rather support this community because it’s my community. And as I understand, without this license, we don’t get a store. That would be a disservice to this community.”

Of the dozen or so people who spoke at the public hearing, no one voiced opposition to reinstating the retail tobacco permit. Store owner Helder Vieira was in the audience but chose not to speak.

Before closing the hearing, Leger explained the Board of Health would make a decision at its meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6, at Whitney Hall.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.