ANDERSON — For a third time, the Madison County Alcoholic Beverage Board is expected to hold a public hearing on a request for 11 new beer and wine licenses for Ricker Oil Co. on Monday.

On Nov. 3, the board continued the matter until its Jan. 5 meeting. Sam Carson, officer with the Indiana State Excise Police, said the delay was the result of Ricker Oil’s failure to post orange signs at the convenience stores in question, a requirement for all license transfers. The hearing was previously continued on Oct. 6. At that time, Carson reported a scheduling conflict with Ricker Oil officials.

The 11 requests for Type 115 licenses apply to eight Ricker’s convenience stores in Anderson and one each in Chesterfield, Elwood and Pendleton.

The applications are the results of new legislation passed during the most recent session of the Indiana General Assembly. A new quota system took effect under House bills 1118 and 107 making more liquor licenses available in some Indiana counties, while taking them away in other counties.

“The quota has changed, it went from one for every 1,500 population to a really weird calculation in the last legislature,” said Shirley Kirby, office manager for the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Ricker’s and Thornton’s are among those who applied for the licenses prior to the July 1 quota change.”

Around 40 people attended the Nov. 3 meeting to speak in favor of or in opposition to the matter and expressed concern over the latest delay. One said the orange signs were only required for restaurants and taverns, while another said Ricker’s noncompliance was indicative of its character.

“Adding more places to buy alcohol sends the wrong message to our kids,” said John Dull and Jim Killen in a letter to The Herald Bulletin. Dull is a retired school administrator. Jim Killen is retired director of Indiana Youth Services and a member of the Children’s Coalition. “When they see alcohol everywhere, they think it’s no big deal to try it.”

As a rule of thumb, Carson said, the board tries to reach a ruling on any business within three months and only two continuances are permitted.

Ricker Oil operates 29 gas station convenience stores in Madison, Allen, Delaware and Henry counties. In September, president Jay Ricker said he wants to make cold beer available and explore the possibility of Sunday alcohol sales.

“What I think is the most unfair is that anybody who has a grocery, convenience or drug store cannot sell cold beer,” Ricker told The Herald Bulletin. “The liquor stores have always had a very strong voice in shaping those rules, and they’ve made it so that they’re the only ones who can sell carryout that’s cold.”

The decision will ultimately rest with the four members of the Alcoholic Beverage Board, of which one member is appointed by the Madison County Board of Commissioners, one by the Madison County Council and one each by the mayors of Anderson and Elwood.

“The bigger issue is not whether Ricker’s has the right to have a liquor permit, but whether this is the best thing for Anderson and our youth,” Dull and Killen said in the letter. “If these additional liquor permits are approved in Anderson, our city will have the highest number of carryout alcohol outlets per person.”

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Public hearing

— Madison County Alcoholic Beverage Board