In Indiana, there are 11,420 establishments licensed to sell alcohol. Of those, 1,044 permits have been granted by state and local boards to package store owners (with 169 in Marion County). Unlike most other establishments licensed to sell a strictly regulated product like alcohol, it’s what we do — and all that we do.

As chairman of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, I can tell you these facts about our members:

In our stores, only 10 items can be sold — by law.

In our stores, owners and operators must be Hoosier residents — by law.

In our stores, clerks must be 21, licensed by the state, and are subject to fines and penalties — by law.

In our stores, we can lose our licenses if we don’t comply with the rules and regulations that govern our operations.

As owners, we take our responsibilities to sell alcohol seriously because we are members of the community. For that reason alone, we are disappointed in the findings of underage compliance checks by the Indiana State Excise Police and reported by Bill Ruthhart in The Star on Oct. 25.

The Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers board recently voted to support a change in law requiring mandatory carding by those who sell alcohol, including penalties for clerks who sell to minors and also to minors who purchase illegally. Anyone and everyone walking through the doors of our stores would be subject to an age check by a clerk — whether the customer appears to be 18 or 80.

Some of our members already do mandatory carding as a best business practice, including association board member Jerry Corliss, who’s been in business for 30 years and has never had a violation.

In my company, a citation issued to a clerk is reason for immediate termination.

Our association also supports mandatory training of all clerks, legislation that was opposed by other retailers and major retail associations as recently as 2007. Those are the same retailers who are pushing for expanding the sale of alcohol throughout the state of Indiana, yet they don’t want to be subject to stricter controls.

Legislators are correct when they say expanding the sale of alcohol is a controversial topic. The Star’s story is evidence alone that any policy changes should be considered cautiously and carefully so alcohol cannot be easily purchased by minors in Indiana.

Our statewide public opinion surveys have shown repeatedly that Hoosiers have very mixed feelings about expanding the sale of alcohol in Indiana and understand that cost and convenience do not outweigh potential community costs.

Legislators’ constituents also are evenly divided on this issue. They know because they’ve also asked the people who elect them to office, just as we’ve asked the people who patronize our stores around the state.

The Star reported Indianapolis as one of the cities with the largest number of citations, or 13 out of 417 citations issued statewide since July. The number is small, but it’s a wake-up call for all of us who post these signs in our stores: You Must be 21 to Enter.

Everyone can do better. And we will continue to work with legislators to guarantee all reasonable safeguards are in place that strictly govern any industry that sells alcohol. Too much is at stake if we don’t.