WICHITA, Kansas -- At least 54 communities in Kansas have allowed the sale of liquor on Sundays since a law that restricted such sales was changed in 2005, said the Associated Press, but the state's largest city continues to prohibit the practice.
While the issue has generated little controversy in some areas, it has caused debate and prompted special elections in other communities. And Sunday sales appear unlikelyat least in the near futurein Wichita, some city officials say. "I haven't heard anything about that," city spokesperson Van Williams told [image-nocss] AP.
Sharon Fearey, the only Wichita City Council member who has publicly supported Sunday sales, said the council hasn't discussed the issue and she doesn't plan to push for it. Any effort to bring Sunday sales to Wichita probably would have to come from retailers, she said.
But Wichita residents who want some liquor on Sunday can drive to several nearby towns to buy it. The latest town in the Wichita region to approve Sunday liquor is Maize, joining other communities such as Colwich, Andale, Garden Plain, Douglass, Walton and Benton.
The approvals have occurred after a 2005 change in the state law that had restricted Sunday sales since Prohibition ended in Kansas in 1949. The law permits liquor retailers to be open from noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays as well as Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. They still must close on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
In Maize, the change was made with no opposition, after the owner of the city's only liquor store asked for permission, said Maize City Administrator Richard LaMunyon. The town's only convenience store also will be able to sell 3.2% alcoholic beverages, beginning this Sunday.
The issue will be on the November ballot in Park City, where the City Council had previously approved sales, only to rescind the approval after opponents submitted a petition to force a referendum. But supporters brought the idea back this year, and opponents against it submitted enough petition signatures to force a citywide vote. Sedgwick voters also will decide the issue in November.
The council in Rose Hill will consider a request for Sunday sales from its lone liquor store this week. City Administrator Joe Pile said the approval of Sunday sales in one city tends to have a domino effect on nearby towns. Lawrence Compton, owner of Compton's Liquor in Cheney, agreed. He said he opened on Sunday because stores are open in Colwich, Andale and Garden Plain.
Opponents of Sunday liquor sales object to alcohol or its sale on Sunday for religious reasons, or they believe expanding alcohol's availability will cause social problems. Others simply think voters should decide the matter. Carol Oldham, who led the most recent petition drive in Park City, said she is a born-again Christian who doesn't drink. But Oldham said her main goal in leading the drive is to have voters decide. "I just think the community should be making this decision," she said. "You can buy it six days out of seven. It's not like we're saying we want this to be a dry state."
Some opponents in Wichita are liquor store owners. "It's not something that we want," said Brian Davis, whose family owns three Davis Liquor Outlet stores. "I enjoy myself on Sunday. It's kind of like my day."
Davis said Sunday sales might make economic sense to smaller stores in outlying communities, but with the additional employee wages and other overhead, he doesn't think he would make money on Sunday sales.
C-stores and supermarkets, which pushed the 2005 change in state law, disagree. Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers &d Convenience Store Association of Kansas, said his members want to sell the public what it wants. "I think if I'm a customer and I want to buy something on Sunday, that gives them [liquor store owners] the opportunity to be open or not," he told AP.
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