McHenry County asks judge to support stripping liquor license

McHenry County officials went to court Wednesday asking a judge to overturn an Illinois Liquor Control Commission decision reinstating the liquor license of a gas station caught selling booze to minors three times in eight months.

County officials are suing the commission, upset that it lifted County Board Chairman Ken Koehler's 2008 revocation of the business' license and replacing it instead with a 30-day suspension.

Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Sarah Jansen said the move exceeded the commission's authority.

"We clearly believe the decision is against the weight of the evidence in this case," she said.

The suit stems from Koehler's decision, in his role as chairman of the McHenry County Liquor Commission, to yank the liquor license of the Mobil Speed Mart, south of McHenry.

Koehler took the action after a cashier at the business, at 4407 Hi Point Road, was caught selling alcohol to minors twice in December 2007 and again in July 2008. The business was fined $1,000 and $1,500, respectively, after the first two incidents.

After the third, Jansen said, county officials had had enough.

"It was clear that (the owners) had taken no remedial action to ensure that this would not happen again," she said.

Two months later, however, the state commission overturned Koehler's decision, ruling that he had not followed its policy of a "progressive discipline plan" by suspending the business' license before taking it away altogether. The business had no violations in eight years before the three violations in eight months, noted Assistant Illinois Attorney General Tina Cohen.

"The liquor commission considered that in determining that the revocation was too harsh a punishment in this case," she said.

After hearing arguments Wednesday, Judge Michael Caldwell said he would issue a decision by July 29.