Pennsylvania Pastor Battles Beer Sales at Sheetz

ALTOONA, Pa. -- The Rev. Gary Dull has rallied people from across Pennsylvania to stop the Sheetz convenience store chain from acquiring a license to sell beer at a new combination store/restaurant under construction in Altoona, reported the Washington, DC-based Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News.

He and his supporters collected more than 6,700 signatures to send to the state Liquor Control Board requesting Sheetz's application be denied.

"We feel there are enough places around Altoona -- if people want to buy beer, they can," said Dull, who leads the Faith Baptist Church there.

By selling it at the new store, he said, beer would be more readily available to teenagers and it would be a more attractive product to them.

"The accessibility will show young people that it's okay to drink it," Dull told the news source.

But more than that, he worries that giving Sheetz a license there will open the floodgates for other convenience and grocery stores across the state.

"What this new store is, is a test store," Dull said. "If this goes well, you might see them in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia or anywhere else across the state."

Currently, Sheetz Inc. operates 296 stores in six states, including 182 in Pennsylvania. Alcohol is sold in 86 Sheetz stores in West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia, according to the news source.