Petitioners want more convenience store security after clerk's kidnapping

At least eight people signed a petition late Thursday night calling for increased security for clerks working the "graveyard shift," in the wake of the kidnapping of a Cedar Rapids store clerk earlier this month.

The petition was circulated and signed by friends of the 19-year-old clerk, who was kidnapped at 4 a.m. on May 17 while she worked alone at Kwik Shop, 1001 First Ave SW.

Keith V. Elson Jr., 54, of Cedar Rapids, faces charges of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual abuse in the clerk's abduction.

The clerk and four of her friends met briefly around midnight Thursday at another Kwik Shop location, 2910 Center Point Road NE. The group planned to protest the company's decision to only have one person working the night shift, but they found two people working at the store.

So the group drove a mile north to another Kwik Shop, 4201 Center Point Road NE, and found two clerks working there as well.

Jeff Fisher, president of the convenience store chain, said the current policy was to have either two people working at each Kwik Shop store, or to have a security guard on duty with a clerk.

Avery Cassell, administrator of a 1,000-member Facebook group supporting the kidnapped clerk, was the first person to sign the petition. “I'm just trying to let the whole family know that they are in my prayers and everything," Cassell said. "And, I'm really sorry for what they have to go through.”

Heidi Taylor, an organizer of the small demonstration, said the group wasn't organized very well. She said she'd never written a letter to a legislator before the kidnapping, and that she's discovered new elements of democracy.

Taylor said she'll be contacting lawmakers next week. “This is the first time I've ever done this," she said, "so I'm kind of going as I go.”

Taylor's proposal reads, “Convenience stores open between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. must either have two workers on duty, have a security guard, or install bulletproof glass and other safety features to limit access to store personnel.”

In 2004, New Mexico

adopted a law with similar language.

The National Convenience Store Safety Committee, a group founded by sisters of a murdered 7-Eleven clerk, recommended every state adopt those standards.