Gov. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska has vowed to address the situation in Whiteclay, but has not taken a public stance on the stores’ licenses.

Last year, the three-member Nebraska Liquor Control Commission ordered the stores, for the first time in years, to reapply for their liquor licenses, which will expire on April 30. Earlier this month, during 10 hours of hearings in Lincoln, officials in Sheridan County insisted that there was adequate law enforcement for the stores, a condition required for them to keep their licenses.

The store owners are facing a separate threat from the state attorney general in Nebraska, who says they have engaged in illegal alcohol sales to bootleggers. A hearing on those potential violations is expected to take place in June.

On Wednesday, the commission members appeared unconvinced that Whiteclay has received sufficient attention from law enforcement officials in Sheridan County. Speaking in a small, packed hearing room, the members of the commission said they were moved by testimony they heard this month, accounts of public intoxication, fighting and sexual assault.

Robert Batt, the chairman of the commission, emphasized that the commission was enforcing the laws of the state. “We’ve had a lot of complicated problems come before us, none more complicated than this,” he said. “The real underlying issue here, legally, is that we did this by the book, used due process.”

“This was done after a lot of deliberation,” he said, “a lot of heartache.”

The commission then voted unanimously to revoke the licenses, prompting many in the hearing room to burst into applause.

Bruce BonFleur, a Whiteclay resident who runs a ministry there with his wife, Marsha, cheered the decision.

“I think the Nebraska liquor commission acted in a precise and thorough manner and concluded the obvious — that there is not adequate law enforcement in Whiteclay,” he said. “We look at this decision as an initial and vital early step in what will be a transformed Whiteclay, one that promotes life, healing and hope.”