A question on the city's Oct. 6 ballot asks if the Northwest Alaska hub should loosen liquor rules by allowing the city to own and operate a liquor store, bar or alcohol-serving restaurant. Or all three.
The vote also calls for the creation of a city alcohol control board to regulate sales and a city-run distribution center for people who might still want to order booze from Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The change could mean more money for city services and prevention efforts through fees and taxes, plus tighter oversight of liquor sales.
On the other hand, it could also boost the flow of cheap, easily accessible alcohol into a region peppered with dry villages.
It's an explosive issue in a town where police report more than 90 percent of crimes are alcohol-related. But local officials say fed-up voters may be willing to try something new in hopes of controlling underage drinking and reducing bootlegging.
"The reasoning behind that is -- we know that we're not going to prohibit alcohol in Kotzebue, so why not control it?" said police chief John Ward.
Kotzebue voted to close bars and liquor stores in 1987. The city of 3,100 has been "damp" ever since -- meaning you can import booze, but you can't legally buy or sell it in town. Now it's suddenly one of two regional hub cities -- Bethel is the other -- with a proposal to relax local liquor rules on the October ballot.
Supporters say the Bethel move is a backlash against ever-tightening state oversight of damp communities. In Kotzebue, the push for change started with a group of young petitioners who brought the idea to the Kotzebue elders council in early August, said council chairman Willie Goodwin.
"They approached us in a respectful manner and said what we have right now is not working. And we realize that," Goodwin said.
"There's a lot of bootlegging going on. Alcohol is readily available to the young people."
Still, Goodwin said he plans to encourage elders to oppose the vote at a meeting next week. Young voters don't know what the city was like when it was wet -- a time of alcohol-fueled deaths in Kotzebue and across the region, he said.
"I'm scared. I'm afraid to see what happens."
So far, none of the major organizations in town -- including the city -- have chosen sides in the debate, Goodwin said. The petitioners, who gathered more than 130 valid signatures to put the question on the ballot, either couldn't be reached or declined to be interviewed on short notice.
Ever since the state put alcohol regulation in the hands of local voters 30 years ago, Alaska cities and villages have wrestled to balance personal rights with soaring rates of domestic violence, suicide and alcohol abuse.
Kotzebue voters have rejected several attempts to go completely wet or completely dry since the late 1980s. The city's last alcohol vote came in 2003, when plans for a city-controlled distribution site failed at the ballot box.
Goodwin said the elders council supported the creation of the distribution center, which was pitched as a way to keep tabs on local liquor sales and restrict who was eligible to buy.
The idea of a city-run site returns as just one of the changes proposed on next month's ballot. Goodwin expects a close vote.
City attorney Joe Evans attended meetings on the proposal this month with the elders council, the regional nonprofit and Native corporation and others.
"I think the reason this has a chance of passing is that there's just general dissatisfaction about the way things are operating now," he said.
KIND OF WET
The state limits how much liquor anyone can ship to damp communities from Anchorage or Fairbanks. A single buyer sending a single order can ship 10.5 liters of liquor, 24 liters of wine and 12 gallons of beer each month. A bill supported by then-Gov. Sarah Palin sought to cut those limits in half this year. The proposal fizzled in the Legislature but the state increased oversight in other ways.
In July 2008, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board began tracking how much buyers in damp communities order from 13 package stores across the state to make sure they're not breaking the booze limits with massive orders from multiple stores, said enforcement supervisor Bob Beasely.
If Kotzebue voters approve the new rules, people would have to ship their liquor to a distribution center in town or buy it from a city store. No one would be able to open a private liquor store or bar.
"This is kind of going wet, but it's wet controlled by the city," Evans said.
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