Our View: Don't move ABC board

Look at the board's title. There's a reason for the word "control." Alcoholic beverages are both a delightful and dangerous substance. The industry encompasses legitimate, solid businesses. At the same time Alaska suffers enormously from alcohol abuse.

That's why the board's job is primarily regulation and enforcement.

Liquor and entertainment industry owners and backers want a more friendly board; they complain of irregular and/or zealous enforcement, with an attitude that bar and restaurant owners and liquor retailers are to blame for Alaska's woes.

The ABC board has no more obligation to be "friendly" to industry than the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Enforcement has to be friendly to those industries.

The ABC board's obligation is first and foremost to the safety and welfare of the general public, not to the prosperity of the industry. What it owes to people in the adult beverage business is straightforward and fair regulation and enforcement.

It's not as if Alaska needs to be made safe for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

The industry doesn't like some of the sting operations that seek out sales to underage drinkers, to people already drunk or to those who for any other reason shouldn't be served. But given Alaska's huge problem with alcohol, those undercover tests are necessary.

Given the governor's "Choose Respect" campaign against domestic violence and sexual assault, keeping the emphasis on regulation and enforcement makes sense, for alcohol abuse often plays a major role in those crimes.

Industry backers tell stories of what they say is excessive zeal -- the retailer that passes muster 50 times, only to be stung on the 51st, or the private club clerk who finally gives in to relentless pressure to serve nonmembers. A reasonable person might conclude these establishments were doing well overall; whoever assesses penalties can take that into account.

But standards need to be high -- and there needs to be outside enforcement with a primary mission of public safety.

Anything that takes the edge off that mission should ring up no sale.

BOTTOM LINE: ABC Board should stay right where it is.