Voters in Bethel don't want a liquor store. They don't want a bar. They don't want restaurants serving alcohol. And they don't want the city to sell booze either.
That was the message Tuesday in a citywide advisory vote that asked residents what kind of alcohol sales they support, if any, now that the city has gone from "damp" to "wet."
Fewer than four months after voters lifted a ban on liquor sales in the Western Alaska hub of 5,700 people, about 73 percent of those who voted Tuesday said the city shouldn't support applications for bars. Another 64 percent said no to liquor stores.
"It'll be a no-brainer now for us to protest every license," said Bethel Mayor Joe Klejka.
Bethel was Alaska's largest damp community -- meaning you can import alcohol but can't buy it locally -- until voters removed the more than 30-year-old prohibition on Oct. 6. Supporters of the change said they didn't want bars and liquor stores in town but were sick of what they saw as arbitrary state oversight and narrowing restrictions.
The point wasn't to go "wet," they say, but to be unrestricted. A push last winter by then-Gov. Sarah Palin to cleave monthly importation limits to damp communities fueled the petition effort.
But liquor rules in Bethel ripple throughout the region. Some groups, such as the Lower Kuskokwim School District, opposed the change last fall, saying it could lead to more underage drinking and bootlegging.
The city is a shopping, medical and social-service hub for dozens of smaller communities that prohibit liquor in a region that has long struggled with high rates of alcohol-related accidents, deaths, crime and suicide.
"A good percentage of the people on both sides of the issue do not want (alcohol) sales in Bethel," said Gene Peltola, chief executive of Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp., which is opposing a series of new liquor license applications from Bethel businesses.
Klejka and Peltola say the solution may be for the state to allow cities like Bethel to choose a new option. Something between the old definitions of damp and wet.
On Wednesday they talked about a compromise -- Klejka says it would require changing state law -- that would allow Bethel to:
• Ban local alcohol sales.
• Remove state oversight that tracks people's liquor purchases and that limits how much alcohol they can order from out of town each month.
• Prohibit people who live in surrounding villages from shipping alcohol to Bethel and bringing it back to their communities by snowmachine or boat.
AN OVERWHELMING 'NO'
Villages that have voted to prohibit alcohol shouldn't be plagued by booze arriving from Bethel, Klejka said. "But in the same sense, we shouldn't be penalized to protect the villages."
The debate is far from over. Yet another election --- this one aimed at making Bethel damp again -- is expected this spring.
Each election costs an estimated $6,000, said city clerk Lori Strickler.
Tuesday's ballot asked voters whether the city should support liquor license applications for bars, liquor stores, restaurants or any other kind of alcohol sales. It also asked if the city should apply to own and operate its own bar or liquor store.
In each case, voters said no.
They rejected the notion of a bar opening in Bethel by 524-190.
They said no to a liquor store by a vote of 457-257, and rejected the notion of the city selling alcohol 396-304.
Another 96 absentee and questioned ballots remained to be counted, Strickler said.
As for turnout, about 23 percent of eligible voters appeared at the polls compared to 32 percent in October when voters also elected council members.
LIQUOR LICENSES PENDING
The city's biggest store as well as four restaurants and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post have all applied to the state for liquor licenses, according to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
The City Council, which called for the advisory election to help clarify what voters wanted, has already moved to block or restrict sales. The council voted to protest the first liquor license application pending before the state and agreed 5-1 to forbid bars and liquor stores within 300 feet of schools and churches.
Another proposal before the council next week might seek to deny liquor licenses of any kind in the city, though it's not clear if that's within the city's legal power, said Vice Mayor Eric Middlebrook.
"I don't think the city, or any city in the state, has that authority," he said.
To the north, another regional hub city is trying a different approach to liquor sales. Kotzebue voters approved plans in October to allow the city to own and operate a bar, liquor store or alcohol-serving restaurant. The petition also called for the creation of a liquor board to usher in the city's first local alcohol sales in more than 20 years.
The city appointed that seven-member board on Jan. 7, and the group held its first meeting last week, according to the city clerk's office.
Read The Village, the ADN's blog about rural Alaska, at adn.com/thevillage. Twitter updates: twitter.com/adnvillage. Call Kyle Hopkins at 257-4334.
Bethel advisory vote on alcohol: Unofficial results
Proposition 1: Should the City of Bethel support a liquor license application for a liquor store within the City of Bethel? Yes: 257; No: 456
Proposition 2: Should the City of Bethel support a liquor license application for a bar within the City of Bethel? Yes: 190; No: 524
Proposition 3: Should the City support a liquor license application for a restaurant or eating establishment within the City? Yes: 259; No: 452
Proposition 4: Should the City support a liquor license application of any other type within the City? Yes: 205; No: 496
Proposition 5: Should the City support the City to apply for a liquor license and the operation of a city owned liquor store? Yes: 304; No: 396
Source: City of Bethel
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By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com