Turns out that when voters in the Western Alaska city of Bethel said they wanted to loosen liquor rules, they meant it.
City officials on Friday announced the final tally in the latest alcohol election with 57 percent of voters opting to remain "wet" -- meaning people can ship as much liquor to the city as they want.
Tuesday's balloting marked the third alcohol election since October, with an even bigger turnout and wider margin of victory for wet status than before. Now some on both sides say it's time to give the question a rest.
"The voters have spoken and I respect that," said Mary Sattler, a former state lawmaker representing Bethel who sought to return the city to "damp" status and petitioned to put liquor rules back on the ballot this month.
Bethel's libertarian streak and frontier mentality won out over reports that easier access to alcohol is hurting neighboring villages, she said.
Tom Hawkins, who successfully pushed to remove alcohol restrictions in the fall, said Bethel residents have had months to soak in the new rules. In that time, local police report no obvious change in crime. No bars or liquor stores have opened because no one's been able to get a liquor license and residents are free of what Hawkins considers invasive state oversight of damp communities.
"Quite frankly I think they liked what they saw," he said.
The first vote came in October, when 54 percent of voters chose to lift the 30-year-old prohibition on local liquor sales and toss out monthly limits on the amount of alcohol people can ship to the city of 5,700 each month.
Suddenly, residents in Alaska's largest damp community and the shopping, travel and medical hub for one of the poorest regions in the state could order any amount of liquor. Opponents of the change feared bars and liquor stores would soon follow.
But in a Jan. 19 advisory vote called by the city council, voters said they didn't want any local liquor sales -- even rejecting restaurants selling beer and wine.
The next month, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board torpedoed six liquor license applications including one from the biggest store in town. No one has asked to sell alcohol in Bethel since, said ABC Board director Shirley Gifford.
Meantime, police in some surrounding villages where all alcohol is forbidden say more black market liquor appears to be making its way to their communities. Principals in the Lower Kuskokwim School District say kids report increasing problems at home and are struggling to pay attention in school.
Gene Peltola, president of the regional health corporation, said he's hearing reports of growing domestic violence and sexual assaults in surrounding communities. But in Bethel, the number of people arriving in the emergency room since the liquor restrictions were removed declined after an initial spike, he said.
Writing April 23 in the Tundra Drums newspaper, Bethel City Councilman Rick Robb urged voters to keep Bethel unrestricted, saying people's worst fears about wet status never materialized.
"Our community and our region still have alcohol problems and alcohol-related tragedies, but they are no worse than before," Robb wrote. "Any tragedy is still a tragedy. But the problems may be getting better, not worse."
Hawkins said he and other key supporters of the original effort to remove liquor restrictions will now turn their attention to toughening state bootlegging laws and making sure people who sell black-market booze are punished when caught.
"We're going to be sending people into the court to monitor bootlegging cases to see for ourselves," he said.
Despite rumblings in town of yet another petition to tighten alcohol rules, Sattler said she has no plans to push for another vote. Hawkins said other supporters of damp status have told him the same thing.
Tuesday's turnout was the highest of the three recent liquor elections.
City clerk Lori Strickler expected 700, maybe 800, to show at the polls Tuesday, she said. Instead, nearly 1,200 voted, pushing turnout past 35 percent of eligible voters.
In comparison, fewer than 30 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 2009 Anchorage mayoral election.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com