BETHEL – After a two-day gathering in Bethel, tribal delegates from around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta came up with a plan to work on issues including what they see as the growing problem of alcohol in the region since the opening of a liquor store in Bethel last May.
Mike Williams, an Akiak tribal member and leader of the conference that ended Thursday, said delegates agreed to try to force the Alaska Commercial Co. store to sell only to Bethel residents, not to those from surrounding villages, most of which are dry.
[Tribal leaders gather in Bethel to work on alcohol problems and other regional issues]
If the AC store doesn't do that on its own, the tribal members want the city of Bethel to limit sales to city residents, something they plan to outline in a letter, Williams said. He said he thought that approach would work to keep at least some alcohol out of villages.
Residents at the conference spent hours telling stories of death and damage from alcohol. Some, including Williams, said the region is not ready for a liquor store. One man called liquor "fire water." Even as the tribal conference was beginning on Wednesday, an Akiak woman fell off the back of a snowmachine and died on the Gweek River trail near Akiachak. The driver had been drinking and faces possible criminal charges of drunken driving and criminally negligent homicide, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Efforts to reach Walt Pickett, the corporate vice president of operations and general manager of Alaska Commercial Co., were unsuccessful Friday.
Sara Chambers, acting director of the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, said she wasn't aware of any statute addressing that situation. Under state law, she said, an alcohol business can refuse to sell to someone if the seller "reasonably believes that the consumption of alcohol by that person may result in serious harm to that person or to others." Two years ago, when a liquor store for Bethel first was proposed, the then-director of the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Cynthia Franklin, said preventing people from buying alcohol based on their home community might not withstand a court challenge.
Ultimately, the tribal group wants Bethel to vote out liquor stores altogether, Williams said.
"Also we are urging the city of Bethel to vote in the local option law once again," Williams said. "Go back to damp." That would allow people to bring in alcohol or order it from Anchorage, while shutting down liquor stores and beer and wine sales at restaurants. Bethel doesn't have any bars.
The tribal group also is recommending that each village hold meetings and come up with a safety plan to deal with alcohol, heroin and other substances that are hurting and killing people.
In addition, Williams said, the tribes plan to send a delegation to Juneau to show opposition to a new kind of borough proposed for the region by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, through his Senate Bill 18. The regionwide borough would exist only to build new energy infrastructure.
Williams also said the tribes are supportive of a push by the state for tribal courts.
The group intends to meet again April 4 in Bethel to discuss a long-standing goal of some: creation of a regional tribe.