BETHEL -- In a town that has long tussled over alcohol rules, an October advisory vote on whether to allow the first legal sales in four decades is approaching. The result may shape alcohol policy in Bethel for years.
Bethel City Council members and candidates say they expect the council will be guided by the voters in what is typically a low-turnout city election as it considers whether to support proposals for liquor stores, restaurants with alcohol and bars.
The city ballot for the Oct. 6 election contains five advisory questions on alcohol sales as well as two binding propositions to raise the city sales tax -- from 6 percent to 12 percent on alcohol sales if any come about, and to 15 percent on marijuana, again if sales are eventually allowed.
As it stands, Bethel is in an odd position: legally wet as a result of a 2009 vote but with no legal sales. Residents can bring in unlimited amounts of booze, and only the biggest orders are tracked by state government. Actions that could have led to felony charges when Bethel was damp, such as making homebrew or bringing in one beer too many, are now legal, council members say.
"There are situations where people want to not have sales, but they also don't want the draconian punishments," said council member Zach Fansler, who traveled to Kotzebue last week in part to explain Bethel's position to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
"That was a happy middle ground for us," said Leif Albertson, the vice mayor running for a second term on the council.
Some want to keep the unusual legal landscape intact for Bethel. But others, including backers of a proposed liquor store being fought by the city, say that the current arrangement allows bootlegging to flourish. Bethel residents are sophisticated enough to handle legal sales, Ana Hoffman, chief executive officer of Bethel Native Corp., said at an April town hall meeting where the organization's application for the Bethel Spirits package store was debated.
Now voters will be asked to weigh in. Unlike in urban areas, so far there's no loud or visible campaign for public support by either side, no mailers, no TV ad wars, no yard signs on the pros and cons of liquor sales.
The Sept. 16 edition of the Delta Discovery newspaper includes a column urging people to vote and a letter from Gloria Simeon, who used to head Bethel's tribe, to the chairman of the ABC Board raising concerns about the board rejection of the city's challenge to the Bethel Spirits application. But there are no ads trying to sway voters one way or the other.
The city is trying to get the word out about the election, in which four of the seven council seats also are up, through notices around town, in the Delta Discovery and in English and Yup'ik public service announcements on KYUK public radio. City Clerk Lori Strickler outlined the ballot on Thursday for the Bethel Chamber of Commerce.
Voters will be asked to answer a series of questions. Should the city support a license application for a liquor store? A bar? A restaurant or club? A liquor license for anything else?
Maybe a quarter of the city's 3,640 registered voters will turn out, if the city's 2010 advisory election on alcohol is any indication. Then, voters rejected every configuration of alcohol sales, shooting down the prospect of bars by more than 2 to 1. A city-owned liquor store had the most support, but still lost by almost 100 votes. Voters aren't being asked their opinion on the latter this time, though some council members say they still are interested in exploring that option.
"In some cases, it may have flipped around," Fansler said of the alcohol questions on the October ballot.
Voters have considered whether to change Bethel's alcohol status about 20 times since 1960, when a ballot measure on liquor sales failed by 25 votes, according to "a historical look at Bethel's booze initiatives" prepared by an earlier city clerk. The city had a liquor store and bars in the 1960s and 1970s but things got out of hand and a proposal to ban sales passed overwhelming in 1977.
City law on alcohol sales is scant but contains some provisions stricter than state law. For one, sales are banned on holidays including Christmas. Strickler, the current clerk, said she and Patty Burley, the city attorney, have been working on a sweeping rewrite to go before the council, so the city will be ready if liquor licenses are approved. One element would be a requirement for a city special permit in addition to a state liquor license, Strickler said.
The debate over whether alcohol sales will help or hurt Bethel erupts at times on KYUK's "Talk Line" program, but those in favor seem hesitant to speak up there or at public meetings, said Diane McEachern, a regular co-host who also serves as a university assistant professor in the rural human services program.
The destructiveness of alcohol fuels an emotional debate. Once people speak of the heartbreak and damage, it's hard to advocate for alcohol sales, McEachern said. Yet while some might drink more, "selling alcohol in a store isn't going to increase – necessarily – addiction," she said.
Council members and candidates are sharply divided over whether they support sales, though they agree that a clear message from voters will influence policymakers.
Mayor Rick Robb, whose seat is up in this election cycle, works as director of Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. residential facilities and says his view differs from that of his employer's: He thinks legal sales will lessen the harm from alcohol. He expects bootlegging will be reduced and so will sales to minors, intoxicated people and those barred by court order from buying.
But Vice Mayor Albertson, who has a master's degree in health policy and management, said he is not in any hurry to see alcohol sales in the town where he has made his home. People can already order alcohol to be shipped to Bethel; making alcohol more accessible likely will increase drinking, he said.
Another council member up for re-election, Mark Springer, said the quality of life in Bethel is better without sales. The city also needs to consider the safety of village residents who travel there by boat, four-wheeler and snowmachine, he said. His own family was hit by tragedy in 2011 when his son was drinking and drowned on a Kuskokwim River trip with a friend, he said.
So far, it's unclear whether the fate of the proposed Bethel Spirits store hinges on how the voters line up.
The ABC Board already has scheduled a public hearing in Bethel for Oct. 22, after the advisory vote, to consider objections to the liquor store beyond those raised by the council. The ABC Board separately is reconsidering its decision to reject the city's protest of the Bethel Spirits application. The city also is appealing the board rejection of its protest, but that appeal is on hold while the ABC Board reconsiders the matter.
Even if the voters say they want a liquor store, council members aren't united on whether they will drop their challenge.
With four seats on the ballot, the makeup of the council could change as well. Two of the three challengers -- Alisha Welch and Nikki Christina Hoffman -- support the prospect of a liquor store and the third, Jason Smith, said he would be flexible on the matter.
"This is an incredibly, epically large issue," said Fansler, who is not up for re-election this round.