KIYU NEWSROOM

July 12, 2006

Nulato Liquor Store Vote

A vote on opening a city-operated liquor store in Nulato passed by a wide margin yesterday. 

70 percent of voters in Nulato supported the measure, and 30 percent voted against it.

The City of Nulato intends to use the revenue generated by a liquor store to pay for law enforcement and other municipal services. 

The outcome of the election must be accepted by the Nulato City Council, and then the City of Nulato must seek a package store license from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. 

A-B-C Board Director Doug Griffin cautions that the City of Nulato has a multi-step process ahead of it, involving the completion of the license application, inspection of the building where the store will be sited, and other safeguards.  

Nulato Tribal Administrator Peter Demoski opposes the liquor store.  He has been urging opponents of the liquor store proposal to write letters to the Alcohol Control Board, and hopes that the Board will still listen to voices of opposition in the weeks ahead.

Director Griffin confirms that the A-B-C has already received several letters in opposition to the Nulato liquor store.  He says the Board will continue to accept written comments, but it will be hard to overshadow the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.    

96 people – roughly a third of Nulato’s population – voted in Tuesday’s election.  Demoski can’t recall a higher level of voter turnout in Nulato, and observed a particularly high level of turnout among young voters. 

Nulato does not currently have a village public safety officer, and the nearest law enforcement is a State Trooper detachment in Galena. 

Director Griffin says that state law does not require a community to have local police if the community also has a liquor store. 

The Alcohol Control Board will hold its next meeting in August, but Griffin does not expect that Nulato’s application for a license would come up until the meeting this fall, in October or November.