KNBA Morning Newscast for Thursday July 30, 2015
Rural Saxman
By Leila Kheiry, KRBD
The Organized Village of Saxman is officially rural again.
The Federal Subsistence Board voted during a work session yesterday (Tuesday) in Anchorage to return communities to the status they held before 2007. That’s the year the board decided to make Saxman non-rural, an action that Saxman residents and other Native leaders have fought against ever since.
Rural status for an Alaska Native community allows residents to subsistence hunt, fish and gather traditional foods and other materials.
Hoonah Dock
By Elizabeth Jenkins, KTOO
Hoonah will soon be getting more cruise ship passengers as it nears completion of a new dock at Icy Strait Point.
The town currently receives as many as 4,000 tourists a day on cruise lines like Celebrity. But arriving ships have to anchor offshore and tender passengers over with smaller boats.
Tyler Hickman, vice president of Icy Strait Point, says some vessels can’t accommodate that.
"For instance, I know that Disney doesn’t carry tenders on their ships so they don’t tender any ports. And so it certainly opens the door where it was completely closed to them in the past. And you know, I think it sparks interest of all the cruise lines,” said Hickman.
For example, the Disney Wonder already has ports of call in Southeast and can carry up to 2,700 passengers.
Huna Totem Corp. owns Icy Strait Point, a historic cannery turned tourist attraction with a museum, gift shop and zip line.
Hickman says funding for the dock came from a public-private partnership.
"The city has brought $14 million that was a grant from the state and Huna Totem Corp. is putting another 8 million into it,” said Hickman.
The dock is expected to be completed in October in time for next year’s tourist season.
Bethel Liquor
By Ben Matheson, KYUK
The Bethel City Council Tuesday took one step towards a possible return to local option status. By a 4 to 3 vote, they introduced an ordinance, which, if passed by council next month would let voters would decide in October whether to allow local alcohol sales solely through a city-run liquor store. KYUK’s Ben Matheson has more.
A possible vote on local option comes as the city appeals the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s rejection of their formal protest of Bethel Native Corporation’s liquor store application. The surprise move by the ABC board led Council Member Chuck Herman to propose having the city be the only liquor seller in town.
“It put our status as a community into question, it’s unclear if now we’re going to be able to protest anything at all. It’s unclear if the advisory vote is going to matter. Those are the reasons. And secondary to that, we’ll be able to fund more police if necessary; we’ll have extra revenue to work with,” said Herman.
Local option includes provisions for additional local control, like limiting sales to residents of Bethel, that aren’t possible under private sales. The state liquor board will be here in October for a public hearing, following a new alcohol advisory vote expected to influence whether the council protests future liquor license. But that’s not guaranteed as four council seats are up for election.
Bethel resident Dave Trantham spoke out against the council advancing local option.
“If the people of Bethel want to go back into local option, they can start the same type of initiative that we had to get out of local option. It should be coming from us peasants, the grassroots, it should not be coming from you,” said Trantham.
Council Member Heather Pike reminded the council of what drove citizens out of local option including the limits on importation and a database tracking purchases.
“I myself, I was tired of being treated like a criminal. I felt like I was a criminal when we were under local option, like ‘Momma can I go to the store?” said Pike.
Bethel left local option in 2009 and citizens voted again in 2010 to stay out while still rejecting local sales. That developed a liquor status that allows for unlimited importations and no local sales. It’s a middle ground that some call a compromise and others say creates a bootleggers paradise. A local option vote would change that reality. The path to the Bethels future status remains uncharted.
Vice Mayor Leif Albertson was concerned about a very complicated ballot on October 6th.
“If someone’s first choice is to stay the way we are now, I’m not sure how they should they vote on this in the election. Should they vote no, no, no, no, yes local option or no, no, no, no, no local option and then possibly end up with private sales which are less restrictive,” said Albertson.
Gearing up for October, Council Member Zach Fansler has lost faith in the board that has the final word on liquor licenses.
“Will they allow us to keep that status? We don’t know, they are judge, jury and executioner. They’re going to come out in October and they’re going to be the arbiter of what is best for Bethel. They have overstepped their bounds; they have put us as a community at odds with one another. They should never, ever, ever, have thought that was ok,” said Fansler.
A public hearing is scheduled for August 11th. The council can decide then whether to send the local option question to voters.