"AC Quickstop"

Tribal Administrator Sharon Williams said that five Napaskiak residents have died in alcohol-related incidents since Bethel legalized alcohol sales in 2016. That’s a little over 1 percent of the village’s total population.

Bethel has made more than a quarter of a million dollars from its 12 percent sales tax on alcohol since legal alcohol sales began in April.

Facebook comments predict inevitable death and abuse. But no one knows what’s going to happen.

“We have stores in Nome. We have a liquor store in McGrath, Alaska. We have a store in King Salmon. So we understand the sensitivity in the community,” said the general manager of the business with one of Bethel’s two liquor licenses.