Alaska Villagers Vote to Keep Alcohol Curbs

ST. MARYS, Alaska — Yupik Eskimo villagers have voted against lifting local restrictions on selling and importing alcohol, as well as on making home brew.

According to unofficial returns released Wednesday, 89 people voted Tuesday to retain the restrictions and 83 voted to repeal them. Alaska’s rural communities have experimented with alcohol prohibition to help curb liquor-related killings, suicide, violence and accidents, officials said.

Under Alaska’s alcohol laws, villages and cities may vote to be “wet,” “damp” or “dry,” depending on the level of restrictions.

St. Marys, a commercial center for villages along the Yukon River in western Alaska, is damp in that it allows alcohol possession and consumption, but not its sale, importation or production. A vote in November to ban possession of alcohol failed.