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City Protests AC Quick Stop Liquor License Renewal

On Tuesday, the Bethel City Council voted four to one to oppose renewing the package liquor store license for AC Quick Stop.
Christine Trudeau
/
KYUK

On Tuesday, the Bethel City Council voted four to one to oppose renewing the package liquor store license for AC Quick Stop.

 

The Council started by reviewing a resolution that would have supported AC Quick Stop’s liquor license renewal, but imposed conditions. Ultimately, the decision came down to what the council felt was in its purview to do, or in this case, not do. Filling in for Mayor Richard Robb who was out on travel was Vice Mayor Fred Watson.

 

“We’re not required to approve, or endorse, or recommend,” said Watson. “We either file a protest or we don’t. That’s our job as City Councilmen.”

 

Alaska Commercial Company attorney Aaron Sperbeck was there to argue for the resolution. He suggested that “work sessions” be set up between the City and AC to work out conditions and changes in the store's practices once more liquor stores start operating.

 

“And we’ll have an idea of whether or not the statistics that have been provided to us actually are in fact indicative of the AC, or are they indicative of the city and that particular population, and whether or not we have a baseline. Because we don’t have a baseline,” Sperbeck said.

 

When he says "baseline," Sperbeck is referring to spotty police and emergency response records prior to when the store opened two years ago. Bethel emergency services have reported record-breaking call volumes in areas near the AC Quick Stop location since then. Council Member Leif Albertson says that that's solid information.

 

“There was an assertion made that we don’t have a baseline for call volume; we absolutely do,” Albertson said. “I think the assertion maybe had more to do with that you don’t have details for those calls, and that you would want to refute them, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a baseline. We can compare it to the call volume that we had before the liquor store went in, and I can tell you certainly that the call volume on the ambulance has been drastically increased.”

 

Albertson can speak with some authority on this because he's a Bethel volunteer Firefighter/EMT.

 

The idea of a renewal with conditions went down to unanimous defeat. The lone vote opposing the protest came from Raymond "Thor" Williams.

 

The State Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will get word of the protest at its next meeting on April 3.