Bootleggers Playing Hide and Seek on the Tundra

This is the title of an article that was featured in the New York Times. You know you have a problem when the New York Times does an article on your community. Check it out for yourself here. If for some reason the link doesn't work to to the New York Times and search for Bootlegger on Tundra. That should bring it up. Basically it's talking about the problem we have with the sale of bootlegged alcohol. A fifth of R & R (Rich & Rare) whiskey, which is a bottom shelf brand, costs a mere $10 in Anchorage, but can sell for $300 in a dry village. Two months ago, state troopers in Aniak, about 90 miles to the northeast of us here in Bethel, reported chasing two drunken bootleggers 25 miles up the Kuskokwim River, sometimes at speeds topping 40 miles an hour. The suspects were finally caught — with five bottles of vodka.

Alcohol is a battle that way too many rural Alaskans have to deal with!