Marvin Berry thought loosening the alcohol laws in his home village of Selawik would be a good idea, and he successfully petitioned to make the matter a ballot issue. A month ago, voters crushed his idea with an overwhelming "no" vote. But more than 30 miles away, a different story is playing out. For the first time in 21 years, villagers in Kiana have voted to allow city-controlled liquor sales.

Fresh out of jail and looking to make liquor a part of his past, Berry, 47, is glad his measure failed in Selawik. He's lived in the village his entire life, with alcohol a near-constant companion. He first started drinking as a teenager. His drinking tapered off in his 30s, but when his dad died a few years ago, things worsened. Without a strong force to dissuade them, Berry and his brothers started drinking more frequently. It got bad enough that Berry started missing flights to work, which cost him a janitorial job at Red Dog Mine.

Alaska communities have the right to enact stricter liquor laws than those enforced by the state. They can choose to go completely dry and ban all imports, sales and possession, or to select some variation in between. Under state law, a person can purchase or ship 10 1/2 liters of hard liquor, 24 liters of wine and 12 gallons of beer in a single transaction. Selawik and Kiana have been "damp" for years -- allowing possession but not the sale or importation of alcohol, according to the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

One of the reasons Berry pushed going wet in Selawik is his fear about the harm people desperate to get a buzz will inflict on themselves.

"They are eating alcohol that's not done, drinking hair sprays and Lysol -- one can of Lysol can get three guys drunk and pass out," he said in a telephone interview last week from his home in Selawik.

A good friend is nearly blind, and Berry believes "drinking" Lysol spray disinfectant is to blame. Another acquaintence recently died -- from a life of drinking home brew, Berry suspects -- and several friends are in jail for alcohol-related crimes. Berry himself was only recently released from jail after getting caught with money stolen from the local Native store. The stint in jail cost him the ability to weigh in on the alcohol measure, as he was still in custody on election day.

Although it's not easy, Berry says he has stayed sober since his arrest. He struggled with it as recently as the day he spoke with Alaska Dispatch. Home brew, made from grape or orange juice concentrate, sugar and yeast in five-gallon buckets, is always ready for sale on the weekends, Berry said. The day of his interview he had $50 to spend on a gallon of home brew, but said he wasn't going to, as he has an elderly mother to care for and a young son to think about.

Berry initially pushed loosening Selawik's alcohol laws because, out of work, he was bored and had a vision of spending the winter drinking Crown Royal and working on his house, he said. It seemed like a better option than bootlegging or downing the household chemicals and home brew some people drink, he said.

Black market alcohol -- whether it's household products or liquor smuggled in to the village -- isn't cheap. Cans of hair spray and Lysol sell for $75 to $100 on the street, according to Berry. State troopers say imported fifths of whiskey average $150 per bottle. And to fund the fix, people can often be heard on Fridays on the local VHF radio, peddling cameras, DVDs and television sets at big discounts for quick cash, Berry said.

After last month's election, the village's alcohol laws remain unchanged. Voters chose to keep the ban on alcohol sales and importation in place.

"I voted for dry," city administrator Roger Clark said. He's seen firsthand what happens when alcohol flows freely in the community. Children suffer. They stop going to school. Drunkenness, violence and suicides increase. Life in the village can quickly become unbearable, he said. A father and grandfather, "I got every reason to keep it the way it is," he said.

But not far away, another small village, Kiana, is willing to test the waters.