Posted on 11/09/2004 10:34:26 AM PST by neverdem
HOOPER BAY -- This Eskimo village sits on the edge of the continent, part shantytown, part suburb, part Wild West. One can't go farther west without stepping into the Bering Sea, and, just beyond, onto the frosty eastern tip of Siberia.
No roads lead to Hooper Bay, which is why the modern world has taken its time coming here, and then only in spots. Clusters of plywood shacks stand a short distance from subdivisions of look-alike modular homes. There's no running water but lots of VCRs and satellite dishes and computers hooked up to the Internet.
One of the more curious aspects of life here has to do with firearms. Every household has an assortment of rifles and shotguns. When people are hungry, they go out and shoot something, like a walrus in the surf.
Every adult has legal access to guns -- except the police.
The elders won't allow it.
The policy -- some would call it an edict -- isn't written anywhere in the town's municipal code. It has simply been spoken by the gray-haired men and women with faces like carved driftwood who believe that armed officers would only create trouble.
Hooper Bay is the only known municipality in the United States that prohibits officers from carrying firearms. Police Chief James Hoelscher wants to change that. For the past two years, the chief, half-Eskimo, has tried to convince leaders that a growing town of 1,200 needs a modern police department.
"It's been like pedaling backwards going uphill," said Hoelscher, 28. He has a deep voice and friendly dark eyes that can turn intimidating in an instant. "(Town leaders) think we're still in the days of dog sleds and harpoons."
The debate ebbs and flows in town meetings and wherever else it happens to come up...
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
This is as it should be
Reminds me of a Robin Williams joke: "England! London! Where the police have no guns! So they have to cry out, 'STOP, or I'll -- I'll say STOP again!'"
Definitely would mitigate the posibility of a police state
I recall reading that at one time in England, cops didn't carry guns. If a cop encountered a criminal with a gun he was supposed to find an armed citizen to help him.
Times sure have changed.
Well, now you know what they were talking about in the 18th century when they said 'No standing army'.
---if it ain't broke, don't fix it---
"part suburb"??!! This guy's been in Alaska too long.
Why do they need the police just give everyone torches and pitchforks and let them lynch the criminals if they do something wrong.
That was the intent of the militia (all the people).
Yes, this yutz was able to disrupt and potentially take the life of anyone within several miles, over almost a day, because of this anti-gun policy. Of course, if one were to ask the anarchists here, that'd be considered a good thing...
Like Bell, some elders speak a little English; many don't. Or won't. Some are old enough to recall the days when the Eskimos of the delta were nomadic.
Gasp! How DARE they! This is America, where we speak English! /mocking_English-only_bigots
Nukusuk acknowledges that violence happens in town, but she says the true Yup'ik way is to do everything possible to keep the peace, even if it means an unarmed police officer negotiating for "hours and hours and hours" to defuse a confrontation.
Hours and hours while the miscreant is able to lord it over the entire population...might makes right, after all, right?
How many of those Hooper Bayians commute on a regular basis to Bethel, do ya think?
Weird post, geek.
Are you opposed to the residents possessing arms, while the peace officers, while on duty, can't? --
Why?
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