Changes to the alcohol ban at the Moses Lake sand dunes
EPHRATA — The Grant County Commissioners said they plan to meet with members of the Moses Lake Area Chamber of Commerce early next month, following a request by the chamber for changes to the alcohol ban at the Moses Lake sand dunes.
Last spring the commissioners voted to ban alcohol at the Moses Lake and Beverly sand dunes areas for safety reasons.
Commission Chair Richard Stevens said he was satisfied with last summer's ban and estimated an 85 percent positive response from the public.
"They didn't have near the carnage as the year before," said Stevens. "We had to error on the safe side for the public."
He believes the civil liberties concerns of some dune-goers are real and said he will enter future discussions with an open mind.
A Nov. 30, 2005, letter from the chamber requested the commissioners modify the alcohol ban at the tourist destination, suggesting the dispute surrounding the ban may not settled.
Stevens said the chamber expressed interest in establishing a "beer garden" at the dunes.
The chamber specifically asked commissioners to exclude designated camping areas from the ban, while maintaining the ban for the rest of the sand dunes.
The chamber cited a one-year tourism slump in 2005, saying Memorial Day weekend attendance dropped from 10,000 visitors in 2004 to 3,000 visitors last year. Due to a decrease in attendance throughout the entire summer, the chamber estimated a total direct economic impact of around $4 million in lost revenues for restaurants, convenience stores and other businesses.
John Turley, chief criminal deputy for the Grant County Sheriff's Office, sees the situation differently.
"If, in fact, the reduction in attendance at the sand dunes is directly related to elimination of alcohol, then the 7,000 people who didn't show up to the sand dunes were only there for the alcohol and not the sand dunes," Turley wrote in a Jan. 3 letter, responding to the chamber's letter to commissioners.
He questioned the $150 per person per day figure the chamber used to calculate the $4 million in lost revenues.
"If there's a family of four that means they must spend $600 per day. Times that by three days, $1,800 is what they must spend for a three-day weekend," Turley wrote. "I challenge you to find anyone who has spent $1,800 while enjoying the sand dunes area of our county during the Memorial Day weekend. It has been my experience they pack in most of their groceries, gas and goodies."
Over Memorial Day weekend, the chamber claimed the number of patients taken to emergency rooms from the dunes decreased from 24 in 2004 to 14 last year.
"This would indicate that the reduction in visitors is a high price to pay for 10 fewer injured people," wrote Jacie Daschel, Moses Lake Area Chamber of Commerce president.
In response, Turley described a driver under the influence of alcohol who was involved in two accidents in the span of five hours. In the first accident, the driver caused more than $200,000 in medical bills and possible permanent disability to one victim. Five hours later, the same driver collided with a motorcycle rider whose hospital bills eventually equaled about $250,000.
"The irony, the man who had been drinking and driving in the off-road area and who had caused two serious injury accidents to the tune of over $450,000, is a member of one of the groups who is so adamantly fighting the alcohol ban," Turley wrote.
The chamber hopes to find a prudent solution to prevent the negative behaviors of the past at the dunes and wants to promote positive uses to attract tourists.
"There are existing laws relating to drunkenness, minors in possession, littering, etc. that can be enforced," Daschel wrote. "At the same time, we wish to welcome civilized adults as visitors to our area by allowing for alcohol in designated camping areas that are clearly marked."
Turley agreed laws for drunkenness already existed and said law enforcement officials work to enforce them.
But, he added in his letter, "If we were able to we could have arrested half of the attendees at the dunes for being drunk in public. Now, what do we do with those folks?"
The arrests would overwhelm jails, he said, and the five to seven deputies normally available to make arrests would be critically outnumbered by the county's swelling population on summer holiday weekends.
Stevens echoed Turley's concern about having adequate resources and manpower to police the dunes, saying the recreation area grows to the size of a small city during summer weekends.
The commissioners will meet with the chamber at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Grant County Courthouse to discuss the situation further.