by Roy Dahl
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 22/97) - A Gameti woman is alarmed about how much alcohol people in her community are drinking.

Therese Zoe aired her opinions on a recent radio broadcast, citing fear for her decision to go public.

"There's a problem here that needs to be solved," she said in an interview this week.

In the broadcast, Zoe claimed young people are travelling to Rae and Yellowknife to pick up alcohol for consumption in the community, also known as Rae Lakes. She alleged people in the community are worried for their safety and elders are being abused as a result.

"Rae Lakes doesn't look like a dry community sometimes."

Chief Henry Gon, however, said Zoe gave the wrong impression of the community. "She said a lot of things that caused concern among the people," he said.

Gon refuted the claims, noting the community has ensured safety by training three people as community police, with the co-operation of the RCMP.

But Zoe contested Gons' assertions, arguing that no one in the community is immune to the effects of alcohol.

"Who do we turn to in this community?" she asked. "Even the security guards drink."

Zoe said that, in a community as small as Rae Lakes, it's hard to find people who don't drink, admitting that she has spent time looking for her own children during a night they've been drinking.

"Elders are sometimes afraid of their own children after they've been drinking, and young people race their ski-doos around town after they've been drinking." she said, noting that drunks are sometimes knocking on doors early in the morning, looking for a place to pass out.

It's a situation Gon finds hard to relate to, believing the problem to be isolated to a small group.

Gon said that while there may be "a few" young people who return from visits to the larger communities with alcohol, it is not a situation that compromises the safety of the community.

"It's such a small place. Everyone knows everyone else here. You can't do anything without someone else knowing about it," he said.

Rae Lakes has been a dry community for more than 20 years, and has a sobriety rule in place for community employees. The consumption of alcohol is prohibited within the community, Gon said, adding that several signs help enforce the rule.

He said people who board Air Tindi flights into the community are made aware of signs at local airports indicating that the community is dry.

The community council is meeting in January to discuss the situation and would like the broadcaster to clarify the story in the near future.

But for her part, Zoe wants people to be aware that, at least in Rae Lakes, living in a "dry" community doesn't always mean living without alcohol.