Navajo chapters mobilize against border packaged liquor license
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
A Mobil station and a SureStay by Best Western sit along Interstate 40 in Chambers, Ariz., near the Navajo Nation border. The Mobil station is seeking approval to sell packaged liquor, a bid that has drawn concerns from residents and chapter officials.
By Donovan Quintero
Special to the Times
WIDE RUINS, Ariz. – A bid by a convenience store and gas station near the Navajo Nation border to sell packaged liquor is drawing resistance from residents and chapter officials who say the proposal could revive alcohol-fueled deaths, family trauma and public safety strain that communities along U.S. 191 and Interstate 40 have spent years trying to recover from.
Opponents say the application for a “Series 9” license, which allows packaged alcohol to be purchased and carried away, cannot be treated as a routine business decision in a region where border liquor outlets once drew Navajo customers, fed bootlegging and left a trail of crashes and hardship across surrounding chapters.
To read the full article, please see the Jan. 29, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow