‘We’re healing’ Community pushes back on Chambers liquor request
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
A Mobil station sits off Interstate 40 in Chambers, Ariz., near the Navajo Nation border. The station has applied for a packaged liquor license, drawing opposition from nearby residents and Navajo chapter officials.
By Donovan Quintero
Special to the Times
ST. JOHNS, Ariz. – A packed meeting room here on Tuesday drew Navajo chapter leaders, pastors, veterans and residents from the Sanders-Chambers corridor. The Apache County Board of Supervisors heard hours of public opposition to a liquor license application tied to a convenience store near Interstate 40 and U.S. 191 in Chambers, Arizona.
After hearing from about a dozen speakers, the board, composed of Supervisors Alton Shepherd, Nelson Davis and Joe Shirley Jr., voted unanimously to recommend denial.
The application, tied to the Chieftain Mobil at I-40 and Highway 191, Exit 333, has become a flashpoint in a region residents described as still recovering from decades of alcohol-related harm and from the long fight to shut down earlier liquor outlets that once operated along the same corridor.
For many speakers, the question was not whether alcohol sales could generate revenue, but whether the community should be forced to absorb what they described as predictable consequences, including more impaired driving on two major routes, more emergency calls and added pressure on families already dealing with domestic violence, addiction and trauma.
To read the full article, please see the March 5, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow