Editing Bethel, Alaska (section)

==History==
[[File:Alaska - Bethel - NARA - 23937517.jpg|thumb|right|Bethel in the 1940s, winter]]
[[File:Alaska - Bethel - NARA - 23937519.jpg|thumb|right|Bethel in 1941, summer]]
Southwestern Alaska has been the homelands of [[Yup'ik peoples]] and their ancestors for thousands of years. The residents of what became Bethel were called the Mamterillermiut, meaning "Smokehouse People", after their nearby fish [[smokehouse]].<ref name=orth>{{cite book |last1=Orth |first1=Donald J. |title=Dictionary of Alaska Place Names |date=1971 |publisher=USGS |isbn=978-0944780022 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0y48AQAAMAAJ/page/n140 128] |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0y48AQAAMAAJ|quote=Bethel Alaska 41 population 1880 census.}}</ref> In the late 19th century, the [[Alaska Commercial Company]] established a trading post in the town, called Mumtrekhlogamute, which had a population of 41 people by the [[1880 United States census|1880 census]].<ref name=orth/>

In 1885, the [[Moravian Church]] established a mission in the area under the leadership of William and Caroline Weinland and [[John and Edith Kilbuck]].{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} He{{who|date=June 2023}} made Yup'ik the language of the Moravian Church in the community and region, and helped translate the Christian Bible into the language.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} The missionaries moved Bethel from Mamterillermiut to its present location on the west side of the Kuskokwim River. A United States post office was opened in 1905.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

In 1971, Bethel established a community radio station [[KYUK (AM)|KYUK]],<ref name="Daley"/> the first Native-owned and -operated radio station in the U.S.<ref name="kyuk-radio">{{cite web|url=http://www.kyuk.org/radio.htm |title=Radio |publisher=Bethel Broadcasting |location=Bethel, Alaska |date=February 26, 2010 |access-date=May 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100220160143/http://www.kyuk.org/radio.htm |archive-date=February 20, 2010 }}</ref> Similar stations were soon started in [[Kotzebue, Alaska|Kotzebue]], and by 1990, there were 10 stations in communities of fewer than 3,500 people.<ref name="Daley"/>

On February 19, 1997, [[1997 Bethel Regional High School shooting|a school shooting]] attracted widespread media attention to Bethel when 16-year-old Evan Ramsey, a student at Bethel Regional High School, shot and killed his principal and one student and wounded two others, for which he later received a 210-year prison sentence.<ref>Avila, Jim; Holding, Reynolds; Whitcraft, Teri; Tribolet, Beth. "[https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=5040342&page=1 School Shooter: 'I Didn't Realize' They Would Die]". ''ABC News''. June 11, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2014.</ref>

In 2009, Bethel opted out of status as a "[[Local Option]]" community, theoretically opening the door to allowing [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]] sales in the city; residents and city officials maintained that all [[liquor license]] requests would be actively opposed. In October 2015, though, a vote for allowing alcohol sales in Bethel passed and two liquor licenses were approved for existing stores in the city.

In 2012, pranksters distributed flyers falsely announcing the launch of a [[Taco Bell]] restaurant in Bethel, prompting Taco Bell to airlift into the town a Taco Bell [[food truck]] loaded with ingredients for 10,000 tacos.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Locker|first=Melissa|date=July 21, 2012|title=After Hoax, It's Taco Bell to the Rescue|language=en-US|magazine=Time|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/04/after-hoax-its-taco-bell-to-the-rescue/|access-date=May 21, 2020|issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Taco Bell helicopters 10,000 tacos to Bethel, Alaska after hoax|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2012-jul-03-la-fi-mo-taco-bell-alaska-20120703-story.html|date=July 3, 2012|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=May 21, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The Taco Bell Hoax in Bethel, Alaska - Above and Beyond Delivery| date=July 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGjR-cGnXM| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/-wGjR-cGnXM| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |language=en |access-date=May 21, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On November 3, 2015, the Kilbuck building housing both the Ayaprun Elitnaurviat Yup'ik immersion school and the Kuskokwim Learning Academy caught fire, destroying the immersion school and damaging the boarding school.<ref>{{cite news|last=Demer|first=Lisa|title=Video: Kilbuck school building burns in Bethel|url=https://www.adn.com/video/video-kilbuck-school-building-burns-bethel|access-date=November 3, 2015|newspaper=[[Alaska Dispatch News]]|date=November 3, 2015}}</ref> Fire fighters demolished part of the building in an effort to save a media center containing Yup'ik artifacts and elder interviews.<ref name="Sewer">{{cite news|title=Fire tears through Bethel school building|url=http://www.adn.com/article/20151103/fire-tears-through-bethel-school-building|access-date=November 3, 2015|newspaper=[[Alaska Dispatch News]]|date=November 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Fire engulfs Bethel school|url=http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/11/03/fire-engulfs-bethel-school/|access-date=November 3, 2015|newspaper=[[Alaska Public Radio Network]]|date=November 3, 2015}}</ref>