To sell or not?

[CattleRMe]

Beer Sales Under Fire
Commissioners consider testimony


Activists rallied in Rushville on Monday in a bold attack aimed at halting the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay, Nebraska.

Sheridan County Commissioners were told that beer sales there are devastating South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and should be stopped.

American Indian activists and others joined forces to oppose oppose automatic renewal of licenses for three stores in Whiteclay. Those three stores sell an average of more than 12,000 cans of beer a day.

But after hearing comments from 22 people, commissioners said they would review the testimony and announce a decision in about a week.

"We haven't had the time to look at this," Commissioner Dan Kling said.

Alcohol is banned on the reservation.

An attorney for two of the stores defended their operation, saying the firms followed state regulations.

"These are quality people running quality businesses in quality locations," Scottsbluff lawyer Andy Snyder said.

And, Snyder said, the three stores are receiving more scrutiny than any other alcohol-selling businesses in Nebraska.

However, most of those who spoke urged commissioners to reject the renewal.

"People in Sheridan County should be ashamed ... because of the devastation that alcohol is causing," Gordon resident Phil Compton said. "I want to ask you as commissioners to consider what we are doing as a county."

The commissioners can either approve the automatic renewal or recommend to the state's Liquor Commission the stores reapply for licenses.

The public hearing was prompted by Nebraskans for Peace in the group's latest attempt to stop the stores from selling alcohol to American Indians. The three stores are Mike's Pioneer Service, Jumping Eagle Inn and State Line Liquor.

Mark Vasina, president of Nebraskans for Peace, says the stores should never have been licensed.

"It's quite clear that these licenses are operating in a community where there's clearly inadequate law enforcement," he said prior to the hearing.

Because of that, the stores sell to minors and intoxicated people, and patrons are allowed to drink in public, Vasina said.

The State of Nebraska and Oglala Sioux Tribe have signed an agreement to allows tribal officers to patrol Whiteclay but that hasn't started, he said.

Besides law enforcement, commissioners are required to consider the public health and safety of people near places that sell alcohol, such as the residents of the Pine Ridge reservation, Vasina said.

Others who spoke told commissioners that closing the stores would cause people to drive further to obtain alcohol, hurt tax revenues and still not resolve alcohol abuse.

"Closing Whiteclay is not the problem," said Terry Hinn, a member of the Rushville City Council said. "Where do we stop?"

Hinn proposed building a treatment center in Rushville.

Russell Means, an Indian actor who was part of the American Indian Movement of the 1970s, led a rally outside the courthouse before the hearing.

He called it "ludicrous" that the sales to Indians continue.

Means said he is talking to two tribes to help fund a lawsuit similar to the one filed against the tobacco industry in the 1990s.

"As you know that set an excellent precedent," Means said of the tobacco case. "(American Indians are) sick and tired of the disease your people brought over. Specifically alcohol."

An unnamed New York law firm has done more than $600,000 in research on the effects of alcohol sales to American Indians, Means said.

The protesters also said Whiteclay is located on the reservation according to treaty terms.

"That land in Whiteclay still belongs to the Lakota," said Oliver Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

[theHiredMansWife]

This particular argument has been going on for decades...

Native America Calling is a national call in show carried a number of reservation radio stations around the country and they discussed this topic one day a few years back.

I called in to make the point that White Clay was simply a dealer. A big dealer, yes, but just a dealer.
When you take out a dealer, does that mean suddenly everyone quits using the drug?




No one had a comment.

[CattleRMe]

My opinion and strictly my opinion is in the event they cease sales in Whiteclay it will just mean more sales for Gordon and Rushville. If people want to drink they will find a way to get to the booze. This way they can walk to get it the other they'll be on the road.

[Oldtimer]

A friend of mine from Wolf Point (Fort Peck Reservation- which is not dry ) was gone on vacation for a few weeks...When he got home his wife sent him to the store to get milk- He said you know you're back on the rez when all the milk in the store is outdated but none of the beer is ............

[Cal]

The further away it is to get alcohol, the more drunks will be on the road, and the better the bootleggers will do. If OST was smart they would legalize and tax, because what they're doing now couldn't possibly be more ineffective.

[theHiredMansWife]

I think you're probably right, Cal. Outlawing it obviously hasn't done anything for the problem.

We lived on Standing Rock for a number of years. When we first moved there, we were really surprised to discover that it wasn't dry like Pine Ridge and Rosebud.
And based on personal observation only, I don't think alcoholism amongst tribal members was any worse than it was on the dry reservations. In fact, it almost seemed lesser...

[CattleRMe]

Whiteclay liquor store won't face sanctions
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission voted 2-1 on Thursday against sanctions for a liquor store in Whiteclay that was accused of selling beer to two intoxicated men.

The State Line Liquor store was accused of violating state laws by selling a can of malt liquor to men with blood-alcohol levels three times the legal limit. A state trooper testified that the store sold the beer even though the men were obviously drunk but the commission said there wasn't evidence to find the store guilty of violating the law.

State Line is one of three liquor outlets in Whiteclay. Most of the patrons come from the Pine Ridge Reservation just across the border in South Dakota. Tribal and non-tribal activists have tried to shut down the stores for violations of state law but have not been successful.

[CattleRMe]

Sheridan County renews Whiteclay alcohol licenses
By SCOTT BAUER / The Associated Press

Three Whiteclay stores will be able to continue selling beer despite complaints filed by Natives and others.

The Sheridan County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution on Monday automatically renewing liquor licenses for the three stores located in the town of Whiteclay, which is just across the border from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Alcohol is banned on the reservation, and activists have complained for years that selling beer in Whiteclay only exacerbates problems for the 15,000 Oglala Sioux living across the border. The reservation has one of the nation’s highest alcoholism-related mortality rates.

Tribal activists and others rallied in Rushville last week to oppose the license renewals.

The commission could have required the three stores — Mike’s Pioneer Service, Jumping Eagle Inn and State Line Liquor — to apply with the state Liquor Control Commission to have their licenses renewed.

But the commission, in its unanimous vote, cited a Nebraska Supreme Court decision that said a license must be renewed if the applicant is qualified to receive it, the store is the same as that which currently holds the license and the premises are suitable for the sale of alcohol.

Mark Vasina, president of Nebraskans for Peace, said Monday that he did not know whether the commissioner’s decision could or would be appealed. Other complaints against the Whiteclay beer stores are being investigated, Vasina said.

“We expect to file another complaint against perhaps two of the liquor stores in Whiteclay if not three within the next couple months,” he said.

The three stores sell an estimated 12,000 cans of beer a day.

Vasina had argued before the commissioners that there is inadequate law enforcement in Whiteclay, the stores sell to minors and intoxicated people and patrons are allowed to drink in public.

[Oldtimer]

Whiteclay must be much like Montana's Jimtown- which is next to the Cheyenne Reservation and not far from the Crow Reservation...Back in the days before aluminum beer cans they had the largest can pile in the world behind the Bar- took up acres of land.........

[passin thru]

[theHiredMansWife]

What are you talking about?

[theHiredMansWife]