Press Release:
(Whiteclay, NE) – The Oglala Sioux Tribe has filed a lawsuit against brewers, retailers and distributors of alcohol sold in Whiteclay, Nebraska. The lawsuit was announced today at a news conference hosted by Nebraskans for Peace.
Attorney Tom White, legal counsel for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said the defendants are engaged in a common enterprise focused on assisting and participating in the illegal importation of alcohol sold at Whiteclay onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The sale, possession and consumption of alcohol is illegal on the Pine Ridge, where tribal members suffer from crippling poverty and alcoholism rates. Whiteclay lies less than 250 feet from the reservation border.
“The Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks compensation for all of the damages the Lakota people have suffered as a result of illegal alcohol sales,” said White, who is with White and Jorgensen Law Offices in Omaha. “The defendants have failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure their products are distributed and sold in obedience to the laws of the State of Nebraska and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”
“We can now begin to address the terrible harm to the Lakota people caused by Whiteclay alcohol sales,” said OST vice president Tom Poor Bear. Since two of Poor Bear’s brothers were found murdered outside Whiteclay in 1999, he has fought to bring their killers to justice and close the Whiteclay beer stores.
In Nebraska, Poor Bear has been assisted by Winnebago Tribe activist Frank LaMere and Nebraskans for Peace, a statewide peace and justice organization.
“Whiteclay has fewer than a dozen residents, yet in 2010 its four licensed retail stores sold the equivalent of 4.9 million 12-ounce servings of beer—or over 13,000 cans a day—to a population that has no legal place to drink them,” according to Mark Vasina, president of Nebraskans for Peace. “Much of the beer is bootlegged onto the Pine Ridge for resale.”
Vasina chronicled the struggle by Native American activists to address this situation in his award-winning 2008 documentary “The Battle for Whiteclay.”
“All those involved in the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay are knowingly contributing to this notorious, illegal behavior and preying upon the Lakota people,” said Frank LaMere, who has directed attention in Nebraska to Whiteclay since 1997.
Defendants named in the complaint include:
Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc.
SAB Miller d/b/a Miller Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Miller Coors, LLC
Pabst Brewing Company
Pivo, Inc. d/b/a High Plains Budweiser
Dietrich Distributing Co., Inc.
Arrowhead Distributing, Inc.
Coors Distributing of West Nebraska d/b/a Coors of West Nebraska
Jason Schwarting d/b/a Arrowhead Inn, Inc.
Sanford Holdings, LLC d/b/a D&S Pioneer Service
Stuart Kozal d/b/a/ Jumping Eagle Inn
Clay Brehmer and Daniel Brehmer d/b/a State Line Liquor
Waaaaaaaahhh
So selling alcohol legally in Whiteclay automatically equals assitance to illegal activities within the tribes reservation?
What happened to accountability?
I live a half mile from a wine & spirits, and I’m not drunk all the time 😉
Hey, if there literally are 12 people in this town and they have four liquor stores, that is kind of crazy. Obviously, from a libertarian perspective, the issue is that the illegality of alcohol on the reservation leads to this underground market. This is a sensitive topic for Native Americans for obvious reasons. I wonder if they got all the liquor stores to leave if it wouldn’t just lead to some sort of illegal alcohol production, like moonshine. The problem won’t go away no matter what. The real issue is the lack of opportunity for those living on the reservation. Without hope, people turn to whatever they can to numb the pain.
Just another outside law firm filing a frivolous lawsuit trying to make a quick buck. Treat the source of the problem and not the symptom. Deal with the social issues of Reservation Life and the liquor outlets will go out of business. Lawsuits will only put extra cash in residents pockets to buy more alcohol.
I wish Oglala Sioux well in their forthcoming suit, May they prosper for their people. Please pass on my comments.
They need to house their people, feed their people, provide medical and detox treatment to their alcoholics and above all they need to remember the Cree Prophecy about: ONLY after the last tree has been cut down, ONLY after the last river has been poisoned, ONLY after the last fish has been caught, ONLY then will you find that money cannot be eaten, or lived in.
I suppose these stores for people to drink? What a b.s. lawsuit, from a group of people who shirk personal responsibility.
Its about time the OST took action. Personally, I think whiteclay should be burned to the ground. It isnt a legal town as it has no facilities, not even law enforcement. It falls under no ones jurisdiction but the states. This is just another attempt of the white man trying to destroy the skins. BTW, I am white despite my name so I can say this. My race is garbage and only cares about money.
Who is holding a gun to the heads of any person or peoples buying alcohol at those businesses? Just because it is for sale doesn’t mean that anyone has to buy it. Maybe the rampant alcoholism should be treated, and the legal sales of alcohol shouldn’t be made the pariah. And maybe, since alcohol is supposed to be illegal on the reservation, then the people buying it from a legal establishment should be the ones held accountable, and prosecuted according to the laws of the reservation?
Isn’t it the height of hypocrisy that a tribe that operates a casino is suing beer makers for taking advantage of a group of people’s “weakness”?!?!?! I think the elders, if they had any ethics, should close their casino immediately, because, as everybody knows, a considerable percentage of their patrons have an “illness”. Great, now even Native Americans make me want to puke…..
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