And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: Piercing Eyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> forwarded for informational purposes only..contents have not been verified... From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 05:40:11 EDT Subject: Booze Sales Banned on Reservation Booze Sales Banned on Reservation .c The Associated Press BROWNING, Mont. (AP) - A five-day ban on alcohol sales on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation could be the forerunner of year-round prohibition. The ban from Thursday night until Monday night was imposed by the Blackfeet Tribal Council in an effort to control drinking during North American Indian Days, the biggest annual celebration on the reservation. ``There have been too many crashes and too many deaths in recent months,'' said Herman Whitegrass, a chemical dependency counselor. ``We have to take off our blinders and take action to save lives.'' The ban will be reinstated during next month's Heart Butte Society Celebration, and tribe officials are interested in prohibiting alcohol sales all year. They plan a series of public meetings on the idea. Whitegrass said officials will monitor the next five days closely. ``We will use this as a measuring stick,'' he said. ``We will chart how many crashes there are and how many other problems - things like people going to the emergency room for things like abuse.'' Many of the 27 alcohol vendors on the reservation near Glacier National Park in northern Montana say permanently prohibiting sales would simply drive people off the reservation to buy booze. ``There is a problem. I'll admit that, but I think you're compounding the problem by taking away something that's legal and making people go farther for it,'' said Norris Gilham, whose mother owns Ick's Place bar and liquor store in Browning. ``There's a lot of enterprising people here. They're going to see a way to make money and start bootlegging.'' Tribal law already bans alcohol sales on religious holidays, including Christmas and Easter. AP-NY-07-09-99 0539EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&