And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From: Pat Morris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.omaha.com/Omaha/OWH/StoryViewer/1,3153,230751,00.html October 06, 1999 Whiteclay Beer Proposal Divides Indian Leaders BY DAVID HENDEE AND PAUL HAMMEL WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS Plans by two American Indians to seek a liquor license for an Indian-owned store in Whiteclay, Neb., has put a twist into a pending court case and created a split among Indian leaders. Tom Poor Bear, an Oglala Sioux from Wanblee, S.D., and an organizer of weekly protest marches to Whiteclay, said he does not support the plan announced Monday for Indians to sell beer in the northwest Nebraska village 21 miles north of Rushville. "Their intentions are good," Poor Bear said of Frank LaMere and Russell Means, "but it's still illegal to sell or possess alcohol on Indian land, and I believe 100 percent that Whiteclay is on Indian land." LaMere, a Winnebago from South Sioux City, Neb., and Means, an Oglala from Porcupine, S.D., plan to seek a license to sell beer in Whiteclay. They said the profits would build an alcoholism-treatment center on the Oglala Sioux's adjoining Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Poor Bear, LaMere and Means are among nine defendants in a misdemeanor criminal case in Sheridan County Court stemming from their arrests during a July 3 protest march to Whiteclay from the nearby village of Pine Ridge, S.D. They are challenging Nebraska's jurisdiction in their cases, saying Whiteclay is on Indian land. Poor Bear said he did not understand how his co-defendants could argue on one hand that Whiteclay is legally part of the reservation but then say they want to be part of the action by selling beer to Indians. "We say the Whiteclay people are illegally selling alcohol on reservation land, and if Indians get a liquor license they would also be selling liquor illegally on Indian land," he said. Poor Bear said he supports the idea of using profits from Whiteclay beer sales to operate a treatment center on the reservation. "Whiteclay now contributes nothing in the way of treatment and detoxification centers to help cure this disease we have," Poor Bear said. "But first we have to deal with the land issue." Sheridan County Judge Charles Plantz on Tuesday set a Nov. 17 hearing for the nine Indian defendants to prove their claim that Whiteclay and land around it is legally part of the Pine Ridge reservation. Jerry Matthews of Hay Springs, Neb., the defendants' attorney, said his clients would prove that 19th-century treaties, acts of Congress and presidential orders make the Whiteclay region part of the reservation. Deputy County Attorney John Freudenburg did not challenge Matthews' move but reserved the right to reply after evidence is submitted. The court action is the first legal step taken by the Indians to use their case to argue treaty claims to Whiteclay. Poor Bear said the solution is for the Tribal Council to file a federal lawsuit, to get a determination on whether Whiteclay is legally a part of the reservation, and for the tribe to step up roadblocks to stop the flow of alcohol. Currently, reservation police set up roadblocks once or twice a month for a period of up to two hours at the border near Whiteclay to confiscate alcohol coming into the reservation. Poor Bear said that is too infrequent and too short. "People can wait that out," he said. "They need to be there for several hours." Poor Bear met last week with tribal police officials on the issue, asking for roadblocks lasting 12 hours or more for the first three days of the month - when welfare checks are received and Whiteclay liquor and grocery stores are swamped with customers. That can't be done, said Oglala Tribe Police Chief Stanley Star Comes Out. He said that his department is too short of manpower and finances to increase the roadblocks, which take 10 officers or more during peak times. The tribe has 65 police officers and four highway troopers to cover its 800-square-mile reservation, Star Comes Out said. The tribe laid off 40 police officers Aug. 30 after a federal grant ran out. Star Comes Out said that a new, three-year federal grant allowed the rehiring of those officers on Oct. 1, plus the hiring of 19 others. 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/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
