Help End The Obama Era In 2012
Your Monthly and Quarterly Donations
Help Keep FR In the Battle!
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Posted on 02/17/2012 7:39:46 PM PST by Miami Vice
The Oglala Sioux tribe is suing multiple businesses and individuals that manufacture, distribute and sell beer and other alcoholic beverages for $500 million, claiming the businesses are responsible for "aiding and abetting" illegal alcohol sales on the Oglala's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation .
The suit, filed Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, counts among the defendants ...
(Excerpt) Read more at legalnewsline.com ...
They are also suing several liquor stores around the area, and the US government for various offenses.
And the Indian police did what to stop the trafficking?
I dislike class-action lawsuits, but I would really enjoy it if someone were to bring a class-action against the Oglala Sioux on behalf of all the compulsive gamblers who lost their money at the Prairie Wind Casino.
Oh, wait...
Ummmmm....It was that Nevada Pale Face Ale that did it.
I have spent much time on the Pine Ridge reservation. It is likely the most wretched place in America. Male adult alcoholism is over 75%. Child abuse and neglect is rampant. Rape is common, and teen suicide occurs at an unimaginable rate. There are many reasons for this, much the fault of the federal government, much the fault of the Indian government. However, I certainly understand their frustration at people who knowingly cause harm to a people simply for financial gain. I am very conservative both economically and socially, but I hope the Lakota government wins this one. And I fully expect to be flamed by a bunch of folks I normally agree with simply because of their ignorance of this situation.
I’m not gonna flame you. Although I did not spend a great deal of time there, I was in the area in June of 1995.
Parts of the reservation truly resembled a third world nation.
If I recall correctly, there are no sales of any alcoholic beverages in Pine Ridge. OTOH, a quick trip to Whiteclay Nebraska renders that point moot.
Whiteclay exists for one reason only. To provide the residents of Pine Ridge with cheap and easy access to A LOT of alcohol. It’s shameful. It’s not capitalism. Whiteclay exists to take advantage of a people who have problems.
And it’s legal for Indians to go there and buy the joy (or misery) juice. Indians, not knowing alcohol in their nomadic past, lack an inbred genetic capability to deal with it like most white and black people have. So they need to be very careful with it or abstain entirely. And they should have the self discipline to do so, and suffer the consequences if they refuse it. This makes no more sense than blaming guns for crime. Whiteclay should dry up, not for being sued, but for lack of business from Indians who have finally gotten a clue about their own responsibilities.
I stayed a few days “on the rez” 5 years ago or so. No legitimate business is selling beer on the reservation. What you say about Whiteclay is true. But from the largest town on the rez, Pine Ridge, you can easily walk to Whiteclay and back. This does not cut down traffic fatalities north, east and west of the town of Pine Ridge, but it is preferable to the situation in New Mexico. In NM the liqour supply is in Gallup, and the distance to the main Navajo town of Shiprock is 90 some miles. I suppose there is also closer supply in Farmington, but the point is the fatality rate is pretty high getting to and from the supply sources.
Can you imagine the uproar if, say, Whiteclay started putting up signs on its bars “no alcohol served to Indians”?
Oglala Sioux tribe...... More sovereign nation bllsht. Good luck suing them if you have an incident in one of their tribal casinos. They are immune. Same with the tribe casinos where I live. You cannot sue them for something that happens to you while gambling there.
My wife and I go by that casino several times a year and have wondered if they sell alcohol there. Any info?
It’s time to get serious about ending Indian reservations in America. They are nothing more than festering ghettos of welfare. What’s wrong with tribal leaders that they continue to let their people live like this? This flawed system has never worked and it’s getting worse. Indian tribes are becoming just like corrupt unions. They worry more about some sports team using their images than they worry about their own people. Totally disgusting.
And I lived near an Anishinabe reserve. They’re good, hard-working people who have started hundreds of businesses, including manufacturing plants, natural resource companies and, yes, saloons.
In fact, they have a modern industrial park where, I’m sure, an Oglala could set up a business and take advantage of all the connections and business savvy the Anishinabe have. They even have a tribal business committee with venture capital that can steer new businesses to success. Maybe the Oglala should organize a fact-finding mission and make a visit to see how to succeed without copious amounts of firewater or handouts from Uncle Sugar.
I hope the Oglala strike out on their stupid lawsuit and start taking responsibility for themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.