Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

PINE RIDGE, SD - On Sunday, July 4, 1999, several stores in Whiteclay reopened their shops, however, the stores selling beer did not remain open long but closed again on Monday. Last Friday, July 2, 1999, Nebraska law enforcement officers asked that all businesses in Whiteclay temporarily shutdown in order to avoid conflicts with protesters from the Pine Ridge Reservation. The reservation is located in South Dakota, about two miles from Whiteclay, which is just over the boarder in Nebraska.

There has been much tension between merchants in Whiteclay and members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe over the unusually high rate of beer sales in a town with a population of 22. The beer is being sold to Pine Ridge Reservation residents. The Pine Ridge Reservation is a dry community.

On June 27, 1999 around 2000 people marched from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Whiteclay to protest the frequent unexplained deaths of tribal members, including the most recent unsolved murders of two tribal members, Wilson Black Elk and Ronald Hard Heart. The two were found dead on June 8, 1999 near Whiteclay. During the protest a few marchers participated in trashing a beer store. Rocks were thrown, a reporter was roughed up, a camera taken, and several Indian people suffered minor injuries. A small fire was also set but was quickly extinguished. No actual property damage was done, however, the setting of the fire is being investigated. Leaders of the march condemned the trashing of the store and said it never should have happened.

On Saturday, July 7, there was a second march which ended up with nine people being arrested for crossing a police line, which had been set up by Nebraska police at the boarder. All those arrested have been released.

On Monday, July 5, Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement (AIM) Organization, said he was disappointed that the stores' reopened and said there was another March being planned. A meeting was held at the Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge village. Bellcourt stated, "We need to keep the booze out of here, and we need to keep it from killing our people. We need to put food in our children's mouths instead of booze in someone's belly."

Bellecourt and Floyd Hand, also a member of the AIM Organization, have vowed to set up tipis by Sunday evening to protest the continued beer sales The tipis are to be set up near the place where Black Elk and Hard Heart's bodies were found. The bodies were found between Pine Ridge village and Whiteclay, in ditch west of Highway 87.

According to Sergeant Mike Zitterkopf of the Nebraska State Police, owners of Whiteclay stores closed voluntarily and do not plan to reopen until after President Clinton's visit on Wednesday, July 7. Zitterkopf said, "They really didn't want any more problems. It's not like they were forced. It was a little bit of good sense and common sense."

Tom Poor Bear one of the organizers of the marches said, "It's good that they're closed a few days this week, but we want them closed permanently. I'm still encouraging people to patronize the small businesses that don't sell alcohol."

Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent Robert Ecoffey requested that a sobriety checkpoint be set up at the Nebraska/South Dakota border. Ecoffey said the request was not unusual and said that it was not unusual for tribal police to set up sobriety checkpoints during the holidays and tribal events. Stanley Star Comes Out Chief of the Oglala Tribal Police said, "He asked that we set up a roadblock, and we did."

The roadblock was set up at 11:30 a.m. and was shut down at 3:45 p.m. The sobriety checkpoints and the possibility of more protests, are credited with the drop in alcohol sales.