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Editorial
As Whiteclay tragedy continues, leaders should take action
Monday, October 12, 2015
Office are closed today for the Columbus Day holiday to honor the modern European who first discovered America, but some don't see it as a cause for celebration.
Instead, they see it as the start of exploitation, abuse and genocide by the Europeans who followed.
Modern Americans can do nothing to change history, but we seem to be just as unable to alter a modern conflict that is in ways just as abusive.
Protesters conducted a candlelight vigil Friday night outside a large Lincoln beer distributorship to spotlight the company's role in supplying alcohol to Whiteclay, Nebraska's, four beer stores.
Whiteclay has a population of just over a dozen people, yet sells the equivalent of 3.9 million cans of beer, most of it illegally going across the South Dakota border to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which prohibits alcohol sales.
The Friday night protest comes on the heels of the screening of a new documentary, "Sober Indian/Dangerous Indian," which follows four men and their families, including one man who says he sold himself for sex so he could buy more alcohol.
According to the documentary, 85 percent of families on the reservation are affected by alcohol abuse and one in four children is born with fetal alcohol syndrome, yet there's only one seven-bed treatment center on the entire reservation.
Frank LaMere, a Native American activist from South Sioux City, has met with Gov. Pete Ricketts, who issued a statement in July that he is "determined to address this important set of problems during my administration,"
It's impossible to accurately quantify human suffering with money, but the Whiteclay situation has its own facts and figure.
The four stores generated about $113,800 in state excise taxes and $213,000 in federal excise taxes last year, according to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, but activists say that's more than offset by the costs of caring for foster children with fetal alcohol syndrome, costs usually borne by taxpayers.
It's a complicated problem, crossing three political lines, Nebraska, South Dakota and the federal government, and liquor and grocery interests have been successful in derailing earlier efforts to change the tragic status quo.
Should alcohol be legalized on the reservation, taxed and the money used to provide alcohol treatment?
Perhaps.
Should Nebraska laws prohibiting alcohol sales to minors, intoxicated individuals, and above certain bulk quantities be enforced?
Definitely.
Would increased or expanded prohibition help? No, it more likely would only increase costs to the consumers and increase costs to society in general.
Gov. Ricketts should keep his promise to take effective action on the Whiteclay problem and legislators, law enforcement and other governmental bodies should either help or at least get out of the way.