Hmmmm. That Works Out to 242 Cans of Beer
…for every man, woman and child on the reservation.
In a desperate effort to fight the ravages of alcoholism on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, leaders of the Oglala Sioux tribe are threatening to set up roadblocks Wednesday and stop members from bringing in beer bought at four outlying stores.
Alcohol has long been banned on the 16,500-member reservation, where drinking has been a scourge for generations. But four stores in Whiteclay, Neb., a dusty village a few hundred feet outside the reservation, sell an estimated 4 million of cans of beer every year, mostly to Indians.
That’s a lot of brewskis. (Unless, of course, you live next door to the Squid Terrorist…and I do.) But I’ll be curious what the reaction will be when citizens try to stop another citizen from coming home with cervesas purchased legally. Those ‘standing by’ tribal police could be caught in a sticky wicket.
Life | tree hugging sister | 
June 27, 2006 4:48 pm
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Having lived in South Dakota for a fair number of years, I have to think that many tribal members will rebel against this measure. “Cooperation” will not be the word of the day. The tribal cops will have their hands full, no doubt about it.
Life on that reservation is unpleasant as heck. Alcoholism is so bad that I recall that most stores in that area, at one time, didn’t sell certain products because they contained methanol….which the Indians would drink in quantity.
I think that I understand their frustration, but I seriously doubt that this will work.
4 million cans of beer sounds like…college.
Sounds like one Friday night at my apt in college…..