Following up on a recently filed federal lawsuit against beer stores, breweries and other businesses involved in the Whiteclay, Nebraska alcohol trade, the Oglala Sioux Tribe has gone a step further and is requesting injunctive relief from the courts. The tribe wants the court to limit total volume of beer sales in Whiteclay—which lies on its southern border—to the amount that can be consumed in accordance with Nebraska and Oglala Sioux Tribe laws. The original lawsuit demanded a still-unspecified sum—widely reported as $500 million—for damages done to the tribe by generations of alcohol sales.

How much can be sold legally in Whiteclay? Very little, according to tribal attorney Thomas White, of White and Jorgenson, in Omaha. Last year, Whiteclay’s four take-out beer stores purveyed the equivalent of 4.3 million 12-ounce servings. However, there is no place in the town, such as a licensed bar or café, in which the public may drink alcohol legally. Therefore, White said, it must be either consumed in public in violation of Nebraska law or bootlegged onto the adjoining dry reservation in violation of Oglala Sioux Tribe law.

The tribe’s latest legal filing was inspired by public remarks by Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, who said during a radio program about the original lawsuit that shutting down beer stores in Whiteclay would mean Pine Ridge residents would simply travel to other Nebraska towns to buy alcohol. That sentiment was echoed in a recent newspaper story by a resident of the town and in interviews filmed for the award-winning 2008 documentary Battle for Whiteclay.

FULL ARTICLE: Oglalas Ask Courts to Cap Whiteclay Beer Sales – ICTMN.com.