Nebraska Liquor Control Commission vote 3-0 not to renew the licenses of four stores in Whiteclay, Neb., that sell millions of cans of beer to the Ogala Lakota Tribe just 200 yards south of the Pine Ridge Indiana Reservation.
There have been complaints for years that the stores fuel alcohol-related problems among the tribe. Advocates also say the area lacks adequate law enforcement to enforce state liquor laws and to deal with other problems, including violence and sexual assaults.
The stores are expected to appeal.
The reservation suffers from “benign neglect,” Bob Batt, the commission’s chairman, said adding the attitude of the local Whiteclay officials and beer store owners “reminds me of Alabama in the 1950s,” where local officials who allowed racial discrimination.
The tribe’s attorney general testified Nebraska law enforcement officers seldom work with the tribe’s 25-officer police force to patrol the reservation, which is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
Batt said the federal government needs to take steps to address the reservation’s longstanding problems.