KETV Omaha: Tribe Demands $500M From Beer Makers [View all]

[OmahaBlueDog]

Last edited Fri Feb 10, 2012, 10:40 PM - Edit history (1)

LINCOLN, Neb. -- An American Indian tribe says it will sue some of the world's largest beer makers for knowingly contributing to alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota announced Thursday it will demand $500 million from five international beer manufacturers for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation.

“The Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks compensation for all of the damages the Lakota people have suffered as a result of illegal alcohol sales,” said attorney Tom White, of White and Jorgensen Law Offices in Omaha.

The lawsuit also targets four off-site beer stores in Whiteclay, Neb., a town with a population of about a dozen people on the South Dakota border that sells nearly 5 million cans of beer annually.

Read more: http://www.ketv.com/news/30418786/detail.html#ixzz1lwrNtGCw

If there were a place designated as "America's Skid Row", it'd be Whiteclay, NE. "Grocery" stores sell huge amounts of beer to the Native Sioux that come over the border from the Pine Ridge rez, which is officially dry. Drunks literally lay passed out in the middle of streets and sidewalks.

My personal hope is that this never reaches the courts. The beer makers and stores sell a lot of beer to folks making bad life choices, and reap profits from this misery. These choices are driven, in part, by the despair caused by 80% plus unemployment and no prospects for improvement. I'd ask the beer companies to do the right thing and give back to the community without being forced by the courts -- things like sponsoring alcohol abuse education for the youth in Pine Ridge; helping contribute to the cost of rehab; and kicking in to help local alternatives to irresponsible drinking, like the Y, Boys/Girls CLubs, and the local schools.

JMHO