KETV Omaha: Tribe Demands $500M From Beer Makers

[OmahaBlueDog]

55. Who should legally do what to and for whom

Nebraska:

It is most likely the responsibility of Sheridan County to enforce public drunkenness laws, since Whiteclay is unincorporated. If they can't or won't do it, then it should be the responsibility of the State Police. Cost is not an issue: there are laws on the books, and if the County or State won't enforce them of their own accord, then any interested party should be able to go to a state court showing evidence of unchecked wrongdoing and compel the County and State to enforce their own laws.

If I were the state, I would also perform sales tax audits of every one of these "grocery" stores.

South Dakota:

If my understanding is correct, there's little they can do. They regard this as a Nebraska, Federal & Tribal issue.

The Feds:

The BIA has police, and is at least partially responsible for law enforcement. If transportation of liquor across the line into the Rez was found to be a violation of federal law, then they could and should enforce that law - again, under court order if necessary.

Oddly, in this part of Nebraska, as it has been explained to me, the USDA (as opposed to the State or the County) performs health inspections on restaurants, as well as meat handling establishments. Thus, if the stores serve sandwiches, for example, they should be closely inspected.

IRS audits of the corporations that own the "grocery" stores, and perhaps the beer distributors, could also be interesting.

The Tribe:

Ultimately, the enforcement of who should be stopped at the border and searched would fall most heavily on the tribal police. It's their law to enforce. So the most likely entity to set up an enforcement trap along the lines of what I described would be the tribal police (assuming it was found to be outside BIA jurisdiction).