The Wounds of WhiteClay Part 3

“We have to start the healing process,” Brewer said said. “We don’t have the resources to help our people. Our children go to school every day. Many of them are abused mentally, physically, sexually abused. And they get to school and we have no resources to really help them.”
Omaha attorney Dave Domina, who brought the case against the beer store owners, was emotional after the vote.
“I don’t think you can be a human being and not be moved by it,” he said breaking into tears.
Meanwhile, Scottsbluff attorney Andrew Snyder, who represented the beer store owners, said he and his clients will appeal the case as soon as they receive a written decision from the LCC.
“We believe the decision is wrong and contrary to law,” he said.
Snyder said it’s clear there were forces in play beyond the LCC that were aligned against them. His clients, he said, felt railroaded.
“It’s pretty clear it’s not a random occurrence,” Snyder said. “This was coordinated above their heads on a political level. By political, I mean the governor’s office.”
The case must be appealed within 30 days to the Lancaster District Court. After hearing the case, the court could either reverse, modify, overrule or sustain the LCC’s decision. The court could also send the case back to the commission for further hearings.
The district court could also hold the decision and restore the beer stores’ licenses throughout the appeals process, which Snyder said they will request. The appellate process could take weeks, months or even years depending on how far the case is appealed.
But as of Wednesday morning, the four beer stores—which sold 3.6 million cans of beer last year largely to the Oglala Lakota’s nearby dry reservation—will be out of business in 11 days.
The hearing on whether to renew the four beer stores’ licenses—those of Arrowhead Inn, Jumping Eagle Inn, Stateline Liquor and D & S Pioneer Service—was the result of an Oct. 11 hearing when a county commissioner who oversees Whiteclay said there is not enough law enforcement to address the crime-laden unincorporated village.
On April 6, the LCC heard from complainants and the beer store owners in a hearing room inside the capitol to decide whether Whiteclay had enough law enforcement presence. During the 12-hour hearing, testimony from Whiteclay residents and Pine Ridge officials affirmed that. It also spilled over into issues like bootlegging, human trafficking and public health hazards.
Although the beer stores and their attorney argued that the LCC had no legal right to question the license renewals, the commission felt it was not only a right—but a duty.
“I believe these activities of Whiteclay have gone on way too long and my vote is to not renew the licenses,” said Commissioner Bruce Bailey.
He cited the Nebraska Liquor Control Act at length, pointing to seven specific provisions of the statute as reasons for making the decision.
He also noted that several witnesses had provided critical testimonies—witnesses who work for the Christian-based Lakota Hope Ministry in Whiteclay.
“I’ll be out of a job, which is gonna be good,” said Abram Neumann, a 22-year-old missionary who’s tended to Whiteclay’s street people for the last two years.
Bruce BonFleur, who founded the ministry 13 years ago, said this could be a transformative decision for Whiteclay.
“We look at this decision as an initial and vital early step in what will be a transformed Whiteclay, one that promotes life, healing and hope.”
LCC Chairman Robert Batt said he hopes not renewing the licenses can be the first step in addressing change in Whiteclay. However, he said this isn’t the end of addressing the problems that bring Oglala Lakota there. To fix that, he said, it will require federal institutions to own up to their mismanagement.
“I call for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior and eventually the president of the United States to take action,” Batt said. “If we can fix countries all over the world, we need to fix the poorest county in North America.”
“Now we need to really hit the ground running,” Boesem said. “Today is an emotional day, and I’m gonna let it be an emotional day, but tomorrow is ‘Where do we go from here?’”
State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, whom many credited with jump-starting political will around Whiteclay, said Wednesday’s decision is a continuation in an ongoing spiritual journey.
Pansing Brooks said she felt it when LaMere first spoke to her. She felt it the first time she spoke to human trafficking victims. She hopes this—as well as her bill to promote detox, job creation and economic development in the town—will change the parasitic relationship to something much different.
On the morning of April 27 a Lancaster County judge overturned the NLCC’s decision no to renew the liquor licenses in Whiteclay, effectively reinstating them. That afternoon, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, representing the NLCC, appealed that decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court, keeping the NLCC’s order in place.
On September 30, the Nebraska Supreme Court vacated the Lancaster County Judge’s order overturning the NLCC’s decision. For now, liquor sales are over in Whiteclay, unless new liquor permits were to be granted or a federal lawsuit overturned the state’s decision.