Posted on 02/09/2012 5:19:31 PM PST by ColdOne
LINCOLN, Neb. – An American Indian tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation, which encompasses some of the nation's most impoverished counties.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Nebraska also targets four beer stores in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town near the reservation's border that, despite having only about a dozen residents, sold nearly 5 million cans of beer in 2010.
Tribal leaders and activists blame the Whiteclay businesses for chronic alcohol abuse and bootlegging on the Pine Ridge reservation, where all alcohol is banned. They say most of the stores' customers come from the reservation, which spans southwest South Dakota and dips into Nebraska.
"You cannot sell 4.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer and wash your hands like Pontius Pilate, and say we've got nothing to do with it being smuggled," said Tom White, the tribe's Omaha-based attorney.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Lets all sue the Indian casinos for gambling addiction.
Is Lawrence Tribe the Tribe’s attorney?
There was also a huge input from the religious sector (that would not be possible in today's Sweden, all the religious people having emigrated to other countries).
We aren't talking about a "normal" experience when we get to life on the reservations. If I were the tribal elders I'd start with a peaceful attempt to shut down the access to liquor. Sounds like that's what they are doing.
Oh, and undo the land use patterns established by Teddy Roosevelt. Get that done right away.
One of my Great Great grandfathers used to run the trails taking pioneers West and preaching to them going East. He must have been married two dozen or more times ~ only had one kid we know of, but he sure did try. He married at least three Indian women over the years (maybe more but there's no records) ~ one of them definitely from up at an early "agency" at Sault St. Marie that had people from dozens of tribes.
We may be closer cousins than you imagine ~ then, one of his brothers had a son who ended up hanging around the old Menominee reservation ~ and the outcome of that is I have an awful lot of cousins in reservations all around the Great Lakes.
Still, going back further than that a couple of generations, they all seemed to be living in the Oneida lands in Iroquoia. Lots of whites, Indians and mixed people there at the time of the revolution. Our guys were all scouts with the Americans forces.
That's Alcohol of Fame material right there
...and managed to quit cold turkey.
No one likes a quitter. /kidding
I coulda been a contender.
I thought this was referring to the infamous 1974 "Ten-Cent Beer Night" at Municipal Stadium.
I don’t understand the appeal of alcohol at all. A little bit is one thing but getting wasted is another.
Drunk people tend to do stupid s***.
If they win, can the Indian casinos be sued for damages caused by excessive gambling?
I don’t miss it.
I’ll have one drink and feel sleepy. I don’t drink anymore because of the meds I’m taking.
On a show called ‘Intervention’ a man took his girlfriend’s alcohol away and locked her in the closet for three days. She’s a very heavy drinker and it’s a miracle she didn’t die. I think she actuallly had the D.T.’s.
That is scary.
I’m lucky that I was able to make a conscious derision to quit and tough it out. I think I had genetics on my side. Both of my parents drank heavily for years and just stopped like I did.
I smell a huge class action lawsuit....Wooo Hooo!
we can't tell a diabetic not to eat candy either.....
we can't tell a heart patient to lay off the cheeseburgers...
Good for you, cc! Congratulations on taking your life back and putting the disease in remission.
I didn’t realise the brewers were putting a gun to the Indians’ heads. “Drink this beer or we’ll kill you.”
Of course if the beer companies didn’t sell beer to those drunks they would sue for racism.
P.S. If they drunks got drunk then they certainly cannot sue for defective product.
I've certainly family living still in the Great Lakes region....and more probably along the trail that lead from there to here.
Best that I can tell...there were some good solid tribal members as relations. Some Chiefs, etc... The paper trail is real hard to follow....
I've aunts and uncles that attended Indian boarding schools here in OK....
You want to read a good book....pick up, "Empire of the Summer Moon"
FRegards,
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