Yet another shining example of how well prohibition works. You can bash me for saying this. I don't care. Its just the nature of the beast. Tell someone they can't and poof, the cat's out of the bag.

I think they would have if Yeungling was shipped that far west.

I'd like to sue Budweiser

....for making crappy beer

Yuk...it's almost as bad as Corona...horse p*ss, that's for certain....

I'd like to sue Budweiser for making me sleep with all those ugly women.

Maybe I can sue our local native american casino since gambling isn't legal off the res and some of the locals in my community have a gambling problem.

Why should they be allowed to sue these off-site stores or breweries? They are in the business to make a profit. If they can't handle responsibility why try to force it on someone else?

PROHIBITION DOES NOT WORK, NOR DOES TRYING TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE RESPONSIBLE.

We have the right to sue anyone for any reason. If it is not just, it is the Judge's job to throw it out. I hope they win. Get white man in his court and take back what he stole. Justice done.

I'm going to sue the Indian Reservation because the let Kicking Bird have the choice of how long Stands with a Fist would mourn. Freaking Kevin Costner got dibs... BS

lol

Because personal responsibility is a thing of the past Robert.

My baby has fetal alcohol syndrome, it's Budweisers fault, @!$%#ing stupid.

If my doc gave me a med I was allergic to, that would be a big law suit. Indians can't metabolize alcohol the way europeans, africans & some asians can & the health affects are devastating (as evidenced by the must decreased life expectancy) (most of us don't shave over 25 yrs off our lives just by heavy drinking). It is irresponsible & should be illegal to knowingly give alcohol to a person w/ an inability to metabolize alcohol. If they were serving beer to minors they would be arrested.

Why would you hope they win? So they can spend 500 million on more booze, sounds like maybe they should just start enforcing there own laws. No one is forcing these indians to buy beer, and it's pretty sad becuase most reservations I see all have drinking problems, maybe the government should stop giving native americans hand outs and make them be responsible for there own actions.

And then as soon as you refuse to sell the alcohol to someone, they sue the hell out of you for discrimination. Its about personal accountability. If the tribal council on the reservation is so up in arms about it, THEY need to police it, not the people who are selling the beer. If there are two stores that doing all of the sales, all the tribe has to do is give a few people the job of sitting in front of the store telling the indians they cant buy the beer. And see how long it takes before they are killed...which leads to my final point...you cant stop a drunk from being a drunk, he has to want to do it himself.

I know I'm allergic to rat poison so I don't eat it. I cant metabolize it right. The clerk at the store isn't a doctor either. If the clerk said "I cant sell this to you because your (NA, black, white, asian, arabic, gay, or whatever...)" they would still get sued wouldn't they? Its not the beer company's problem. Its not the guy selling the beers problem. Its the problem of the person buying.

@b-895713 -

How many of the employees in those stores do you think know that pertinent little fact? Now, how many Native American's know it and chose to IGNORE IT?

There's been an alcohol ban in effect on that reservation since 1832, save for 2 lousy months in 1970. If they can't pull their heads out of their asses in 170 years and wise up, they never will. Stop making excuses and enabling their pathetic behavior. I shop in stores that sell beer every day, that doesn't mean I bring home a 24 pack and swill it like it's going out of style. Personal responsibilty is just that, and they need to get some! As for your statement about selling alcohol to minors - THAT is against the law. Selling to supposedly cognizant adults is not, and the first store owner who refused to sell to them would be lambasted as a racist. They can't metabolize the alcohol? Then they shouldn't frikking drink it! No one is holding a gun to their heads making them buy it, they do that all on their own.

@Freedom72...yeah!!! Very well put...somone with a brain speaks. Heaven forbid any of these Indians take responsibility for what they do to themselves...I like their mentality of "let's just continue to blame it on the white man" ....geez....get fricken over it...I didn't steal your land, my parents didn't steal your parents land, my grandparents didn't steal your grandparent's land...time to move into the present.

Alcohol is everywhere, its legal, and if someone wants it they are going to get it in whatever quantity they want. If people become alcoholic due to some sort of genetic basis or as an escape from poverty they can also overcome that alcholism. I've seen people overcome it again and again. Its a given in our maojor metropolitan areas that as the socio economic status gets lower in neighborhoods the number of liqour stores increase as the demand is heavy to "escape" poverty and the problems that come along with it. There are support systems that exist for alchohlics who I understand can fall into the trap of addiction and that is great yet the bottom line in recovery is that it lies with the individual taking responsibility for themselves. No state entity or family member can keep an alcoholic from making a liquor store run to a legal liquor store. Only the alcoholic can stop that..get sober and try to return to a healthy way of living. Suing a brewery is like the people with lung cancer who sue the legally sanctioned tobacco companies knowing full well its stamped on the pack of cigarettes that they cause a plethora of fatal issues.

YAY, I just won $500 million in a law suit against Budweiser!!! Lets go to the bar, drinks on me all night!!!

Patriot-1611069 & Freedom72- The average person buys rat poison to kill rats and beer for drinking themselves. Pls use an analogy that makes sense. If the clerk at the store which is right next to a reservation, isn't aware of the well documented fact that American Indians can not metabolize alcohol, he or she is ignorant. It's a well known fact. Have you ever wondered why gun dealers have to do background checks? It's to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Do I think the Indians should do a better job of teaching alcohol awareness to their kids? Absolutely. Do I think people need to take more responsibility for their action? Absolutely. But you don't give an alcoholic a drink. Check out Jesus' teachings or Paul's letters in the New Testament if you want some christian perspective on not causing others to stumble.

And they'd probably have sued the brewers and stores if they refused to sell to Native Americans, calling it discrimination. Maybe we can countersue for them inventing tobacco smoking.

joey: quit blaming the White man for the Indians' problems. What about what stronger tribes/nations did to weaker groups? American Indians; at least the non Rez ones, have the same rights as any other American.

They do get that they can leave the reservation if it is so bad, right?

Tens of millions of people have illegally come to this country, with no education, and not even being able to speak English - and still find jobs and housing.

The real problem is the exact same problem with any handouts. They destroy people.

The Indians get Gov't money or tribal money and many of them don't work.

Work is one of things we all hate to do, but it is good for us. Sorta like exercise.

So they have plenty of time to sit around drinking.

When people live on handouts, they know they are of no benefit to society. So they behave accordingly.

It's truely sad, but we are the enablers. We are the ones giving the handouts.

Joeyfromcali, where are you finding anywhere that whites feel they are better than natives? Its an article related to alcohol not what we all already know unjustly happened to native americans generations back. Sadly that can't be fixed as all of those people..."white" as you call them....and native american are long since dead and the country now has hundereds of millions of citizens. We can live in the present as equals which we should. Pill popping meth addicts exist within all races not just white society as does alcoholism which definitely doesn't just plague tribal land. Addiction is an equal opportunity issue. I certainly don't deny how difficult it is to escape and recover from the throes of addiction. Yet it is in the end up to the individual addict or alcoholic as to whether they recover or not. No system can force someone to recover from alcoholism it can only assist as well as 12 step programs and other resources. In the meantime there has been no legislation to outlaw alcohol and I doubt there ever will be. Thus the alcohol industry is here and its up to the individual as to how they cope with that fact

"Here, take these blankets as a token of our apology." "Why am I wearing a biohazard suit?" "No reason ..."

Does everyone out there know that the indians get FREE health care????? while we non indians are paying mega bucks for our own care? And, to add insult to injury, the free care they get is payed for by us! I've worked with the indians for over 20 yrs in health care and I can tell you  they will continue to drink, eat foods that make their diabetes worse and continue to expect the US gov to pay for all their needs. The people of this country need to petition the US gov regarding the treaties the gov continues to have with the tribes. And the people of this country need to be aware of what we continue to give the tribes. How much longer must we pay for what was done years ago. Also, think about this.......the tribes migrated from other areas and took over land by fighting other tribes. I don't see these tribes making payments to each other for land taken or lives lost.....Wake up America.......how many years must we all be here before we are considered Native Americans and get the same free health care benefits they get?????

Also, wouldn't they open all kinds of lawsuits against tribal gambling used to break or bankrupt "The White Man"? Seeing as the only Indians I see, work there? That door revolves BOTH ways.

Another shining example of people refusing to be responsible for their own actions.

Mesaman

Who's blaming whites I am just telling the truth about current Treatment by our Government. Not all White folk are bad or thieves just like not all Natives are drunks.

And if we actually taught the truth about our history as a Nation. It is not as sugar coated as many are led to believe. The natives before white contact did fight against each other just like Europeans fought against each other. But not for land for survival. Yet they also had trade routes. Intermarried between tribes. And shared belief systems and stories.

Now that we have what we have many tribes actually help smaller tribes with getting recognition as a Native people. They don't jump over to other Reservations and attempt to wipe them out.

I was pointing out that even whites have addiction problems, Live off the government, And are not the super people some make them out to be. They also mass murdered people in the name of god. Worshiped trees, Were savages as well. History is what it is. And present day is a result of it.

"The lawsuit alleges that the beer makers supplied the stores with "volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the state of Nebraska" and the tribe."

I can sympathize with the tribe's problems, but nobody forces them to drink. Close the road to the town where they get alcohol.

Besides, 5 million cans of beer a year for 30,000 residents on the Reservation pencils out to less than half a can of beer per resident per day, which is actually slightly less than the average American beer consumption.

flagstaf

how many years must we all be here before we are considered Native Americans and get the same free health care benefits they get?????

Vote it in!! But I believe the genetic estimates are around 30,000 to 50,000 years before one can be considered A Native American.

ROY WILSON-336103 You know a tribe near me Bought out a well known bar near a Rez and turned it into a mini market that does not sell alcohol. Just to make it harder to get booze. The Casino money paid for the Buyout.

I wonder which laws of the state of Nebraska they're referring to. Are there any that limit the amount of alcohol sold? Really. Like, "no store shall sell more beers than "X" times the county population per year" or something like that. This would be a matter of math, not opinion, and I doubt there are any such laws.

But you don't give an alcoholic a drink.

So if an alcoholic walks in to a bar, how exactly does the bartender know???? Do they wear a sign? It is NOT a business owners responsibility to tell someone who can and can't buy their products. This is plain and simple personal responsibility and obviously this Tribe can't handle that. This case will never make it anywhere!

@rwalker-2504195
And you have the right to be an ignorant leftist, who blames everyone ELSE, except YOURSELF, anytime you feel like it.

I'd like to sue Budweiser for making me sleep with all those ugly women.

nobrent I think you mean sue them for you waking up with all those ugly women.

Patriot-1611069 "If the (store) clerk said "I cant sell this to you because your (NA, black, white, asian, arabic, gay, or whatever...)" they would still get sued wouldn't they?"

Good point. They would be sued for 'Discrimination' under the 'Equal Protection' clause of the Constitution - especially since the Indians are a 'protected class'.

The Indian Reservation leaders need to have a better education program for their residents, or simply close the access to the town where beer is sold.

5 million cans for a dozen people in town doesn't add up. I think it's really sad that the council had to go to these extremes in another attempt to stop the bootlegging on the rez. If this doesn't work, what else can they do?

"5 million cans" of beer... SHEESH!

Haven't the indians in this article ever heard of purchasing beer in KEGS ?!? They could get a lot more bang for their buck by purchasing beer in kegs. That goes to show just how dumb alcoholic addiction can make people.

Hey YOU, yeah... YOU. I'm talking to YOU. You were not born to drink alcohol. You were NOT born to become a slave to addiction. You were born to DO something useful with your Life.

I know several Indians. They are decent people, Just as most of the rest of Americans are. If the reservation wants to ban alchohol, that's their problem, NOT Budweiser or any other business. If the reservation has an alchoholism problem, perhaps the tribal council needs to figure out why so many of their people want to drink 5 million cases of beer a year, and work on that problem. It's like if Rosie O'Donnel sued Hershey's because she got fat over eating 25 Hershey bars a day. Put the bottle down, and your kids won't get FAS.

5 million cans for a dozen people in town doesn't add up.

There are plenty of places where stores exist to provide what stores on another side of a line cannot. When Saturday night hits midnight in DC, all of a sudden liquor stores on the Maryland side pick up a lot of business.

I think it's really sad that the council had to go to these extremes in another attempt to stop the bootlegging on the rez.

But the fact is that they DIDN'T have to go to these idiotic extremes.

If this doesn't work, what else can they do?

They could try learning a little self-control.

So if I go out and buy a ton of alcohol, and take it to a dry college campus in violation of campus alcohol policy, and proceed to drink myself to death, it's somehow the alcohol manufacturers' fault?

At the end of the day, people are responsible for their own addictions, and the consequences of those addictions.

Plus, sounds like the only one "bootlegging" here are the Indians themselves, as it was they (NOT the beer manufacturers) who carried said alcohol from the store onto the reservation where it is banned.

OK..I see how it is...don't agree with me and collapse my statements. I was respectful. I didn't attack anyone. If you folks have a problem with what I have to say, then reply and say it. Don't collapse my statements becasue you don't agree. That is a weak and cowardly thing to do.

Floyd, I plan to give everything I inherit back to the Cherokee, thank you very much, they have far more claim to it than I do.

Ryan in Texas. how are you supposed to leave for somewhere and set up a household if you can't even afford to feed yourself? How are you supposed to get there?

I happen to be Native American and some of the ignorance I've read in y'all's posts is abysmal. Free healthcare, housing, education, and hand-outs? We were forced to cede hundreds of millions of acres and all of the resources for that so-called free stuff some of you are braying about. And about the quality of the treaty-guaranteed services federally-recognized tribes receive...believe me it isn't good at all. Healthcare delivered by doctors who generally graduated in the bottom of their class and in way too many cases aren't even licensed, run-down and outdated clinic buildings, expired and recalled medications, and God help you if you get sick after June...when the year's funding runs out. You'll have to wait until January for new funding to come in if you need more than the most cursory care.

Does that sound like a free ride to y'all?

I've been to Pine Ridge where my oldest daughter has relatives and I've had the misfortune to have to pass through White Clay, Nebraska. The people who run and own those liquor stores know exactly what they're doing and have not the least qualms about it. When they were standing there making some blatantly racist cracks about getting rich off killing Indians, they obviously didn't know I was one of them (my father is Scottish and my mother mixed-blood and I am rather light-complected). When I informed them of the fact and added in my Southern-bred drawl that it was pretty damned hypocritical of one of the clerks to be standing there wearing a cross and a WWJD bracelet identifying his pride in his christian faith and yet have such gross ill-will towards people who are - Biblically-speaking - his brothers and sisters (as we are all descended from Adam and Eve) let alone to earn his living selling them stuff that was killing them...he didn't take that very well.

And for all y'all's information, the tribe has been doing everything it can to educate tribal members and break the cycle. They start Alcohol Awareness in pre-K and educate all the way through 12th. They utilize everything they have into cultural programs focusing on sobriety and wellness. It's kind of hard to break through the self-hatred that so many Indians have ingrained after generations of being called and treated like vermin..which is an attitude that still persists among many whites.

And no, not everyone thinks leaving the rez is for the best...it's their home. Why should they leave? Off-rez we get treated like crap, denied job and housing opportunities no matter how well-qualified, called all manner of racial slurs, and have to deal with our kids getting more of the same from their non-Indian peers and even the teachers and staff in off-rez schools. And I mean down-right abusive treatment at that.

When the tribal police set up road blocks at the reservation border to confiscate booze, the stores sued the tribe for infringing on their right to make money off people's addictions...and won. I say let the tribe sue the stores the same as I'd say let people sue a factory that is polluting the groundwater with dangerous chemicals that are making their community sick. People have been suing the Catholic Church for the harm done by pedophile priests and what these liquor store owners and operators have been doing is way yonder worse.

And no, I'm not absolving any of us Native folks of our part in this. Both of my parents are alcoholics (and remember one of them is white) and I made the decision to NOT put myself at risk for following in their footsteps. I have talked openly with my kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, about the consequences of using them, and about their responsibility to themselves, their future children, and their people to make the right choices.

I know of plenty of other Native people who are desperately trying to turn the tide as well, but before any one makes another comment about "survival of the fittest" perhaps y'all should try living our lives for a while and see how well you cope with living in a state of seige from birth to death. Until then, have the common sense to keep your mouth shut.

Allison Shaw. Thank you. I think a lot of the problem is that the Natives are ignored. Most people don't know the conditions on the reservations. There should be school trips so the kids can see where we left the original inhabitants of this land, and ask if they think the government really cares any more about THEM...

Mekong Delta, Lenoinoi! Don't attack me before you read my profile. ALOY?

Allison- I am not saying that Indians deserve to be alchoholics. I'm saying that if consenting adults CHOOSE to drink, they have that right, even unto alchoholism. And it is THEIR OWN FAULT, not the beer company or the liquor store. The store owner, no matter how racist they may be, is not grabbing Indians off the street and shoving cases of beer in their hands, and forcing them to drink. Did the government screw the native over? ABSOLUTELY. Does that mean the native has to be relegated to alchoholism and reservations? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Leave the res. Support yourself. Do as YOU, personally, did, and CHOOSE not to drink. It is a choice, and it's up to each and every one of us, caucasian, asian, latino, black, OR native, to make the right choice.

Their suing the store for selling them the beer because they couldn't buy it on the Reservation and the flip side of the coin would be had the store owner refuse them service because they lived on the Reservation then they would have sued him for discrimination.....go figure that one......

As another NA thank you for your eloquent comment.

Most of my family are alcoholics, and I was born with FAS. I have lived first hand the problems of drinking.

I have also chosen to keep alcohol out of my life.

Once again thank you for speaking up for your people.

This is just straight bull@!$%#.

Concur - there is a lot of ignorance and a lot of hate in these comments based on lack of knowledge, compassion and understanding. I truly feel sorry for those of you who are ignorant of the Indian history, culture, heritage, traditions and religious values and the hate from your jealously of having taken almost everything the Indians had but not all.

You are really sad.

@rwalker-2504195

I did. You're a leftist. No secret...

There are lots of indian casinos around here that serve unlimited alcohol to anybody that can pay for it.

Hey, if I know I'm allergic to peanuts, can I sue Skippy for selling peanut butter to me?

The precedence would be that every city, township and state would then be able to sue the beer and other alcohol manufacturers and retailers using the very same tactic and use a successful court verdict as the precedent in which they file claims. Such as the states did with tobacco. This precedence would only lead to prohibition once again. If the tribal leaders feel they have no control over their own tribal members... then welcome to the rest of the world as none of us have control over the alcoholics either and we are all paying their medical bills through higher premiums.

The Judge needs to toss this. If the judge don't toss this then ther judge needs to be tossed.

How about suing the Drug Cartels too since there is a Drug Problem on the Reservation ?

Wait a minute, "Little Beaver" gets paid big bucks to help the cartels smuggle their dope into the U.S. via the Reservation route and uses that money to purchase.......yah.......BEER.

Wait another minute......

How about suing the States for allowing those pesky California Sea Lions to eat their 50% of the salmon harvest ?

How about suing the Federal Government because the FREE cellphones they received from the Feds don't work in remote areas ?

Or, how about suing the airlines since the nearest airport is 500 miles away ?

Or....or....or....

CASE CLOSED !!!!

lets be frank shall we. The poor guy at the convenient store knows that smoking is bad. Does he not sell them, no. If I want to go home and drink myself into a coma, or smoke out til I croak froma lung or heart disease, tear it up. Same goes for all that want to eat too much sugar or salt. The rule is...if you obey all the RULES that the government imposes, they will find something you wont, so they can charge you for it. That is how they make money. If all paid what they were suppose to they wouldn't have a way to CREATE a job, inless they make a new rule. HA HA Now fight amongst yourselves

Allison.....while the Sioux have been treated unfairly by the US Government and you do a great job bashing the white people but why not tell the rest of the story. I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB in '72 and '73 and just about every day in the Rapid City Journal you could read some thing about Wilson the Tribal leader and his GOON's. Tell us how the murder rate from '73 to '76 was the highest in the country and Pine Ridge was called the Murder Capitol of the US.. Tell us how, when the incident at wounded knee happened one of the demands was for the US Government to remove Wilson from power, and how Wilson"s GOON's would kill/murder their own people in their homes because of their opposing political views. True the white man didn't always treat the Soiux fairly but their own people/Tribal government did not threat them any better.

BTW: "GOON's stands for "Guardian Of the Ogala Nation" the tribal army appointed by Wilson....

Thank you Possible Spam detector for letting me post.....

And just so you know the w in Wounded and the k in Knee was suppose to be in caps, no disrespect was intended.......

Allison...how many reservations exist in New England? In the Mid-Atlantic? Were there no Native Americans living there? No...the difference was those Native American tribes learned to co-exist and integrate with the European settlers, the same way they had integrated with the "winner" of every tribal war going back centuries earlier.

African-Americans were treated just as poorly and in some cases could be said still to be treated as poorly as you claim Natives off the reservation are treated, but guess what...they didn't have a "safe" spot they could go hide in and bury their heads in the sand. Most of the problems Natives have on the reservation are of their own making, just like any isolationist culture. Suing breweries over the actions of tribal members is like the Amish suing pharmacuetical companies because Amish kids who don't get vaccinated contract the diseases the vaccines would prevent.

Don't forget, too, the Natives that sold Manhatten Island to the Dutch for $24 worth of trinkets thought THEY had put one over on the Europeans because how could anyone "own" the land. They learned from their naivete and learned to assimilate. They became productive members of the society they were ensconsed in, not packing themselves away and hoping the rest of the world would leave them alone and pass them by.

To the revisionist Allison Shaw,.. you weren't forced to cede hundreds of millions of acres of land. Your ancestors were weak ass little girls that didn't know how to fight a war so the winners of the war won your land by victory in combat. Too much time smoking that pipe and not enough time training for WINNING !!! See how easy that was,...you train to fight, you win, you get drunk on firewater, you lose, it's just,..that,...freakin,...simple.

What's with all the racism!?
My race didn't rely on these products that so greatly harm their health before it was brought around in great quantities. Nor did they ever come in contact with diseases such as measles which was given to them through blankets from the United States Governments hands, which is why the Govt does and should pay for what they have done. No amount of money can ever replace the amount of population of my race that was exterminated when the US Govt murdered millions of them. Well, it makes sense, because how could millions of people fit on a reservation? They pay for what they have done and they will until the death of us; which is what these alchohol and tobacco products are placed in and around the reservations for in the first place, genocide in disguise

Ok, I have now read the liquor laws of Nebraska http://www.sos.ne.gov/rules-and-regs/regsearch/Rules/Liquor_Control_Commission/Title-237.pdf where in here is the "quantity limit" that they say is in in violation. The only limit I find it if they sell more than 20 wine gallons of liquor to a person at one time they are required to record it (actually is a Federal law)

yeah they had guns we didn't...fair fight...lol

these stores take advantage...just go stand in one and watch....

hope you win pine ridge...

mekong, if i'm a leftist i suppose that makes you a rightist :) I always thought I was pretty moderate... I really don't know what it is in my profile that makes you think that though. I think the 'rightists' are way too willing to villify anyone or anything that doesn't fit into their tiny dark little world view.

Legba e-mojuba, ouvrir les yeux s'il vous plait.

Its a personnel choice to drink and solely that persons fault.... We live in a society where personnel responsibility no longer exists.

What a load of crap!

If they shut down those stores, won't people just go to the next place up the road? And I really don't see what the beer producers have to do with it.

That is exactly what they do in my town in SE Mississippi. Wayne County MS is dry except for beer in the one incorporated city.

The beer producers "bootlegged" the beer onto the reservation? If the beer store is off the reservation and has legal authorization to market said products, the Indians leave the reservation to purchase the beer, and the Indians return to the reservation with a prohibited product, it seems as though the Indians "bootlegged" the product not the manufacturer.

That is like saying somebody goes to Nevada and rents a whore (in a legal establishment) and returns to a state where prostitution is illegal, the brothel engaged in criminal activity.

People really need to take responsibility for their own actions. And, by the way this has nothing to do with Obama.

this reminds me of the tobacco law suits

I hope they don't have to pay a dime. Because you (tribe members) have a problem does not make it everyone elses problem. Why isn't the tribe coming together singing Kumbaya and having AA meetings to make their community well.

Geez, there are a lot of people out there that have alcohol problems and they are not sueing.

Gimdan: It was a personal choice to smoke too, but companies got sued and lost millions. I hope the Sioux take em all to the cleaners. Should have sued for BILLIONS. Hell to the yeah!!

These indians would probably drink floor cleaner if it gave them a buzz

but hey, who can blame them for trying ?

....think of all the beer you could buy with that money!

To Okeeboy...and all others, this problem has been going on for wayyy too long. And the cars? Nah, they walk across the border to the town, and walk back with the beer. The stores are only in business to sell beer to the Indian Nation that is stuck on a reservation right across the State Line in SD. Laws only work to keep sales from happening on the reservation, not the consumption, which would be prohibition-like. The Oglala Sioux need help, and they are not getting it from the US, from the State of Nebraska, and certainly not from the beer companies. So if they can win this lawsuit, then maybe they can afford to educate their children on the dangers of alcoholism, and provide medical care for those already affected by it.

Kinda reminds me of Antioch Ill where Wisconsin goes to buy booze in half gallon bottles for the holidays. I'm sure the people of Antioch couldn't drink that much brandy if they tried.

Lisa show some respect. You with your kubaya and AA meetings... They are Lakota...not hippies

Well, they are drinking like fish and now want to be paid off for it.

sorry double post.

My Fellow NATIVE 'merkins: Personal Responsibility is a choice you MUST choose. Personal Responsibility is required in your daily Life. YOU GET TO CHOOSE TO LIVE LIFE FREE FROM THE SLAVERY OF ADDICTION.

1) Find a positively motivating Purpose in Life, and work daily towards that Purpose. Do not lose your concentration off of your Purpose.

2) Have respect for your own body; have enough respect for yourself and your family to know that you must avoid harmful addictions of ALL kinds. ANY addiction should be considered an ugly undesirable thing to own.

3) Practice mental and emotional Self-Control. ALL the time. Do not stop; Go back up to Step 1.

******

The quip about suing tribes for white folks' gambling problem made me roll on the floor laughing. White folks SHOULD sue indian casino businesses. The town I spent a number of years living in, back when I did not have a choice on where to live, has turned into a town of multiple-addiction dropouts. There are an infinite number of alternatives to having an indian casino as a tribal business.

This article reminds me of that pretty song by the B-52's, Dry County.

How about folks quit molly coddling their own. If someone breaks Tribal law, throw the book at them. Boot them off the reservation or whatever you want to do. Bottom line, hold the individual responsible for his/her actions.

Sorry, but I can't support this in any way...Indians know they can't handle alcohlol, yet they still drink..then expect others to pay for their stupidity? Give me a break. I can see this one getting tossed out of the first court that hears it.

Oh, before you start bashing, I'm Iroquois, but I also believe in personal responsibility.

well my tribe voted 3 times to NO casinos...but they still built the damn things...oh they won't cash the social security checks of the elder at the local bank...but they will at the damn casino....

Retiredarmymike, it doesnt take a multimillion dollar payout to educate kids on personal responsibilty, it's not a new discovery, it has been known for what? 200 years? that Natives and alcohol dont mix.

I watched a documentory on a tribe that didn't get a Government check, they were wealthy, hard working people with their @!$%# together. The tribe owns banks and a lot of members were business owners and they all lived in what I would call a mansion.

The Government has a bad history of screwing up pretty much everything it gets involved in.

@RetiredArmyMike

It's not the beer companies' responsibility to fund the education of the Oglala Sioux. What sort of help are you wanting to provide? I bet we could print 20,000 pamphlets explaining the effects of alcohol on the body of a native american and have them distributed for maybe a couple thousand dollars. If their reservation is dry, at some point they had to of asked ,"Why is this?", at which point they could probably find the answer without too much trouble. So, what more would you say to educate them in the dangers of alcoholism? Do we just repeat ourselves over and over as they drink themselves to extinction? They're mother f'in grown ups and they do not need a freakin babysitter and they definately are undeserving of a $500,000,000.00 education at the expense of beer companies. To me that is such moronic logic. That thought process literally sickens me. I don't get it at all. Where is the pride? Self-sufficiency is the single most important thing you can learn in life and you would prefer to just perpetuate utter dependency. That is so counter-productive... no, it's destructive. Whatever dude. Oh, and I am 1/8th Cherokee... LOL. No seriously I am and that makes what I say more important than what anyone else has to say... except Oglala Siouxs... and beer companies.

They're just using the system like our politicians do with lobbyists.

@RetiredArmyMike

The Oglala Sioux need help, and they are not getting it from the US, from the State of Nebraska, and certainly not from the beer companies

Wrong. The Sioux and most other tribes are getting too much "help", and I use that word loosely, from the government. In fact no group in the history of this country has gotten more government "help" than Indians and it is no coincidence that they are one of the poorest, least well off groups in this country. Look at the Lumbee tribe in NC, no government recognition means no interference from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and they are incredibly successful (without a single casino btw). They live in mansions while their fellow Indians in tribes the government does recognize live in trailers.

I wonder how they (the Indians) will feel when someone decides to sue them over the casino's. You know they encourage gambling and people get addicted!! {sarcasm inserted here}

I am native and not all NATIVES get handouts. The Healthcare system sucks - I used it when I did live on the rez. My rez does not have a casino so I am not being PAID or GETTING money like everything thinks "Indians" are. The Sioux on the Rosebud reservation DO NOT a casino - so they do not get payouts.

If the government did not want to follow the treaties then why did we agree to them. We believed in what was written these treaties back in the day. Speaking of the Sioux - the Black Hills were part of the Sioux reservation as drawn up in the Treaties and then taken back as soon as GOLD was found -- who is benefiting from the Black Hills GOLD?? BTW that is another lawsuit. Then the goverment twisted the knife in the back by adding US leaders on Mt Rushmore. How much more do these Sioux need to go through? I almost forgot about Wounded Knee; and Leonard Peltier.

People commenting that "Indians" get TOO Much help -- have you been to a rez -- have you seen how "we" live on the REZ??? My mother barely received running WATER and Electricity 5 years AGO...... Some places on the rez still do not have these options. Please do not compare indians that have Casinos and are getting paid to those that are not BECAUSE not all indians have Casinos.

There are counselors on these indian reservations that TRY to help with these alcoholics but some are too far gone and by the time they want help (if any) their liver is coroded. I do agree that alcoholism is a problem and help is available BUT they need to realized and ask for help.

Who is right and who is wrong?

That's easy. Those obeying the law and not discriminating against customers are right. Those lacking any self control and coming up with idiotic lawsuits are wrong.

anyone who has ever been in marketing knows about the hush hush planning regarding targeting areas/populations. You can see this in play on advertising in specific areas - whether it's a slum or a school. It's sad that alcoholism is such a problem in some Native American communities, and it's even sadder that capitalism endorses exploiting that weakness.

But if they did not blame someone else they would not be true Americans because that is what Americans do best, Play the blame game right ...

nativegirlaz96

Open 24/7, Rosebud Casino is proudly owned and operated by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and is on the southernmost edge of Rosebud Indian Reservation.

hmmm. and we have people in the dry communitees of Alaska that are huffing gasoline to get high. Should those communitees sue the local gas station and the refineries making gasoline? BS. people will find Something to get high on if that is thier wish. Personnaly I like getting high on life.

Maybe all you preachers and racists should go to the said place and tell it to the alcoholics!
Not ALL Native American Indians are drunks and doing nothing with our lives. There are thousands of us pursuing our college degrees so we can do something to help the addicts of our homelands. "Why don't the tribal police do something about it at the border line?" They have! Then they were sued for interfering with their business that they have the freedom to sell from!

nativegirlAZ96

People commenting that "Indians" get TOO Much help -- have you been to a rez -- have you seen how "we" live on the REZ???

I've not only been to A "res", I've been to the one in the article and no I was not visiting the casino you apparently don't realize they have.

Indians do get too much, so-called, "help" from the government. That is a fact and most of the problems you mention are a result of it. The government controls "your" land, the government controls your assets and recourses, they control your health care, they control your police... are you satisfied with any of these things? You don't think you'd do a better job of controlling what is yours?

I've not only been to A "res", I've been to the one in the article and no I was not visiting the casino you apparently don't realize they have.

Indians do get too much, so-called, "help" from the government. That is a fact and most of the problems you mention are a result of it. The government controls your land, the government controls your assets and recourses, they control your health care, they control your police... are you satisfied with any of these things? You don't think you'd do a better job of controlling what is yours?

JaneDoe.....here is the problem the store is across the state line in NE. If a citizen from Pine Ridge come across the state line to purchase tobacco or alcohol and the owner of the store refuses to sell them the things they want AIM would be there so fast with a discrimination law suit it would make your head spin. There is no way the store owner is or can be responsible for what the customers want to purchase. Is the store owner suppose to not sell alcohol to any Indians? Isn't that being a racist? Yet you call them racists for selling them alcohol. How about some one making up their minds. Is it OK to discriminate against an Indian because of alcohol? Or better yet how would you suggest the store owner determine which Indian is an alcoholic and which one isn't?

backcountry...... Pine Ridge Reservation is a sovereignty free from the US control.They have their own Tribal government and the Reservation cops do not answer to any outside authority.....

@LoneRanger01

backcountry...... Pine Ridge Reservation is a sovereignty free from the US control.They have their own Tribal government and the Reservation cops do not answer to any outside authority.....

First I'll address your comment towards JaneDoe, the issue some people have isn't that these stores are selling alcohol to Indians. It's that these stores were put in this place for that sole purpose. 4 stores selling beer in a town of 12 people, come on, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

As for the police force on reservations, sorry but you're wrong- http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OJS/index.htm The BIA is in charge of pretty much everything relating to Indians and their reservations.

alcoholism is a disease...

someone said they know they can't handle it...

oh so go ahead and build those liquor stores right next to the reservation....what's up with that....

like a drug dealer selling drugs....

same difference....

justme....so, you are saying that it is OK to discriminate against some one who has a disease?

backcountry....The BIA Is not in charge of the Indians they are there to be the diplomats between the Indians and the US Government. They are to see that all the services and programs are available to all the Indians.

"Indian Affairs (IA) is the oldest bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. Established in 1824, IA currently provides services (directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts) to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. There are 566 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives in the United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is responsible for the administration and management of 55 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface minerals estates held in trust by the United States for American Indian, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) provides education services to approximately 42,000 Indian students. BIA and BIE’s missions are:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) mission is to:

Here is a clue and a little common sense......" Pine Ridge Reservation is a Sovereignty of its own and the US government does not control it. Case in point, 1973 Stand off at Wounded Knee, one of the conditions of ending the 71 day stand off was for the US government to remove Wilson as Tribal Leader. The US government said it could not do it because The Reservation was its own Sovereignty andit had no control over Tribal Government. Look it up if you don't believe me......"… enhance the quality of life, to promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives.

As for four liquor stores in a town with 12 people it is called free enterprise. Do you know what would happen if it were against the law for a business to take advantage of a customer. No one would be in business, Not even the US Government......

Thank you POSSIBLE SPAM detector for letting me post......yet another time

like i said make your profit at our people expense....

So please tell us how we are forcing "YOUR" people to drive off the reservation to buy alcohol.

If the truth be said it is "YOUR" people who are forcing "YOUR" people to go off the reservation to buy alcohol. What, "YOUR" people have a drinking problem so alcohol is not allowed on the reservation so "YOUR" people are just pushing/forcing your alcoholism problem onto the white man......

I hear you complaining and whining and have yet to hear you present a solution to the problem.........WHY is that?

Thank you POSSIBLE SPAM detector for letting me post yet again.....

@LoneRanger01

backcountry....The BIA Is not in charge of the Indians they are there to be the diplomats between the Indians and the US Government. They are to see that all the services and programs are available to all the Indians.

Did you look at the link I posted?

"Summary of the BIA Office of Justice Services

The protection of lives, resources, and property is at the heart of the BIA's law enforcement effort, and fully supports the Secretary's ongoing commitment to safe and healthy Indian communities. Under the direction of the Deputy BIA Director - Office of Justice Services, the Office of Justice Services (OJS) is responsible for the overall management of the Bureau's law enforcement program. Its main goal is to uphold the constitutional sovereignty of the Federally recognized Tribes and perserve peace within Indian country.

The office has seven areas of activity: Criminal Investigations and Police Services, Detention/Corrections, Inspection/Internal Affairs, Tribal Law Enforcement and Special Initiatives, the Indian Police Academy, Tribal Justice Support, and Program Management. The OJS also provides oversight and technical assistance to tribal law enforcement programs when and where requested. The OJS has primary responsibility for the investigation of crimes that occur in Indian country. For Fiscal year 2008-2009, OJS funded 191 law enforcement agencies consisting of 42 BIA operated and 149 tribally operated under contract, or compact for operation, currently the office:"

As for four liquor stores in a town with 12 people it is called free enterprise. Do you know what would happen if it were against the law for a business to take advantage of a customer. No one would be in business, Not even the US Government......

For the record, I'm not arguing against free enterprise. I was just pointing out the fact that the issue was not as simple as you made it seem.

are you an alcoholic Loneranger?

Please read the article again. SLOWER this time. No where did it state that the stores were violating the law.

It's called supply and demand Westwind. The members of the tribe wanted the beer and the stores supplied it. When the stores ran out the distributor had to restock the store. Apparently that tribe drinks a whole hell of a lot of beer.

yeah try living on that reservation where the goverment has given these people really no choice...when you live in proverty just try getting out of there...

alcohol has always been a problem for our people from the beginning...and using prohibition only makes it worse....yeah right equality!

@Just me...if they are living in poverty...why the hell are they spending all their money on alcohol....seems to me there is something wrong with that statement. If all this beer (taking from the article...in excess of what could legally could be sold) is being bought and these stores are making such a killing...well they are giving it away...they are paying for it. So where are they getting all the money for the beer? Maybe the tribe should be educating their people...maybe AA meetings...early education. But sueing people and holding them accountable for someone elses actions is ludacris.

just me your right your people have not only one problem but many. Its time to wake up and realize your old ways of waiting for the buffalo to come back isnt going to happen. Wake up and come into the 21st century. Get off your dead asses and go to work. Instead of saying the white man has beat us down and wont let us, get up and go get a paying job and work. Nothing will get you more respect and out of the hell you live in faster.

all their money...lol...most reservations have no money...you talk as if we have all this money...when you are so down and out and your only relief is the bottle...your a native american...your older...what jobs the rez has are taken...you have no retirement...no one will hire you anyways....well i see it all to often in our elder men...how many of you drive to your local post office and see a dead man laying by the road because he froze to death...

Older? They're only living into their 40's. They should still be in the prime of their life.

tb10196..."waiting for the buffalo to come back"? What a tired cliche', dude. I'll admit that quite a few Plains tribes are trying to get the US Gov't to ship them the excess bison from Yellowstone to start herds to raise on tribal lands in order to better feed themselves as well as sell the meat commercially (bison meat brings in an average of $18/lb) but no one is dumb enough to think that we can go back to the "good old days". Anyway, my people are Eastern Woodland so we didn't live in tepees and Eastern Bison were never numerous enough to depend on for the bulk of our meat.

Wonder how many of y'all are aware that per capita, Native Americans have the highest enrollment in the US Armed Forces out of all ethnic groups combined, serve in areas of the heaviest fighting, and we do so in spite of the fact that we don't have to fight off US soil. Not tomention tha fact that most of the world's food crops were developed by us, as well as a good protion of most ofthe world's medicines. We've contributed a whole hell of a lot to this country and the world...not that anyone gives us credit for it.

Why even try to educate these people? The only way they would have 1/2 a clue is for them to go spend even 1 week on the rez. Until then we are a bunch of drunken free loaders whose healthcare They pay for who are rolling in doe from all our casinos! They would Never understand that the little money that goes to the rez is money OWED,Not everyone has a car,There is NO Malls or grocery stores,No Jobs,and very little Healthcare. The first thing to be cut when money is short is to the rez. If you left HOW would you get anywhere? Where would you live and what would you eat until you could find a job? Pay no attention to the ignorant ones who try to talk down to you. You KNOW who you are and Where you came from. Them? They have no culture.

yes most people on here have no clue about the Native people of this country...nor do they care...which is perfectly fine...just have their one opinion about us and just flap their lips....and say the same old stupid jokes and racist comments...

but as i said this is our land and our country and yes our ancestors fought and died for our country and fought many of thier ancestors who were not of this country....

we will always be the Native Americans from Canada to Mexico...

Here is a little more revisionist "history" for you Allison. Native Americans introduced the world to smoking tobacco. Therefore, every case of cancer over the past 350+ years that can be attributed to smoking is the fault of Native Americans. So I guess it stands to reason that smokers around the world can sue Native American tribes en masse for their addiction which was caused entirely by YOUR Native American ancestors.

In addition, since tobacco was one of the primary "cash crops" that propped up/maintained slavery in the Colonial South, that would also make Native Americans directly responsible for the enslavement of the African peoples. As such, African-Americans looking for reparations should address their first concerns to Native American tribes en masse again since it was the introduction of smoking tobacco by the Native Americans which caused the massive increase in the desire for tobacco worldwide, which therefore, caused the need for the cheap labor of slavery.

Way to go, Native Americans. Spreading cancer worldwide and causing slavery and the American Civil War all because of your greed for guns and liquor.

alcohol was brought to the native americans...we didn't take tobacco to the world...the profiteers did...

Double-standard there, just. Prior to contact with Native Americans, European tobacco was dried and then ground to be inhaled as a powder (snuff) or vaporized in the Turkish manner. Native Americans, however, dried it, rolled it, and smoked it directly. In other words, they DIRECTLY introduced smoking tobacco to the world and all the ills that come with it. For centuries before, Old World cultures did not use tobacco in this manner. Additionally, Native Americans DID have alcohol prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Native Americans produced graff (apple beer), among other fermented drinks, and they actually supplied the only alcohol available at the original Thanksgiving. The only thing the Europeans introduced was alcoholic beverages with a higher level of alcohol (although rum, which had the highest alcohol level of the period, was actually the invention of Caribbean Natives who share a closer genetic and geographic connection to Native Americans). In addition, if you think the Native Americans were just "giving away" all that smoking tobacco, you are looney. The Native American profiteers were trading the tobacco for alcohol and guns....so looks like there were profiteers on both sides...red as well as white.

Please provide 1 link to any article that has scientific foundation to that comment.

Sounds like a "Jimmy the Greek" type of analysis...

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v18/n4/full/1395141a.html

JBAbbott - So what you are saying is that if people have the opportunity to buy guns and ammo (products known to have the potential for negative health outcomes) they consumers should not be held responsible for shooting themselves. The manufacturers should have cautioned the consumers to gradually shoot themselves so they could build a tolerance to the side effects of lead injections.

Lead poisoning..., a rough way to go..., especially without a government warning...

It's actually hard to believe that the Indians never had any kind of fermented juice of any kind in their history.

Didn't need it, they had Peyote. I'd opt for a shroom over a beer any day. Seriously, I do believe they had the fermented drink thing down pat.

jbabbott and kate...while i agree that their metabolism towards alcohol is different than other genetic makeup. that's really not the point. the point is one, as an adult, has to make the decision to drink the alcohol. that is that person's choice. no one is "forcing" anyone to drink and therefore become addicted. if i know that taking one drink (prior to ever drinking one drop) will turn me into what i see daily...i make the decision every day to be better and stronger than that. i make the decision, daily to better myself, and therefore my community and family. i don't take the "easy" way out and then blame others for my decisions. any mistakes i make, and have made, in my life...i solely blame myself and learn from the mistakes.

Kate Clark (do not use your real name, use a pseudonym) ,

Thank you so much for listing the URL to that scientific paper. I could kiss you Kate !
I think we will find that the people asking for documentation will not change their mindset on the issue, though. Just WATCH. There'll always be some desparate counterargument, made up on the fly, due to the grump's repulsion of the afflicted party.

Thinker..

Archie Bunker said it best...

Guns don't kill people... People kill people. It is survival of the fittest.. to survive you have to be smart enough to not kill yourself.

Alcohol is POISON to everyone not just Native Americans. One of the hardest things a person can do is ask for help especially when they feel hopeless.

thanks for that link...but we don't need a study to tell us that...

we definately know it's a problem...

but how do poverty and addiction correlate?

I'm looking for the photographic evidence of the manufacturers tying the Indians and force feeding them the beer.

So we should allow corporations to sell outrageous amounts of harmful addictive substances unchecked, with no responsibility for their product?

So we should allow corporations to sell outrageous amounts of harmful addictive substances unchecked, with no responsibility for their product's effects?

Kinda like the black people trying to blame the government for making them a slave to crack, ain't it??

You've heard of tobacco right?

@ rwalker - It is a legal product. Unless there are laws that limit the gross sales then the store and beer co's have done nothing wrong. Please explain, within the limits of the law, how and why you believe this is negligence on the part of the store and beer co's.

walker-- you have heard of tobacco haven't you? People die everyday from using it, but it's still legal right? And if I'm not mistaken, it's usually cheaper on the res.

Yes.

@rwalker....It's not the manufacturer's responsibility to monitor consumption, never has been, never will be. But to have it your way, then stores better quit selling anything more than a single six pack to everyone....more than that could be dangerous....or ammunition manufacturers should be allowed to sell no more than one bullet, because more could be harmful. Or better yet, oil companies should not be allowed to sell more than a few drops of gas to any one person, again, more than that could be dangerous.

Sorry, the indians need to "man up" admit they have a problem, and while standing on their own two feet, attempt to control it...not stick their hands out and say "gimmee".

smoking and alcohol....would like it to get rid of all of us

just like those small pox blankets....

What I wouldn't give for some small pox blankets...

Ok, to all you who say "what about tobacco?"... The native americans used tobacco in some of their cermonies as a sacrement of sorts. White man got ahold of it and liked the buzz. The whites demanded more and the natives provided, sometimes at gunpoint. There was no redman tobacco inc opening stores next to Plymouth Rock Settlement trying to get the pilgrims to become addicts.

White man brought alcohol and traded it to the natives for supplies. It quickly got out of hand. The natives demanded more alcohol and white man provided, sometimes at gunpoint (or arrowpoint). The natives used some concoctions that had alcohol content, but nothing like whisky or rum. They were hooked from the beginning.

Maybe companies should be held accountable for the products that they sell...

As far as the small pox blanket remark, that is out of line. Grow a soul.

@rwalker-2504195

So we should allow corporations to sell outrageous amounts of harmful addictive substances unchecked, with no responsibility for their product?

Unchecked? WTF are you talking about? A- their are warning labels telling everyone of the potential risks, B- is there ANY place in this country where you can sell liquor without a license?

So did you have a legitimate point or were you just going to stick with the BS?

My point is that tobacco is the "harmful addictive substance" you claim alcohol is. It's a really easy concept... if you don't use it, you won't get addicted.

Oh yeah, I do have a soul, just not for low-life addicts who blame their problems on society. Sack up, and put the bottle down.

@ walker - No one is disputing the historical facts regarding Native Americans and alcohol but it has not bearing on the case or the article and thus these discussions. NA's have a predisposition to alcohol and it is effecting their health and standard of living according to the suit and article. Again, with the current laws and information provided in the article, tell me why this is a problem of the store(s) and beer co's.

Rwalker, should I be able to sue Bridgestone because my tire blew out and I ran through a fence?

Can I sue Stanley because I hit my thumb with a hammer? yeah we need to make hammers softer so they dont hurt so bad.

Can I sue Ortega because their jalepeno's gave me the @!$%#s?

Can I sue Nike because I got a blister on my left foot?

As far as tobacco goes, there's so much chemicals in that @!$%# it's unbelievable, it's not the same stuff the Native Americans used, it was the good stuff, so good in fact my great, great granny was sold to a white man for a handful of it.

Tobacco, although a somewhat useful comparison for discussion purposes, had it's legal troubles for very different reasons. The tobacco co's use(d) additives which are extremely harmful and did so with full knowledge. These actions were consided a coverup and therefore, proved the tobacco co's to be negligent and damages were awarded.

Although a very sad and unfortunate story, The Native Americas need to stand up and correct their own problems and not blame the "outside".

Thinker..

The case is not built around forcing Native Americans to do anything. it is about stores that can sell x cases of beer a day..selling 10x cases a day.

If they can prove the stores did indeed break this law... and can prove that the reservation bough all that beer at said stores... it is fairly slam dunk case vs the stores..vs the brewers..and actually vs the state for not regulating.

It would be like making a regulated item (steroids/oxy) readily available in amounts not conducive to laws and regulations for recovering drug addicts... Or... Hiring a known sex offender to work at your daycare center...

I believe the term is neglect.. negligence... breaking the law?

Ok, I agree that the red man is more prone to alcoholism. It is a known fact. Understood and accepted. What I am pissed off about is the fact that someone is such a lowlife as to put a liquor store in the middle of nowhere targeting a group of people with a problem. I see that as being sick. They should be ashamed.

The Lakota on Pine Ridge Reservation need to control their own addictions, some of them are sick people and they need help, granted, but you folks are supporting a beer store over an entire nation of people. That in my opinion is @!$%#ing disgusting.

Yes the beer store has the right to sell liquor to whoever can fork over a buck, but the store in question is targeting a people with a weakness, and that should be stopped.

Backcountry, if you think a warning label has ever stopped an alcoholic from drinking, it must be a nice world you live in...

And the tobacco argument. The natives used it as a sacrement. They didn't present it as a commodity to be sold and abused. You are comparing apples to oranges

rwalker the reference to small pox is related to the time when our government gave natives small pox laden blankets(on purpose) that eventually led to the federal governmnts guarantee of free health care for life to all native people.

rwalker, the reference to small pox blankets comes from when the feds gave small pox laden blankets to the natives. The feds eventually copped to it and thus the creation of IHS- guaranteed health care for life.

@rwalker-2504195

Backcountry, if you think a warning label has ever stopped an alcoholic from drinking, it must be a nice world you live in...

No walker, I don't think that. But if you have a legitimate argument against anything I actually DID SAY, I'd love to hear it.

That’s pretty much your MO huh? No legitimate reason to bitch so just make something up like- "unchecked, with no responsibility" or "if you think a warning label has blah,blah, blah"

LOL My M.O. is provoking thought, but some folks are too self-righteous to see anyone's points but their own. My points are valid to anyone who knows the plight of the native american, and business practices in the modern world.

I realize that how it looks to someone from the outside. It looks like they are asking for a handout... Truth is we owe it to these people. After everything we took, we can afford to give back a little. Especially if they have a valid court case. I honestly don't know if they do or not, because I don't know Nebraska liquor laws. If the liquor stores are breaking a sales quota, then I hope they get every penny they ask for and more.

Yes they have a right to sell...the question is should they....especially 500 million cans...I'm sure they were all sold to non alcoholics?

How many alcoholics on here?

It's the American Way.... don't ya know?

Well hell..... then all of us that are overweight need to start a lawsuit against fast food places, food producers and grocery stores. Might as well throw in alchol producers too. So what do you think? Twenty trillion dollar lawsuit? Then they settle out of court for 15 trillion. Sounds like a plan..... who's with me?!

I'm soliciting fellow litigants to file a class action suit against the laundry detergent manufacturers. It isn't the overtime with my spoon and fork that is making my clothes too small - it must be the soap companies.

McDonalds has been sued numerous times for making people fat and still they continue to sell their poison and people continue to eat it and continue to get fat. It's the american way, don't ya know?

I used to eat at McDonalds, then I took some personal responsibility to get healthy. Now I only eat at Burger King. I can hardly wait to see the results.

@gday67

Well hell..... then all of us that are overweight need to start a lawsuit against fast food places, food producers and grocery stores. Might as well throw in alchol producers too. So what do you think? Twenty trillion dollar lawsuit? Then they settle out of court for 15 trillion. Sounds like a plan..... who's with me?!

One problem with your plan. The lawyers would take most of it and we'd all get a check in the mail for 50 bucks each.

@ stoopid I love it!!!!

that's just it they have no control...many that go to these stores are alcoholics...they have a disease....

so what build the liquor stores next to the rez...give them more....500 million cans...thats the solution...let's make a profit...off the poor

in a poverty stricken area....

Maybe those who went to college and are unemployed should sue their universities..., or those who dropped out of high schools sue the school district..., or gravitationally enhanced Americans should sue fast food chains..., or children of smokers sue their parents for second hand smoke... The list goes on forever of ridiculous law suits. Perhaps torte reform isn't such a bad idea after all.

Can I sue the lottery company because I buy a ticket every week and have not won. The sign says I can win, but I don't and that is false advertising.

314159

"gravitationally enhanced". I love that term. You should run for President.

When we sue Columbia can I be paid in cocaine??? That way I will be high enough not to listen to crap like this....

LOL Just had to ask, 314159 (post #7.1)...would torte reform include substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar?

314159 --- Actually, I think children suing their parents for second hand smoke is a good idea. In fact, it's not just a good idea>>>>IT SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW TO SO SUBJECT NON-CONSENTING CHILDREN TO TOBACCA.

How many alcoholics can control their disease?

I know some that do, personally! You only have to be 25% (I think that is the number) to qualify. As for being an idiot, you need to check the COH here on this site.

John - That is like saying that everybody in the slums and projects get welfare checks and food stamps just for being black.

Some are there by default while others are there by design.

To John, what "In juns" are you referring to, I'm full blooded Shoshone from the Fort Hall Indian Rez in Idaho and I don't get "paid" to be an Indian, I regretfully have to work for a living to pay Unka Sam the taxes I owe him, just like you so before you open yer piehole use that thing in yer head called a BRAIN....

John you're correct, however; only certian tribes qualify. If I'm not mistaken it only covers the largest of the tribes from back when we stole their land, and put them on reservations. The small tribes don't qualify for the money.

Alot of Oklahoma and Alaskan indians do because oil was found on their lands.

Poorest area of the country?? ...even with free health care, free housing and a check every month. How does that work? Take a walk through a reservation sometime and see what free looks like. What the latest payout to Native Americans? Oh yea, the lawsuit over discrimination by the fed's farmer loan program. We paid out over 2 billion dollars ...I bet that bought a lot of beer.

So much ignorance on this comment section. I need to go read a book now.

My buddies wife is Potawahtamee (Sp.?) and according to them, she just got her "indian money" when she turned 25 (25K for being Pota...). They just purchased their first home with the money (down payment).

Thinker - I think you read too much into things, you make a long leap into what I said. Do you really think everyone in the slums and projects are black? I believe the Indian Reservations are for Indians, thats what they were designated for.

Pup1 - Perhaps you need some grammer lessons, I capitalized Indians for respect, perhaps that is part of the problem - In juns as you call yourself, watching too many westerns?

well if we do then i want my check....so stupid....

thank you John...

I'm married to a full blooded San Carlos Apache and have yet to see any of this magic money you are talking about.

never got 1 check from the government...ive always paid taxes just like everyone else...there are over 300,000 in my tribe and don't know anyone in my neighborhood that gets a damn check....

all misinformed....

I remember some thing about the US Government paying the Indians a settlement for treaty violations. Then the Tribal government decided to make the Indians (the Sioux) prove they were Indians before giving them any of the settlement. If you were half Indian and Half White and lived on the reservation you were an Indian, if you were half White and Half Indian and lived off the reservation you were not Indian enough to get any money. There was a lot of fighting done over this. What I found strange and funny was the Indians sued the US government for cheating the Indians and when the won the Indian government turn around and cheats their own people.....go figure that one......

I feel so privialeged that the POSSIBLE SPAM detector let me post two times today......

Pup1 - I take exception with what you say. Shoshone Bannock at Ft Hall have received numerous payouts from their casinos and from a settlement with FMC (by the way the tribe is demanding the EPA cleanup after they took a finanical settlement from FMC not to clean up YOU shouldn't have payout and bill the government later). If you don't get money, why is the SSI disability cutouff every few months due to over resources? It is time that people take responsibility for themselves and quit looking for a someone else to pay for their choices.

Nice one EK!

I don't gamble but if I can get in on that class action suit I will learn how.

I'll give you 3 to 2 odds on that....lol

Come on over to Vega$ canon,you can be the first student in my new gambling school! hee hee.

But okay to be associated with casinos?

Reminds me of when the "Washington Bullets" said they did't want to be associated with an image of crime, so they changed their name....to just "the Bullets".

you mean the 'Wizards'- why would a city drop the name of its city?

Angry Guy That is the best comment Ive read in a long time. Hilarious and true.

Derwood49 - it's a joke. You expect the team to drop the "bullets" part as the association to crime, but in our joke universe, they dropped "Washington" as being the part associated with crime.

What illegal sales? So if a store owner refuses to sell to indians like they did in the old west your okay with that? BS you would cry discrimination in heart beat.

If they sold illegally, I'm with you - no sales to minors, obvious drunk buyers, etc. However, if their assertion is the illegality of "bootlegging" I may have problems. If the sales are conducted off the reservation through licensed sellers and the Indians take it "across the line" it isn't the sellers that are bootlegging but it is the buyers.

If their assertion is that it was illegal that the stores sold more than legally allowed, where is the limit as to how many cans/cases/quarts/kegs an establishment is allowed to sell? Doesn't that impinge on the values of capitalism? The basic laws of economics (supply and demand) typically put restraints on sales.

Old enough to buy in that state how do they refuse without being breaking the law. In Texas you can't sell more than someone can reasonably drink without getting drunk. But in a package store if Johnney comes in for a case of Bud how do you know he's planning to sit down and drink the whole thing by himself in one sitting? If he is sober when he comes in you can't refuse to sell it if he can prove age.

Agreed lonereb. If a sober person comes into one of our state run liquor stores and wants to buy a "Texas fifth" (1.75L), it is legal. However, if a drunk walks into a convenience store and wants to buy a "Mormon fifth" (mini bottle) that's illegal for the clerk to sell. Additonally, if the clerks aren't old enough to consume they're not old enough to sell (19 for all tobacco products, 21 for all alcohol products).

In Connecticut, there is a law on the books that says it is illegal to sell alcohol to a "known drunk." What state are we talking about here? Could it have the same type of law?

Mad Magazine once ran a strip in which a boy of about 12-14 accidently knocked a bottle of alcohol off a store shelf and broke it, spilling liquor all over the floor. A police office who happened to be present bawled the &*$%@ out of the youth for carelessly destroying the store's property. The youngster paid for the bottle and it's contents, where upon the police officer arrested the youth and the store clerk. The former for buying alcohol although he was a minor and the latter for selling it to him.

ACTUALLY

The state has a maximum the store can sell per day attached to its license. it is not a per person sell...per se...

Store can sell only so much due to so close to "state or legal lines" on a map. It prevents a state from suing another state for facilitating bootlegging.

Wait...that is what is happening!!

Law was in place..no enforcement and companies ignored it for greed. A good lawyer will win this...

That is a very simplistic answer to a 500 year old problem. Our government insisted they live in a little square of land. We didn't give them anything to do but twiddle thier thumbs. What are you gonna do if you have no work and can't live the way you believe you are supposed to? Gluglugluglug...ahhhh refreshing. I suddenly feel better!

So WE'RE responsible for finding "them" something to do, and we're responsible for finding "them" jobs? Seriously? They're lucky they got anything, can you name ANY other race or country that we give reparations to after we won a war?

rwalker - The same as the blacks did - get off the plantation.

After a night of drowning your sorrows you wake up and you're not only still broke and jobless but also hung over. Use your beer money and buy a bus ticket.

irishknight, I think we started rebuilding nations we destroyed starting with Japan after we bombed the crap out of them, and killed appx 1/3 of a million in two distinct moments. Maybe our relations with the aboriginals on these two continents would be better if we bothered owning up to ANY treaties we signed with them since 1492. By all rights, this is thier land still.

the thinker, there are some differences there. Slave owners taught some the blacks english so we could communicate with them. After the Civil War, some of them were given 2 mules and a spot of land to work. The natives, we tossed them into the most unfertile, inhospitable places and put them under armed guards and watched them starve and die from diseases aquired from living in less than advantageous conditons.

We made the germans pay the jews...we owe the natives less?

rwalker - Please explain to me how the United States of America entered into any treaties before the USA formally existed? You'll need to elaborate of who you consider "we".

As for retributions, do you also think we also owe Mexico for winning that war? We did kill a few of their people and take a boat-load of land from them!

I get such a laugh reading these things. What we need first and foremost is EDUCATION! Learn the differences between two, to, and too; they're, their, there, and they are, etc. And it's a 'personnel' responsibility? No it is a PERSONAL responsibility. How about a little punctuation and proper grammar? Sure makes these things easier to read. And by the way, with a medical education, I learned that the people who are native to this country, those whose lands our ancestors stole (excuse me, maybe not yours, but some of my early European ancestors surely did) -- anyway, they lack necessary enzymes, etc. to be able to metabolize alcohol. It is not their 'fault.' It is just that way and has been ever since 'whitey' arrived with alcohol and diseases. Since I also have native ancestors, I don't metabolize alcohol as well as someone with only European ancestors (or other non-affected groups). Over-drinking is very insidious once the first drink is consumed and it takes a great deal of determination to not have the second drink, or more. It takes more than education to help people. It is not an 'education' or moral problem, it is a physiologic problem specific to a certain group of people. Europeans used alcohol to control and manipulate native peoples in order to steal from them... lie, cheat, and steal... the "American way." The Indian casinos are a real 'get even' for Indian tribes though. "White man" stole their lands, livelihood, culture, and health so it is only fair that 'white man' pays. Nobody is forcing them to gamble in the casinos... but it sure is funny when they become addicted. Heck of a 'pay it forward' for the Indians... they were given addiction and now they are passing it on up. As I understood the original article, distributors of the brewing companies are selling amounts far in excess of what would be usual for that size population in a very rural area. Logically if that greater amount was not available it could not be consumed regardless of where the purchasers drink it. I get the tribal point, if it wasn't available in such excessive quantities they might be able to do more to resolve the issue of alcohol addiction on the reservation. Yeah, the buyers would have to travel farther risking more DWIs or deaths on the highways. Feels like a no-win situation for everyone involved in that area and all areas where natives were forced onto pathetic land called "reservations." Okay, now I'm sure this will either be removed or picked apart. Have fun!

JimmyPrince: Wrong, wrong, wrong!!! What gives you the right to be so judgmental and self-righteous about addiction?!! You obviously, from your very own words, know nothing about how and why people are addicted to alcohol. Let us take away your land, your culture, your family, your religious beliefs, etc. and throw you onto a barren, desolate, uninhabitable area with armed guards, and no means to care for yourself and your family and see how well you adapt. If such things were allowed on here, I would label you a true 'jerk' American in same style as (probably your) the Europeans who originally devastated these wonderful people. Learn what you are talking about before you waste white space. [Okay I know, this will be removed... oh well, I feel better.]

Sorry Native PNW - I live on the edge of the Navajo Nation, and they will drive 100+ miles to purchase when it is not available locally to them. If not alcohol, they will drink hairspray, aftershave, mouthwash and even rubbing alcohol.

I agree with you that it is a genetic problem, but even if we went through prohibition again, with the border so close, alcohol would just be floating across the Mexican border with the rest of their money-making imports.

We can argue about symantics all day DB. Bottom line, our european ancestors didn't honor one agreement they made with the native inhabitants of north or south america. Every treaty broken. Lie, cheat, steal, rape, pilliage is the white's policy towards aboriginal americans, and aboriginal whoever-else-was-in-their-way. The policy obviously continues to today. Shameful behavior for everyone involved including me for not doing more about it.

Yes your assumption is true but I would like our government to apologize to the San Carlos people for putting them in a "concentration camp", yes that is what it was called before the word reservation took it's place. And it would be nice if the feds apologized fo tatooing the tribal kids so as to better keep track of their hand outs.

LOL...all these people keep saying move off the rez...where we gona go... your neighborhood...yeah have my drunk relatives fall all over your nice manicured lawn....and as if you'd give us a job....yeah whatever....

we choose to live with our people where we should...keeps our traditions alive...

we all know our people have an issue with alcohol...sort of like heroin...but others just don't understand that....that is issue here...these damn stores take advantage of that....

OK so we make these liquor stores close up......what then? You know as well as Ido that an alcoholic will do anything to find a drink. SO they go to the next closet liquor store to buy their booze. What then, do we close down that liquor store? Oh wait here is an idea make it illegal for an Indian to own a motor vehicle. Geeez doesn't that sound so stupid. and it is, it is just as stupid as blaming the liquor stores for their alcoholic problem.

The fact is.....is that you can not help an individual or a group of people if they do not want to help themselves first.

not every native american is an alcoholic or getting a government check...narrow minded people...

as i said we realize it is a problem like diabetes....but it is a problem none the less...

How does this sound. New law. No liquor sales to Indians.

canon not new law very old law revisited. Then how do you define Indian full, half quarter or maybe less can see some civil rights issues here? Then too many latinos look Indian because they are in part. You'll have LULAC up your butt.

Yeah then they wanna cry and complain because they are being discriminated against. Times have changed and people need to change with them. This crap about being Indian and the world is owed to me for what the white man did is old. I've seen native americans guzzle Listerine like its going out of style. Native Americans have the same opportunities anymore like everyone else. If not better opportunities because most get money still from our government and then use it to buy @!$%# they shouldnt, and still want to blame everyone else for it. I hope they loose and are laughed at. By the way I have cherokee blood in my veins and its idiots like these that give the rest bad raps.

sw. have you ever been to pine ridge?

No I have not but I have lived around others and again they have the same opportunities as any other person living in america. IF not MORE. They just choose to continue to live that way. And thats whos fault mine? yours? no theirs. Have you had a friend killed by a Native American Indian who was drunk? Well I have, and her family had to pay every single dime out of their pocket because he lived on the res and didnt have to have car insurance, but was able to leave the res without car insurance and kill an innocent 18 year old. But that seems to be okay, because of what our ancestors did. No one is making them stay on those little peices of land now. This just sets things up for others to NEVER have to face responsibility for their own actions. This is a problem within their system if their people are not smart enough to know the effects of drinking during pregnancy. It says it on the lable for crying out loud.

yeah just not on our own land...

Ok, I'm sorry about your loss. My point is that there is nothing for them there. We should not expect them to live as we see fit. Their culture is waaaaay different than ours. We may not be forcing them to live on their reservations anymore, but we really aren't doing anything to improve their quality of life either. This also goes for other americans. Our government isn't there to just tell us what to do. Our government is the embodyment of our selves and our ways of life. To stand aside and let them suffer more is out of line. We can't tell them how to live, but allowing liquor stores to predate the rez is also out of line. They have a right to sell beer, but having a store in the middle of nowhere, where only people from the rez come to buy is out of line. The owners of the stores should be ashamed. Making it harder for the natives to get beer is only a bandaid on the problem too. They are drinking because they have nothing else to fill their lives, and have become addicted. I don't pretend to know what the answer is, but they need help, and they deserve it. And we owe it to them to help them. There is still a LOT to learn from these people.

Exactly how far back does that Cherokee blood run, and have you ever studied up on your culture?

well we do have our own ways of life and and yes we do have an alcoholism problems...i have had family members who are lost to alcohol and lost family members to this problem...again just try to live on these reservations....it is our land and our way of life is there....not like we are going to walk away from the reservation no matter the problem...just go to one of these stores and just watch...our reservation is dry...but we have the the worst alcoholism problem in the area....

The owners of the store should be ashamed of what? Making a living? Hmm interesting. Making it harder for them to buy beer would only make them want to pull the discrimination card. The beer companies put lables on the beer, you as a civilized person should be able to read the lable and make responsible choices. I understand there is a problem. Not with just this tribe, but all of them. May be asking these companies to donate money towards educationg them about the effects of alcohol all together is a better choice, because obvioulsy their elders are not doing it. People are way to sue happy anymore. They will not learn anything from this if they win except that they can continue to blame the white man for their problems and suing them makes it all better. Think of all the liquor they could buy then. Then the next thing that will be on here is "Tribe sues because they drank away their millions." It will never stop.

sw you just uncovered the main problem with capitalism - profit at any cost. Yes the store owners should be ashamed of selling a sick person the thing that is making them sick. A bartender can be charged with selling a drunk person that last drink, a liquor store owner should be liable for willingly selling an known alcoholic liquor. BUT this is just my opinion. Read my profile

One solution to this particular lawsuit issue: The Natives need to re-learn how to ferment fruits and make their own alcohol. C'mon, we've done it BEFORE. I hear it is ultra simple chemistry; it only requires a bit of patience in wait-time to let the fermentation process complete itself to produce a drinkable alcoholic flooooid. The result: natural ingredients, cheap, tastes GREAT, less filling, no unnatural chemicals. If a Native could only keep quiet about their own homegrown moonshine distillery...

*** The REAL solution to this alcoholism issue ***
My Fellow NATIVE 'merkins: Personal Responsibility is a choice.
Personal Responsibility is THE ONLY CHOICE.

Find a Purpose in Life. Design your Life. Give your Life a beautiful positive meaning. Design your Life so that you cannot wait for tomorrow because you want to make your Life happen.
Live that Purpose, every single day. Modify the design of your Life as needed.
Respect yourself and your family enough, every single waking minute, to do right for yourself and your family.
Go back to "Live that Purpose" step.

just like a drug...but this one is legal

yes...they are selling to a person who is sick with a disease...alcoholism...

but keep on selling...make your damn profits.....

The reason the tobacco companies lost was because of how they manipulated their products and their marketing. If the beer companies intentionally made their beer more addicting then they should be sued. If they marketed to underage drinkers through "Joe Camel" drinkers, they deserve to be sued. But if they legally sold to people and the people knew they had healt-related issues with the consumption of the product, the manufacturer is not responsible for negative outcomes.

or you could ask why the government always breaks up any stills they find even though they are doing it in a soverign nation that makes their own laws...

Because even though reservations are Soverign Nations, they are STILL governed by the laws of the federal government. That is why federal officers are allowed to enter reservations without first obtaining tribal permission and local and state law enforcement is not....state and county laws do not apply.

rwalker-- So you don't like the gov't breaking your stills on "your" land, but you think you should be able to sue the white man because you can't keep the bottle out of your mouth? Makes perfect sense.

you aren't getting my argument irishknight.

besides, I think the issue is that the liquor stores are breaking the law by selling more beer than their quota allows. thats what I got from the article.

YES, the natives need to put the bottle down...by all means. YES, the white trash selling them the booze needs to be stopped too. They are a parasite feeding off of someones' afflicitons. What a bunch of lowlifes...

It might be because all their ceremonies and traditions were forbidden for several generations. It also may be that western european peoples tried to break them with indian boarding schools and feeding them slogans like 'WORK WILL MAKE YOU FREE", in german it's written "ARBEIT MACH FREI", the slogan atop the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.

"I guess we can't trust the white man." Maybe Josie Wales was right...

it was just one dominant culture overcoming another as they did as they moved. Natives have been treated like wards or children of the government for so long now many, not all, can't even stand on their own two feet anymore. The reservations are destroying natives. Lets see the Sioux, same ones that have the casinos up by Deadwood, guess there can be a counter-suit for the damage gambling does. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY PEOPLE

The casinos in Deadwood are not run by the Indians in South Dakota. There are 9 Indian casinos on reservations in SD, but Deadwood is separate from that and the casinos are privately owned.

If the white man hadnt taken over someone else would have. Its been that way since the beginning and it continues today. That is the way humans act and that includes indians.

as if these tribes get much of that casino money...its the state and federal government if the truth is really revealed...

According to the article the same is not true of Native Americans...

Why do you think that makers of cooking wines put so much salt in it before selling to the grocery stores? The salt is to make it unpalatable to chug down. If you do, the salt will help make you sick and regret imbibing. Besides cooking wine is the dregs and overpriced in comparison to "good" wine - just packaged is smaller (less expensive) quantities.

You are exactly right. I see Natives drive 100+ miles to get their booze on Sundays. "Ocean water" is a rampant problem where I live and kills many Natives. Mouthwash isn't even available over the counter anymore, but they still find a way. Maybe they should try suing the hairspray and mouthwash manufacturers too for the related deaths.

The point is, if someone has a severe addiction, they will find a way to feed it.

The bars/liquor stores are in Nebraska and the reservation is in South Dakota.

The natives are constantly being shat on by our country, people are making all these bad comments but they either only lived out side the res or they have never been in one, you really think this is what these people want to be. They were a clean, proud and happy people at one time don't forget. They should sue every body that wronged them in the past. Europeans stole the land, spread disease and brought alcoholism with them, so what the h3ll do you expect from them anyways you snobby jerks that have something bad to say about them.

So shut it down in Nebraska and they'll go to Minnesota or Iowa.

we don't need no studies to tell us what we already know....

I would like to see if you could even survive on a res. The American government has shafted the native americans from day one. They have broken almost if not all treaties that were ever made. If you own your house how would you like it if obamy and the government came tomorrow and said sorry that house is no longer your, you have to move to areas you are not from.

So if the government kicks you out of your house you are required to become a drunk to survive? You lost me on your connection.

Gee yevrah that's just what happened to me a few years ago unfortunatly I'm white so SOL. Our government used my money to bail out the bank that stole my house.

So instead of bickering about it, why not unite against a common enemy? You both have problems with how you have been treated...do something about it.

the thinker. our government made these folks live how and where they are. we owe them something.

rwalker - The requirement to live on a reservation was negated many years ago. You are probably of the same opinion that blacks still have to live on the plantations and that we owe blacks something because some used to be slaves centuries ago.

I agree that the Indians have been mistreated by previous regimes of the federal government, but to continue to live under long past repression is not the governments' fault. What we "owe" them is encouragement, not money to buy more beer.

we can encourage all we want, but if there is nothing there for them, then there is no hope of improving the stiuation.

I'm just playing the Devil's advocate here...but our goverment has all the resources in the world. We could cloth, educate, and feed the entire world, but we don't see the benefit of it as a whole. I'm just trying to provoke thought really....

Yevrah Kahn, white man violated EVERY treaty they ever signed with any native tribe.

So, what the plaintiffs are doing is verifying the stereotype that Indians can't handle alcohol.

For many years store owners and barkeepers were accused of being racists for not selling liquor to Indians in those areas . Now this!
Damned if you do, damned if you don't with self-righteous do-gooders.

thank you Yevrah...as least someone knows...

rwalker - Agreed. I abhor how the government has treated various races, ethnicities, sexes, etc. But for those same groups to use the mistreatment of any of their ancestors (related or not) decades and centuries later as a crutch for trying to extort money from the government is ludicrous. Because there were slaves doesn't mean blacks have to continue to live on plantations and pick cotton. Because Indians were handed treaty after treaty only to be broken and forced onto reservations doesn't mean they must remain there now. Because the Chinese were mistreated while the trans-continental railroad was being laid doesn't mean they have to drive RR spikes, blast tunnels or work in laundries.

Thank you for being reasonable and taking the time to articulate your arguments the thinker.

My only response, and I'll stop after this, is that the chinese and all those other groups weren't forcibly relocated and made to stop living life the way their ancestors taught them to. Those other groups chose to come here and work and form a new way of life. The natives had their way of life, and a strong culture. Europeans came and took their way of life, abolished their culture, language, and traditions and forced them by gunpoint to relocate SEVERAL times. The tribes in the east had no idea how to live in the midwest or the southwest. The whites put them into camps and kept them there at gunpoint. For how long I'm not sure. They faced disease and starvation, and the whites didn't go out of their way to make sure they were fed and warm, more or less healthy, and they wouldn't let hunting parties leave for fear they would not come back.

I thought most americans would have a little sympathy for a people who have been mishandled by our white ancestors, but I'm way off.

I suppose anyone has a chance in this country, but there is little motivation for someone who isn't interesed in the mainstream culture in the USA to actively play a roll in our society and try to fit in and make themselves a success by our standards. Maybe it is thier fault for not getting misty eyed thinking about 2.5 kids a dog a car and a house, i dunno....

Aparently your family has no historical trauma attached to it. Lucky You.

I agree with hope and okeeboy. We have a reservation that butts up to the town that I live in here in Oregon. The Tribal Police here are know for cracking down on public intoxication and DUI, why because the confederated tribes that live on the reservation are tired of the 1% that give the native americans the stereotype. I know a family that lives on the res here and they are part of a tribe in the Dakotas and if this is the tribe I'm thinking about they voted some 20 years ago to receive a lump sum payment of government money when they turned 18 (kind of catching my drift here?). Our local tribe has a casino like most do but this one takes all of the money that they make and puts it back into not only the res but our local community and in wildlife conservation. It honestly sounds like they want to blame someone else for their problems and are hoping to get a big payday out of it because the tribe has been financially irresponsible.

I can see that you have some personal issues. You haven't learned to blame others for your failings. When are you going to become a real American and live by the American mantra - it's your fault I'm an idiot.

Too bad more people don't accept personal responsibility like you.

But if they did there would be a lot of lawyers out of work, drinking, and then suing.

Well Hope, you are stupid. Trying to compare your addiction with theirs is like comparing a Rolls Royce with a Ford Pinto, there is no comparison. Native Americans are the rightful owners of America, ergo, try to digest how would you like your killers to, not only take away your land, your costumes, but also force you to live in a concentration camp, that the American stealers decided to sanitize their crimes by calling those concentration camps "reservations", like they were a five star hotel. I'm sure that you can't see the irony of all this, because obviously or you are too stupid to see the forest from the trees or your are too racist to give them the benefit of the doubt. How would you like, if let's say you have a house, which I doubt very much, and your armed neighbor came and took it away and put you to mow his/her lawn, if that doesn't make you drink, then nothing will. Also, pea brain, there is a study, which I'm sure the government knows it quite well, that the dumber you keep your perceived enemies, the lesser of a chance that they will do something about it or against you. They, American natives, deserve not only the 500 millions, but they should get their land back. A crime, specially genocide, regardless of time passed, it is still a crime, a genocide, thievery to the nth degree. Actually, they should sue the U.S. government for breaking dozens and dozens of treaties, making a mockery of what justice is supposed to be. Something is wrong, when a party, the Anarchy party, calls for restitution of all lands stolen by this "Christian and democratic" nation and a democracy and Christian to add salt to injury behaving like its antithesis and continue subjugating them like it was yesterday. Shame on you and shame on America.

I suggest that they take responsibility for their own problems. They should use some casino money to open up their own brewery. Just kidding. If they banned the alcohol, then the tribal elders should be enforcing the ban. They have their own independent tribal government and outsiders should not interfere. They need to set up their own rehab clinics.

Newsflash: Lucky the Leprechaun now suing Irish breweries throughout Ireland... He got snockered on Irish brew and when he awoke, someone had stolen his lucky charms.

Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seem you have a drinking problem too.

What a bunch of crapola, so,..what you are saying is that they are too stupid to assimilate their own laws some 160 years later? C'mon, ignorance of the law is no excuse, but, ignorance of the law after the law has been in effect that long is plain crazy.

You can call me a bigot, you can say I am a racist, I really care less what some people think, as I know I am not a racist, I simply look at the data available. It is a FACT, that not only the "native american" indians ( those found within the borders of the United States, but, ALL natives of the American continent are indians, and, they have a hard time handling their alcohol.

Go to a party where a large group of latinos from various countries have gathered, in this group you may easily find a variety of national origins and races. Once the drinking begins, it is usually those who are of NATIVE backgrounds / mostly native backgrounds who display the drunkeness, the silliness, and the violent behaviour after a few drinks. For the most part, those of European ancestry tend to not react the same way to alcohol.

As far as I am concern, a drunk is a drunk, the only one at fault for his or her drunkenness, is themselves. Lets stop making excuses and rewarding people for irresponsible, bad, and even criminal behaviour. Enough is enough.

There is a saying that it takes all kinds to to make it in the vine of the Lord. People whose bigotry puts in auto-pilot that bigotry and won't allow them to see any thing ahead, but their bigotry. But, likely or not, I think the perception that what this nation did to native Americans, Mexicans is changing is, I hope, around the corner. Of course, change is, as with beauty, in the eye of the beholder. Not long ago, many people, including, believe it or not, some from the radical right that finally came to see the truth that the whole world has known, but here in America is on the slow lane: America not stole their lands, but it's guilty of genocide. Of course, how long this epiphany will take? That is the 64,000 dollar question. If our future president or presidents abort another Hitler, another retard pervert from Texas, or another black illegal from Kenya, then never, but let's hope that as with a flower, this little seed of hope will become an oak tree. Otherwise, American natives are going to be violated, raped again by this "Christian and democratic" nation.

well we've survived many of their genocide attempts that are still on going today...just don't hear of it...we survived them ripping children from parents arms...we survived being forced on reservations...we survived the brainwashing and still keep our traditions and language alive....despite all of that...we're not going anywhere...and despite the acholism and diabetes we will survive

no the truth of the real history will never come to light with narrow minded people....immigrants will never accept Native peoples....we will always be looked down upon....

and we are called savage...LOL