This center in northern Wyoming was a long time in the making. Diane Cochran of the Billings (Mont.) Gazette reports on the opening in the Inter-Tribal Wellness center, which will treat addictions among tribal members from Wyoming and Montana.

SHERIDAN, Wyo. – With the Big Horn Mountains in the distance and the Tongue River just outside the back door, the Inter-Tribal Wellness Center is well-situated to reconnect clients with the land.

The newly opened addictions treatment center for American Indians sees strengthening patients’ ties with their tribal roots as a step toward recovery.

“It’s going to be based on people becoming authentic and finding themselves and reconnecting with their history and culture,” said JuDee Anderson, the center’s clinical director.

After standing vacant for more than two years, the facility that once housed Thunder Child Treatment Center has re-opened as the Inter-Tribal Wellness Center.

It is a collaboration among 11 American Indian tribes in Wyoming and Montana that are represented by the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council.

Its approach to recovery is different from that of most treatment programs, said its director, Myron Littlebird.

“We’re trying to get away from the standard 12-step treatment,” Littlebird said. “We’re looking more toward cultural and spiritual treatment. … We’re trying to get them back into the way they grew up.”

Tags: Alcohol abuse, Bighorn Mountains, buffalo post, drug addiction, Gwen Florio, Inter-Tribal Wellness Center, Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, Myron Littlebird, Native American news, Thunder Child Treatment Center, Tongue River

Emily Clark of Kalamazoo, Mich., picks up a malt liquor bottle from the gutter of U.S. Highway 87, which runs through the center of Whiteclay, just south of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. (RYAN SODERLIN / for the Lincoln Journal Star)

While we were out having a life this past weekend, some folks were doing things to make a big difference in other people’s lives.

More than 40 people cooperated to clean up the trash and empties from the town of Whiteclay, Neb., a flyspeck on the map along the Nebraska-South Dakota border. Just on the other side of the border is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and Whiteclay’s main reason for being is to sell beer – some 4 million cans a year – mostly to residents of the reservation, which is dry.

It’s hard to find a reason for hope in Whiteclay, but Jack Andersen was among those trying hard this weekend, Kevin Abourezk of the Lincoln Journal-Star writes here:

With only a light brown leather jacket to protect him from the cold wind and rain, he stuck his hands into brown muck and jerked bottles of Bud Light and cans of Camo Black Ice from the ground.

“This is kind of hopeless,” said Andersen, tossing a can into a black trash bag. “This could go on all day and not even know we did anything.”

The cleanup was sponsored by ABOUT, a Christian outreach ministry in Whiteclay. ABOUT director Bruce BonFleur says he was glad people made the effort, especially given the day’s miserable weather. (See just how miserable by watching Abourezk’s video, here.)

The cleanup was only the first of several efforts in Whiteclay that ABOUT plans. The group will use $30,000 in federal stimulus money to start a day-labor program that would connect sober street people in Whiteclay to places that need part-time workers.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Keep Nebraska Beautiful, Native American news, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Whiteclay

Jim Watts, right, and his son James dance in the Adams Center at the University of Montana on Saturday.(Tom Bauer/Missoulian)

Tobacco giant Philip Morris funds anti-Native cigarette campaign
The huge Philip Morris tobacco company has begun an extensive ad campaign urging New York state to collect taxes on cigarettes sold in Indian reservations. This story by Indian Country Today details those efforts, involving full-page newspaper ads and a website, collectthetaxny.com.

First Nations community kicks out drug, alcohol abusers
The hereditary chiefs of Ahousaht, a First Nations community on Flores Island in British Columbia, have banished a dozen drug and alcohol abusers, the Vancouver Sun reports here. The chiefs said the wrenching decision was made after many warnings, and that the 12 can’t return until they’ve sought help.

Judge halts election of new Navajo Council
Although Navajo Nation voters decided in December to reduce the size of the council from 88 to 24 members, candidates filed for 88 seats. So, according to the Navajo Times, a judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the election from going forward until the issue can be resolved.

Group seeks Alaska Native center in downtown Anchorage
A nonprofit called Sobermiut is trying to create an Alaska Native community center in Anchorage, according to the Anchorage Daily News. The idea is to put Native kids in touch with elders, in a setting that mirrors the dynamic found in traditional communities.

Billy Mills back in Kansas with scholarships for Native students
Billy Mills, who won Olympic gold in the 10,000-meter run in 1964, was back in Kansas last week to give out scholarships to Native students. Mills was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, went to the Haskell Indian School in Kansas after being orphaned, and the rest, as they say, is history. But even after his Olympic glory, he faced discrimination. Read about his talks with students in the Kansas City Star.

Gwen Florio

Tags: 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Ahousaht, Alaska Native, Alcohol abuse, Anchorage, Billy Mills, British Columbia, buffalo post, drug abuse, First Nations, Flores Island, Gwen Florio, Haskell Indian School, Kyi-Yo Pow Wow, Mohawk, Native American news, Navajo Nation, Philip Morris, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Seneca, Sobermuit, University of Montana

Family and friends gather in 2007 at the memorial for Sara Rose Boltz, who died in a car wreck southeast of Whiteclay near a popular drinking spot for teens. (Lincoln Journal Star/William Lauer)

That’s the solution proposed during a panel discussion today on Whiteclay, the notorious beer-store town on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.

The tinyy town sells an estimated 4 million cans of beer annually, most of it to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation across the border in South Dakota. The reservation is dry, but is plagued by alcoholism.

This year, the Nebraska Legislature has been examining ways to alleviate the problems caused by Whiteclay. And today, the forum at Bellevue University also addressed the issue. Kevin Abourezk of the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, covered the meeting.

“If you want to do something about Whiteclay, put a factory in Whiteclay,” said Lance Morgan, president and CEO of Hochunk Inc. “Create a different environment where people don’t run to get away from the problem.”

As Abourezk reports here:

Morgan offered the story of his own tribe’s economic successes as a blueprint for possible success at Pine Ridge. With a new school, new hospital and new housing, the Winnebago people have managed to create jobs and hope, he said.

“What we’ve been able to do is create economic prosperity, or a measure of it,” he said. “The real problem to me is poverty. If we can figure out a way to deal with it, I think we may have a way to deal with the situation.”

The forum also featured The discussion featured Omaha Creighton Prep High School President Tom Merkel and Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls, who attended video conferencing, and others.

While Two Bulls said the reservation’s alcohol ban needs to be strictly enforced, Stew Magnuson, author of “”The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder,” a book that deals in part with Whiteclay, described prohibition at Pine Ridge as a “complete failure,” because it only leads to bootlegging.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, Bellevue University, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Hochunk Inc., Native American news, Nebraska Legisalture, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Omaha Creighton Prep High School, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Stew Magnuson, The Death of Raymond Little Thunder, Theresa Two Bulls, Whiteclay, Winnebago Tribe

New efforts are under way to seek positive solutions to the problems at Whiteclay. In this 2006 file photo, a sobriety ride passes through Whiteclay. (WILLIAM LAUER / Lincoln Journal Star)

“It wasn’t as much money as I would have liked to have,” Louden tells Nancy Hicks of the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, here. “But at least we got the thing moving.

That would be the understatement of the century. Louden originally sought ten times that much, $250,000, for economic development, law enforcement and health-related programs. The amount is equivalent to what Nebraska gets in sales tax on beer sold in the town.

Yesterday’s much smaller amount was in the first round of approval for the appropriations bill. From Hicks’ account, debate on the matter sometimes got ugly:

Some senators questioned the value of “throwing money” at Whiteclay, where residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota buy about 4 million cans of beer a year, where the streets are littered with beer cans and drunks urinate in public.

But others said it’s about time the Legislature did something.

The state’s attitude toward Whiteclay has “gone beyond benign neglect. There are some who think it is deliberate neglect,” Omaha Sen. Brenda Council said as senators debated whether money aimed at the problems would do any good.

Meanwhile, the Oglala Sioux Tribe plans a nursing home just outside Whiteclay that should bring as many as 100 new jobs.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Nebraska Legislature, Nebraska Sen. Brenda Council, Nebraska Sen. LeRoy Louden, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Whiteclay

You don’t see much good news coming out of Whiteclay, the notorious handful of beer stores in Nebraska just south of the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. More than 4 million cans of beer are sold annually in Whiteclay, mostly to reservation residents, and it’s blamed for a whole host of ills. But here’s an interesting story, in full, from the Associated Press:

WHITECLAY, Neb. (AP) – South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux Tribe plans to build a nursing home across the Nebraska border near Whiteclay.

The tribe’s consultant, Gary Ruse, said there are about 200 tribe members in Midwest nursing homes who want to return to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Most of the tribe’s land is in South Dakota, but Ruse said Nebraska has been more cooperative in the tribe’s efforts to building the facility.

The 60-bed nursing home is expected to cost $10 million. The tribe hopes to break ground in late spring or early summer, with completion in fall 2011.

Ruse said it’ll create 80 to 100 jobs.

Tags: Alcohol abuse, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Whiteclay

Here’s the entire story from the Associated Press:

The unincorporated town of Whiteclay, Neb., just a few miles south of the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

On Wednesday, they gave second-round approval to an amendment and bill (LB1002) that would pump $100,000 into the fund.

Supporters say that money in the fund could eventually be used to help build an alcohol treatment center or increase law enforcement in Whiteclay.

When given first-round approval early this month, lawmakers acted to create the fund, but put no money in it.

Four stores in the village of 14 people sell approximately 4 million cans of beer annually, most to residents of the dry Pine Ridge reservation that’s within walking distance across the border in South Dakota.

Tags: Alcohol abuse, Nebraska Legislature, Oglala Sioux, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Whiteclay

If you want to know more about Whiteclay – the speck of a Nebraska town just south of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that sells more than 4 million cans of beer a year, mostly to Indian people – here’s a great opportunity.

A panel discussion next month at Bellevue University in Nebraska will examine the issue.

“This event provides an excellent opportunity for students and guests to learn more about the Whiteclay experience and join in the conversation,” Bellevue professor Patrick Artz tells Kevin Abourezk of the Lincoln Journal Star, here.

Efforts – largely unscuccessful – have been made for years to mitigate the misery caused by Whiteclay. (See video above.) A bill before the Nebraska Legislature would allow communities near Whiteclay to apply for state aid to fight problems stemming from alcohol.

Here are the details of next month’s program:

The discussion, “Whiteclay: The Next Generation,” will start at 11 a.m. in the Hitchcock Humanities Center on the university’s main campus, 1000 Galvin Road South, in Bellevue. ….The event is free and open to the public.

The hour-long April 7 panel discussion features tribal leaders, including Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls and Lance Morgan, president and CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., a Winnebago corporation.

Father Tom Merkel, former superintendent of Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation and current president of Omaha Creighton Prep High School, also will participate.

Other panelists include: Native activist Frank LaMere; Mark Vasina, director of “Battle for Whiteclay”; Stew Magnuson, author of “The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder”; and Taylor Keen, director of the Native American Center and a Creighton University instructor.

Folk musician Michael Murphy will start the event, and Creighton Prep and Red Cloud Indian School students will contribute short videos on the theme of the next generation.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, Battle for Whiteclay, buffalo post, Creighton University Native American Center, Father Tom Merkel, Frank LaMere, Gwen Florio, Ho-Chunk Inc. president Lance Morgan, Mark Vasina, Michael Murphy, Native American news, Nebraska Legislature, Oglala Lakota, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls, Omaha Creighton Prep High School, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Red Cloud Indian School, Stew Magnuson, Taylor Keen, The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, Whiteclay

This 2005 file photo shows Pine Ridge police officers Mirian Laybad (left), Sgt. Oscar Hudspeth and Lt. Mitch Wisecarver confiscate cases of beer at a checkpoint just north of Whiteclay. (Lincoln Journal Star photo)

That’s the “town,” if you can call 14 people and a bunch of beer stores a town, on the Nebraska-South Dakota border that for all practical purposes exists to sell beer – some 4 million cans a year – across the border to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which is dry.

You want a definition of human misery? Spend about 10 minutes in Whiteclay. Make that five. Then go home and take a shower. You’ll feel like you need one.

Yesterday, the Nebraska Legislature gave its initial blessing to a bill that attempts to solve some of those problems caused by Whiteclay. But they didn’t include any money to implement the bill’s provisions. As the AP reports:

An initial bill would have set aside $250,000 annually to the fund for the next seven years, but Monday’s watered-down version set aside no money and provided no guarantee there would be any.

Critics of the plan called it unfocused, and said it was a one-sided attack on an issue that requires deep involvement from all affected parties – including the tribe and South Dakota.

Yes, the problems in Whiteclay are overwhelming and dispiriting. But people shouldn’t just give up, or, even worse, give lip service.

Oglala Sioux Tribal Council Chairwoman Theresa Two Bulls didn’t respond to the AP’s request for comment.

It actually took a resident of Whiteclay to call B.S. on this one.

Lance Moss, who owns a grocery store there, said that even if the money had been included in the bill, it wouldn’t have been enough, and besides, the Legislature had no clear approach to dealing with the alcoholism that gives Pine Ridge one of the highest rates in the nation of alcohol-related fatalities.

“They just want to look like they’re doing something,” he says. “They’re not doing anything.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Nebraska Legislature, Oglala Lakota, Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Theresa Two Bulls, Whiteclay