Whiteclay liquor stores will temporarily shut down Sunday after appeal by Nebraska AG's Office

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Paul Hammel

LINCOLN — The order to end beer sales in the unincorporated village of Whiteclay took a legal roller-coaster ride on Thursday.

At the end of the day, it appeared that the four beer-only liquor stores will be closing Sunday night after all, at least temporarily.

Snip: Activists have sought to close down the four liquor stores in Whiteclay for years, blaming them for exacerbating the widespread alcoholism and alcohol-related problems, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, on the adjacent Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The reservation, where alcohol possession and sales are banned, is within walking distance across the Nebraska-South Dakota border from Whiteclay, an unincorporated village of nine residents.

FULL story at link below.



Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/whiteclay-liquor-stores-will-temporarily-shut-down-sunday-after-appeal/article_1c2a2cf0-2b5b-11e7-9d1f-dfc2d738db34.html

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[hibbing]

1. If these close the people buying the beer will have to drive farther

I know a lot on the liberal and progressive side are in favor of these stores closing, they sell millions of cans of beer a year. However, getting rid of these particular stores will not eliminate the problems. I am sure it will reduce some of the drinking, nothing besides lack of fuel will prevent people from driving farther for beer. I know my opinion is not going to be popular.


Peace

[appal_jack]

2. I'm with you.

While I have no Native ancestry, and can't pretend to know how alcohol affects people who do, I (and most of DU from what I read) see the shortcomings of Prohibition as social policy in US culture. I see nothing here that would change my belief in treatment and harm reduction as better options.

I hope that the community finds something that truly works for all residents.

k&r,

-app

[localroger]

3. Also, when you make people travel further...

...it's been observed repeatedly that they will buy more and, if the opportunity exists, more potent liquor because of the effort it takes to get to the store.

[Egnever]

7. Spent a little time as a kid in a county 90 miles from the nearest beer sales

from what I saw it just meant more beer stored in the garage.

Short of total prohibition you are not stopping people from buying alcohol and even then as we have already seen that doesn't stop it either.

I suppose we could go back to the days of moonshine making folks go blind...

[Scruffy1]

4. I think they made the right decision.

The decision was largely based on the fact that the town had no resources to deal with the problems caused by the beer stores. Of course this would describe the whole liquor industry if you put into a larger context, but that's not the point here. At least, here in the city I live in we have detox wagons and police. Of course we end up paying for it, but externalizing costs is built into America. We had one local bar that cost us over $80,000 a year in police overtime. I have a lot of sympathy for the driving argument, too. I knew a rural dry county sheriff once who hated the dry status because he had to deal with the crashes.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Yes, driving home from one or two counties over is dangerous.

Sometimes, the driving is one-handed, the other hand busy holding a beer can.

Better to have the beer store a short drive away.

[Adrahil]

6. Seems paternalistic to me....

Native Americans can make their own decisions. Are we gonna ban alcohol in Appalachia too?

[Egnever]

8. Heres an idea

Leave the beer store alone and start putting your effort into improving the lives of the folks on the reservation.