Published Saturday July 17, 2010
BY MARY GARRIGAN
RAPID CITY JOURNAL

The irony of Whiteclay is that it sits in what was originally a “buffer zone” created by the U.S. government to “protect” the residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from illegal whiskey peddlers operating in the area.

In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur decreed a 50-square-mile buffer zone in Nebraska south of the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota to protect Native Americans from the ravages of alcohol, according to the web site for the documentary film, “Battle for Whiteclay.” In 1889, and again in 1890, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation incorporating this buffer zone, known as the White Clay Extension, into the boundaries of the reservation. But in a 1904 executive order by President Theodore Roosevelt, 49 of the 50 square miles of the White Clay Extension was placed into the public domain over the protests of Lakota elders and others concerned that the need for a buffer zone still remained. Today, there is still one square mile of Pine Ridge tribal land in Nebraska near Whiteclay, the remnant of President Arthur’s buffer zone. (more…)

Published Wednesday April 14, 2010
BT RYAN R. DUDZINSKI
THE READER (Omaha, Neb.)

BELLEVUE, NEB. — On a cold, rainy April 7 morning, Native American flute music drifted through the Humanities auditorium at Bellevue University. People have gathered for a panel discussion about Whiteclay, Neb., the tiny, unincorporated group of buildings on the border of South Dakota from which members of the neighboring Pine Ridge Indian Reservation purchase staggering amounts of alcoholic beverages annually. Typically, high unemployment — near 80% on the reservation itself — mixed with plentiful alcohol is a recipe for disaster, and Whiteclay is no exception. Rampant crime, vagrancy, gang activity, prostitution, and vandalism plague the Reservation and its surrounding areas. It has gained national recognition as a chronic tragedy, dating to at least the 1960s, which nobody seems willing to resolve. (more…)

Published Wednesday April 7, 2010
BY KEVIN ABOUREZK
LINCOLN JOUNAL STAR

BELLEVUE — A Winnebago business leader and attorney called massive beer sales in Whiteclay and alcoholism on the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation symptoms of greater economic problems on the reservation. (more…)

Published Tuesday February 2, 2010
BY DAVID ROOKS
RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Early Monday I looked out my window: It was snowing again, of course. Is it simply my age or are winters growing colder, longer? The scene of black, gray and white seemed sketched with charcoal on notebook paper. I thought to pray for ranchers and their livestock. In a moment, I added anyone suffering from this bitter cold to my supplication. It’s a loveless world out there.

I related the desolate picture through my window to an article in Monday’s Rapid City Journal. Once again, White Clay, Nebraska is in the news just for being White Clay, Nebraska. (more…)

Published Saturday, December 12, 2009
BY NANCY HICKS
LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

What can Nebraska do?

Some suggestions from Friday’s hearing:

* Create buffer zone where liquor cannot be sold, thus closing all the beer outlets in Whiteclay. (more…)

Published Friday November 13, 2009
BY EMILY JOHNSON
THE GATEWAY (University of Nebraska at Omaha)

About 60 people assembled in the Milo Bail Student Center Nebraska Room at noon on Tuesday to discuss an issue that has been weighing heavily on the minds of Native Americans and their advocates in Nebraska.

Taylor Keen of Creighton University, a professor of business and director of Creighton’s Native American Center, presented a lecture called “The Tragedy of Whiteclay, Nebraska: Alcohol and Sovereignty” as part of UNO’s Native American Heritage Month’s lineup of events. (more…)

Published Wednesday October 14, 2009
A View From a Washichu
BY STEW MAGNUSON

Once again, the Nebraska Unicameral is taking a look at the Whiteclay issue.

It was announced that they are going to “study” the tiny hamlet that is located just south of the town of Pine Ridge, S.D., which sells millions of cans of beer per year to the “dry” reservation.

In case they miss it, let me remind Nebraska lawmakers of the role of their predecessors in the evolution of the town from what it was in the early part of the 20th Century, a small town doing business with the residents of Pine Ridge, to what it is today — the so-called “Little Skid Row on the Prairie.” (more…)

Published Saturday September 26, 2009
BY PAUL HAMMEL
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

LINCOLN — The state has a moral obligation to restrict or end alcohol sales in the border town of Whiteclay.

That was the message Friday from activists calling for a crackdown on liquor outlets in the town. (more…)

Published Saturday July 25, 2009
By PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — A former South Dakota senator is urging President Barack Obama to rescind a 104-year-old executive order that allows alcoholic beverage sales to Native Americans in the reservation border town of Whiteclay, Neb. (more…)

Published Wednesday July 15, 2009

By JAMES ABOUREZK

THE NEW YORK TIMES

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. SINCE taking office, President Obama has overturned several of George W. Bush’s executive orders. I would like to recommend he also overturn one of Theodore Roosevelt’s. (more…)