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noon. The aroma of alcohol hangs in the air. A report released in January by the Bureau of Indian Affairs showed about 63 percent of able workers on Standing Rock were unemployed.
• "Life on the reservation is tough. It's a struggle," said Edward American Horse.
• Still, some on the reservation said they feel Obama has done better than his predecessors.
• Ron His Horse is Thunder, an enrolled member of the tribe and its former chairman, said he believes Obama has helped American Indians more than any president since Richard Nixon -- helping settle outstanding lawsuits and prosecuting offenders.
• Under the Obama administration, the former chairman said, the Department of Justice has made a concerted effort to charge and prosecute more crimes on reservations. Before Obama took office, "basically 50 percent (of cases) were never prosecuted," he said.
• The increase in prosecutions in Indian Country since 2009 is "a result of closer working relationships with tribal law enforcement partners," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week while visiting North Dakota. Holder cited a major drug sting on a North Dakota reservation as one example.
• And news of the president's visit has also been inspiring to some. Curtis Brave Bull, a Cannon Ball resident, said he's seen people working to spruce up the town that has seen hard times for many years.
• "This is like a ghetto on the prairie, but we now we have to clean things up (for his visit)," said Brave Bull. "Cannon Ball's going to be put on the map," he said. "So maybe something good will come out of it."
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