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place in about six months.
• Alcoholism is rampant on the reservation and is often identified as the culprit for the high rates of suicide, violence, infant mortality and unemployment among tribal members on the impoverished reservation. People sneak in beer and liquor from nearby border towns such as Whiteclay, Neb. A lawsuit the tribe brought last year against four beer sellers in Whiteclay and some of the nation's biggest breweries was ultimately dismissed. The tribe alleges that the businesses were profiting from the alcoholism on the reservation.
• The question of legalizing alcohol for revenue for the tribe has caused deep division among tribal members. Tribal council member Lydia Bear Killer is opposed to alcohol, but it is already present on the dry reservation, so the tribe should focus on making revenue from it, she said.
• "These off-reservation establishments are getting rich, and we're dealing with the social crisis," she said. "We need safe houses, we need detox centers. They're selling to us and we're making them rich and a penny of it doesn't come back to us."
• If tribal members decide to lift the ban, the Oglala Sioux Tribe would regulate and operate the alcohol sales, Bear Killer said.
• The tribe could see as much as $10 million a year in revenue from the sales, she said.
• But profiting off of tribal members -- even if it's to provide treatment -- is disgraceful, said Olowan Sara Martinez, an activist who regularly holds protests in Whiteclay.
• "I think they are a bunch of cannibals who want to live off the misery of their own people," she said of the tribal council members who supported the public vote. She added that she is certain tribal members will vote against allowing alcohol.
• A message left with Oglala Sioux President Bryan Brewer was not immediately returned. He has said in the past that he opposes legalizing alcohol on the reservation.
• The tribe also recently voted to create ports of entry at every reservation entry point to try to decrease the amount of alcohol coming on to the reservation.
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• CHET BROKAW,Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Wednesday he has canceled a special session of the South Dakota Legislature that was to deal with cost overruns in the construction of a new State Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

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