Letter to Editor: Whiteclay a success after closing beer stores

Letter to Editor: Whiteclay a success after closing beer stores

Scottsbluff Journal Herald

Letter to the Editor

Alan Jacobsen

August 18, 2017

Stories ran in the Scottsbluff paper reported about the decrease of alcohol sales in Whiteclay. But the success of Whiteclay cannot be judged by mere calculation of how much alcohol is sold. The back story, is that crime is down.

According to Sheridan County Officials, 20 percent of the law enforcement budget was being absorbed by Whiteclay lawlessness. With a $340,000 price tag and revenue of only $3,225. it is a windfall tax benefit to taxpayers.

Rushville’s mayor admitted that no one has been cited for violating its new ordinance against vagrancy, violence and drunken behavior. And county officials acknowledged that there have not been the accidents on Highway 87 that everyone feared.

Better yet there are not any reports of ambulances going to Whiteclay from Pine Ridge. There are no longer bodies lining the streets. Several residents of Whiteclay have reported a “surreal peace” and the business climate is booming with a sense of Nebraska pride.

Most importantly, there have not been any murders or rapes reported to date. Last year, Aug 5, Sherry Wounded Foot was beaten unconscious in Whiteclay and later died in a Pine Ridge hospital. Her murder is under investigation.

It does not take a reasonable person long to conclude what the NLCC decided on April 24: that Pine Ridge and Nebraska taxpayers are all better off without the lawlessness that was attributed to four beer stores selling 3.5 million cans of alcohol.

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will conclude the same Aug. 29.