SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - A judge in Lincoln has rescinded the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission's ruling to deny licenses to the four stores in Whiteclay that sell millions of cans of beer a year, mainly to residents of alcohol-free Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
District Judge Andrew Jacobson called the commission's ruling "arbitrary and unreasonable." But a few hours later the Nebraska Attorney General filed an appeal. It means the liquor stores may have to stop selling liquor in the interim until the case is resolved.
State Senator Tom Brewer of Gordon aimed to deny the liquor licenses to the stores in an effort to improve conditions in the Nebraska panhandle village.
Brewer says he's disappointed beyond words in the ruling. He says it seemed like for the first time there was positive news coming out of Whiteclay, which he says has been this "dark, ugly place for so long."
Still, Brewer says, the Nebraska Attorney General has several charges pending against the store. He says not all the evidence is out, there are a lot of things happening "that we don't have visibility on. You will see the issue of law and order, the issue of all the problems that are there, are gonna' be much bigger and this will all get revisited again."
According to the commission, beer sales at the four stores totaled almost five million cans in 2010, with gross sales of $3 million. Alcohol is banned on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation but many of its residents make the two mile trek into Whiteclay to buy beer.