Bear Butte ~ Jay Allen liquor license back at County Commission

Hello everyone,

Wanted to give you all a update on what happened today at the Meade County Court Hearing in regards to Jay Allen's Sturgis County Line.

Looks like we will be potentially continuing the battle. Jay Allen is pulling a fast one here to say the least. I actually spoke with this supposed "new owner" Joe Murphy and Target Companies on April 3rd, he stated to me that nothing had been formalized as far as actual partnership with Jay Allen, but it was being discussed. Interesting, to find out that he had signed a MOU with Jay Allen on February 26th and paid him $40k. That appears to be a partnership, so why did he lie to me? Or is it just another game that is being played out by Allen? I think we know the answer to that one! He knew that the regulations stipulated that any change of ownership, would be entitled to apply for the alcohol permit. If the Meade County Commissioners decide to continue the revocation, all Target Companies has to do is purchase one of the existing licenses ,that are currently for sale. Either way, they win.

Judge Bastian's decision was illegal. What he has done is write legislation at the bench, he cant do that! He has set a precedence, that if you get your license revoked, all you have to do is sell part of your business and partner with someone and you simply get it back! Now, keep in mind that this if upheld, it will not only apply to Jay Allen, this outcome could potentially effect all of South Dakota. If this was taken to a higher court to fight, the judge would immediately dismiss the ruling today, because it is not legal.

So, now its up to the Meade County Commissioners to make the "final" decision. That public hearing should be within the next 7-10 days. I attempted to speak with the State Atty this afternoon, but he wasn't available. So I will follow up with them tomorrow to see if the file has been released to the MCC, to set the public hearing date. I am also going to talk with Dean Wink tomorrow, he is our commissioner for the Bear Butte District. See what info he provides about the next steps, they will take.

The MCC will have to address several issues, including the outstanding bills to local contractors that are still owed. This is the issue that resulted in the on-sale alcohol revocation on December 5th.

Once I have the date, I will keep you all posted. I will be there to testify as well on behalf of the BB issue, and the conversation that I personally had with the "new owner" Target Company.

The next issue is, Jay Allen is expanding and is planning two additional biker rallies, which will take place at Sturgis County Line, in June and July. So, now its not just a rally issue, Jay Allen will be at this all summer! In both June & July, there will be dozens of people participating in ceremony on Bear Butte.

The next step for us is, we will be submitting a initiative for the Meade County, November ballot requesting protection for Bear Butte. We will be pounding the pavement to gather sig's and can use help! So, if you live nearby and can help, please contact me directly.

Below is a article from Hazel, it will provide additional details. The Rapid City Journal has a article coming out tomorrow, will post that once its up.

In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org
http://bearbutte.blogspot.com/

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"



In peace & solidarity,
Tamra

www.ProtectSacredSites.org
http://bearbutte.blogspot.com/

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"


http://www.myspace.com/protectsacredsites
Also, join our yahoo group at Protecting our Ancestors & Sacred Sites













Jay Allen liquor license back at County Commission
Bastian remanded failure to issue
By Hazel Bonner

Sturgis - A hearing was held before Judge John Bastian at the Meade County Courthouse in Sturgis on April 14. His decision after hearing from Jay Allen and two witnesses speaking on his behalf, was to remand it back to the County Commission based on new information. Deputy States Attorney Ken Chleborad represented the Meade County Commission. Paul Winters, Rapid City represented Allen. Allen appealed the denial of the Liquor License and was the appellant in this case against the Meade County Commissioners.

Joseph Murphy testified for a company known as Target Logistics (TL). He stated that he met Allen in 2003 and considers him a personal friend. The relationship has changed since Allen came to him to seek assistance with the Sturgis County Line (SCL).

He said that they have begun planning for business for this year. Those plans include plans for the Combat Veterans Motor Cycle Club to have a Rally at the County Line in June and further for a Special Forces Veterans Rally and an All Forces Rally in July or prior to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Allen had informed him that he had major debts owed for the construction of SCL and that those needed to be paid. He also said that he owed money for at least two other businesses in states outside of South Dakota. .

Murphy said that David Shoe has been hired as General Manager of the SCL. County Line with eventual ownership with Target Logistics. Allen would retain a minority ownership of the business.

A binding Letter of Agreement was signed by Allen on February 26, 2008. Murphy then went into a due diligence period during which he looked at whether there were any major environmental problems. The sale of the SCL may be finalized on or about May 1.

Allen received $40,000 shortly after the signing. He will receive another payment in May. That money was paid out for debts owed by Allen to his businesses. It appears that no money has gone to any businesses in the Sturgis Area.. Though a check may have recently been sent to a Sturgis person owed by Allen.

Checks were issued by TL directly to businesseho at the request of Allen. The money has been paid out by TL to other businesses in other states owed money by Allen. All the $40,000 has been distributed.

Two businesses, the Bear Butte Sunset, L.L.C. and Sturgis County Line L.L.C. are involved. One owns the land and the other the business, though Murphy was not sure which was which.

David Shoe, Sturgis, testified that he has been hired as the General Manager of SCL. He was in charge of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and prior to that was employed by Blackwater. He was a Social Studies teacher at the Middle School level before going overseas.
As an employee of TL he oversees all operations of their properties. He became General Manager of SCL on March 14. He too considers Allen a friend.
Allen testified the he had become acquainted with Shoe at Daytona and has known him for five years. He also testified that the sale to TL will not close until on or about May 1.

Allen received the SCL liquor license from Schoenrock Arch/Inc./Mad Mary's on June 9, 2006. He had received a Malt Beverage license in the spring of 2006. In June 2007 his Malt Beverage license was not renewed. On December 5, 2007 his retail (on-
Sale) liquor license was denied by the Commission.
Allen was the last witness for the appellant. Winters requested that the Judge remand the decision back to the Commission for a decision based on new information.

Chleborad asked Bastian to dismiss based on the case being moot.

Chleborad said that not enough information had been provided at the hearing for the Commission to reconsider the license of Allen. No new owner has actually replaced Allen and that will not happen until at least May 1.

Bastian ruled following the final arguments that he had the discretion to remand the case back to the Commission. A reliable source said that the decision may be heard at a public meeting. Call Meade County Commissioners at 605-347-2360 to find out about a public meeting. A copy of agendas and minutes is on the Meade Couty website at http://www.meadecounty.org.

Submitted by Hazel Bonner
PO Box 3712
Rapid City, SD
bonpidge@gwtc.net

Update: Jay Allen appealing license revocation - Meade County hearing April 14 & 15

Hello everyone,

Jay Allen is appealing the Meade County Commissioners decision regarding the Sturgis County Line alcohol license revocation. The court hearing is sceduled for 9am on April 14th & 15th at the main courthouse at the Meade County Commissioners building. Jay Allen's testmony and evidence will be on the 14th, the State Atty's evidence and witnesses are scheduled for the 15th.

I spoke with the States Attorneys Office in Sturgis today. There are three separate issues that are being addressed at this court hearing, all three are realted to the alcohol license revocation issue. The following is what is being disputed by Jay Allen and his attorney.
The Meade County Commissioners hearing held in December, (in which they revoked the Sturgis County Line alcohol on-sale permit), was conducted poorly and unfairly.
Is being a bad busness person, grounds to revoke the alcohol permit?
If so, is Jay Allen a bad business person?
If the judge finds that the Meade County Commissoners decision to revoke was unjustified, he can re-consider and re-instate Jay Allen's on-sale liquor license for this coming rally.
The States Attorney stated that the judge will not be making a decision at the end of the court testimony. The two sides must submit a written closing aguement instead of a verbal closing, at the end of the hearing. The judges deciosn could potentially take up to two or three months. This means that we may not know if the Sturgis County Line will be in fact selling alcohol or not, until possibly July. This doesnt leave us much time to get a game plan together, again for this summer, if it is re-instated. We need to set up a planning meeting sometime soon.

Jay Allen's off-sale liquor license renewal comes up again in June. If the judge upholds the decision to revoke his license and his renewal in June is also dened, he will not be able to sell any alcohol (on sale or off sale) at Sturgis County Line. So, this decision could be a huge factor!

It is a public court hearing, so folks can attend. I would suggest calling in the early morning, the day of the meeting, just to confirm the status, it could be all day, it could be half-day.

Meade County Court & Commissioners Office contact info is:

1425 Sherman St
Sturgis, SD
605-347-2360


In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"

Writing campaign: Update on Bear Butte ~ Jay Allen's Sturgis County Line

Please cross post and forward to your lists. Help spread the word!

Update on Jay Allen's "Sturgis County Line." According to the press release below, taken from his website, he has teamed up with The Target Companies, which is a travel corporation of five companies. Wonder if they are aware of the Bear Butte issue and the continual fight to shut him down! Well.......they are about to find out, if they don't already know!

Time for a writing campaign folks!

Please contact Brian Lash, CEO of Target Companies at the address, phone or email listed below. In your letters, alert them to the issue, background, that Bear Butte is a sacred mountain and that we will continue to battle this issue until the Sturgis County Line and the other bars surrounding Bear Butte are shut down permanently! Please be courteous in your letters, ask them to re-consider partnering and endorsing Jay Allen. Ask them to please consider our Religious Freedom, the right to pray in peace, these types of venues do not belong at a sacred site and do they want to partner with someone whose character is beyond questionable, not to mention deplorable!

To keep updated about the Bear Butte issue and sacred sites, please visit our website at www.protectsacredsites.org or our blog for Bear Butte at http://bearbutte.blogspot.com/ . There is a map on the website of all of the different bars and concert venues surrounding Bear Butte.

We have to continue to keep up the fight! By encouraging this company to reconsider and hopefully they will, we could put another dent in Jay Allen and his pocketbook! Each and every step matters and helps to make a difference!

Thank you everyone for all your help to protect Bear Butte!


In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"






Contact:

T h e T a r g e t C o m p a n i e s / 4 6 B i r m i n g h a m P a r k w a y B o s t o n , M A 0 2 1 3 5 / 6 1 7 - 5 6 2 - 1 3 0 0
info@itravelsolutions.com

Media Alert
Chrome Marketing
Darcy Betlach
952.470.4297
SWIMSUITS REQUIRED, SUNBLOCK OPTIONAL
The Broken Spoke Saloon and The Target Companies Team Up to create the World's Greatest Biker Campground with the World's Largest Biker Pool!
Sturgis, South Dakota- The legendary Broken Spoke Saloon, the world's largest biker bar, has teamed up with The Target Companies, who have built camps all over the globe. Now, for 2008 the two companies have combined to bring you the best biker party in Sturgis with the convenience of a world class campground featuring all the amenities needed to make your trip memorable and hassle free... not to mention offering you the first dip in the biggest, most fun biker pool in the country!

The Broken Spoke Saloon and the Target Companies are turning the 600-acre Broken Spoke Campground located in Sturgis, SD off of HWY 79, into the best place to camp in 2008 and beyond. The all-new biker pool will be the home of daily bikini contests, feature swim up bars, decks, live music and killer food. Swim or sun at the Broken Spoke... it's your call. The Broken Spoke campground offers the most hassle free experience in the state with 500 over-sized, 50amp RV spots, a general store with everything you need to make your trip a breeze (including swimwear in case you forget), top quality, hot showers staffed to ensure cleanliness and comfort, great food, walk in humidor, and free shuttle service to the downtown Broken Spoke location on Lazelle Street - all of which ultimately delivers the best party in Sturgis.

The campground is taking reservations now and will operate from August 1 - 10, 2008. Special early reservations apply... only $99/person until June 15th. Book now at www.brokenspokecampground.com or call us at 1-888-284-8280 to receive the early booking discount , plus the first 2000 reservations receive a FREE commemorative pin!

"Coming to Sturgis over 20 years ago, my dream was to do exactly this. Offer my friends a ride through bar, a swim in my pool, cold beer and the ability to hang out with the hottest ladies in Sturgis. The all new Broken Spoke Campground is my dream; only now it is finally here. This will be the Sturgis of your life, come stay with us and find out what else we have up our sleeve" said Jay Allen, owner of the Broken Spoke Saloons.

"Since 1998 when we built Harley-Davidson's first campground, Riders Ranch, in Milwaukee we have been looking for something like the Broken Spoke property to enable us to continue doing what we love- creating a permanent campground for bikers with the greatest amenities available, including green choices making your stay one that doesn't leave a negative impact on the area. Jay had the ultimate vision for the campground, and the Target Companies job is to bring the vision to life while providing campers the ultimate camping experience. Our experience doing this at the 95th and 100th Anniversaries for Harley-Davidson were dry runs for what we are about to do in Sturgis" explained Target Companies' CEO Brian Lash.

The original Broken Spoke Saloon has a permanent bar and restaurant in downtown Sturgis, SD and additional locations nationally in Daytona, FL, Myrtle Beach, SC and Laconia, NH.

The Boston based Target Companies, including Target Logistics, Target Sport Adventures, iTravel Solutions, Air Planning and Target Travel were founded in 1978 and have managed complete housing and travel programs for the 95th and 100th Harley-Davidson anniversaries, Woodstock '94 & '99, eight Olympic games, four Super Bowls, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Langerado and Vegoose music festivals and has designed, built and operated temporary living complexes in Iraq, Athens, Greece, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Arizona.

For more information on either company, please visit their websites at:

http://www.brokenspokecampground.com

http://www.thetargetcompanies.com

HOW IT ALL BEGAN!!!!!!!!!!! STEALING THE BLACK HILLS!


August 23, 1874, Wednesday

THE BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION.; THE COMMAND AT BEAR BUTTE--GLOWING REPORTS OF THE NEW COUNTRY. GEN. CUSTER'S REPORT.
E-MAIL
Save

August 23, 1874, Wednesday

Page 1, 455 words

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 22.--A telegram from Bismarck conveys a dispatch from the special correspondent of the Daily Press with Custer's Black Hills expedition: [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ]

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9800E2D7143BEF34BC4B51DFBE66838F669FDE

Cheyenne and Arapaho Revisited' at Denver March

Cheyenne and Arapaho Revisited' at Denver March

Posted: March 31, 2008
by: Carol Berry
Click to Enlarge

Photo by Carol Berry -- Quinton Roman Nose, director of the education department at Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College
DENVER - The northern and southern bands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal nations came together March 21 at the Denver March Pow Wow in a historic meeting termed ''Cheyenne and Arapaho Revisited.'' The event was the brainchild of Quinton Roman Nose, director of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College education department. ''We decided it was time we reasserted our right to our tribal knowledge, to teach it to our children,'' said Henrietta Mann, interim president of the tribal college located in Weatherford, Okla. She called the meeting a ''coming together.'' ''We are here as the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma. We are here as the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming. We are here as the Northern Cheyenne from Montana. And as the Gros Ventre [a closely affiliated tribe] from Montana,'' she said. ''What a wonderful meeting.'' Northern and southern bands of the tribes separated in the mid-19th century with the incursion of increasing numbers of white settlers in the West and because of aggression on the part of the U.S. military. Denver - particularly the Cherry Creek and Denver International Airport areas - is in the original territory of the Cheyenne and Arapaho and is ''the land our ancestors walked on,'' Mann said in a keynote address. ''We're attached to this land every bit as much as plants that grow on this Earth.'' The conference, a first, drew more than 100 tribal members from Oklahoma, reservation areas of Wyoming and Montana, and elsewhere. In addition to the tribal college, sponsors included the education departments of Chief Dull Knife College in Montana and Wind River Tribal College in Wyoming, whose interim president, Marlin Spoonhunter, urged listening to the ''way of our ancestors, because they never gave up.'' Arapaho children may know their language early in life, but it is gradually lost in the public school system. ''One thing that kept the tribes together was the language,'' he said. ''We have a lot of work ahead of us.'' Bear Butte, a mountain near Sturgis, S.D., on the periphery of the Black Hills, was the topic of a presentation by Mann and her daughter, Montoya Whiteman, Cheyenne-Arapaho, associate director of training and technical assistance with the First Nations Development Institute in Longmont, Colo. They stressed the preservation of Bear Butte as a sacred site because it is the origin of Cheyenne culture, language and values, although today it is ''desecrated and violated.'' Mann recounted the story of Sweet Medicine, born to a virgin and left as a baby in what was described as reeds. He was said to have been raised by an old woman and banished from the tribe after a crime of violence. After four years, he emerged from present-day Bear Butte preceded by a powerful spirit who burned sweetgrass to purify the world. Cheyenne traditional tribal government, military societies, code of law, rules of conduct and prophecies are attributed to him. Holy earth spirits of Bear Butte designed the Cheyenne way, and ''all that is culturally Cheyenne originated there,'' she said. ''The mountain protects us.'' Bear Butte, a South Dakota state park and national landmark, is also sacred to Sioux nations as well as to the Kiowa, Arapaho and others, she said. ''It is a spiritually generous place.'' Human artifacts from 10,000 years ago have been found on Bear Butte, which is the source of ceremonial paints and animal life. Despite powerful storms, it is ''a peaceful and serene place'' for Cheyenne people who ''live in a spirit-filled world,'' she said. Whiteman said contemporary threats to the sanctity of Bear Butte include economic development, various types of pollution, human desecration and danger to animals. Threats to religious freedom on the mountain include the sound of gunfire from a nearby shooting range and noise from human activity that disturbs those engaged in prayers and vigils that require silent surroundings. The annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis that attracts thousands of bikers from across the United States is a major source of income for the area, so it has been difficult to enact protections for Bear Butte that could threaten income from the noisy event, she said. Nevertheless, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds has proposed a perpetual easement around Bear Butte to protect against development there, she said, urging interested people to contact the governor, Meade County commissioners, State Sen. Theresa Two Bulls or the organizations that are working to assist preservation. Those organizations include the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, Lakota Action Network, Bear Butte International Alliance, the Association of Christian Churches of South Dakota, the Seventh Generation Fund and the Indian Law Resource Center. ''Do that for your children,'' she said, ''because they're the ones that are going to have to carry the charge of protecting Bear Butte.'' Other sessions in the two-day conference covered language, tribal surveys, and oral and written history.http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416933

HOUSE BILL NO. 1275

State of South Dakota
EIGHTY-THIRD SESSION
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 2008



400P0688 HOUSE BILL NO. 1275

Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Office of the Governor


FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to make an appropriation for a portion of the costs related to the acquisition of easements adjacent to Bear Butte State Park and to declare an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
Section 1. There is hereby appropriated from the general fund the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($ 250,000 ), or so much thereof as may be necessary, and five hundred ninety- three thousand seven hundred seventy-seven dollars ($593,777), or so much thereof as may be necessary, of federal fund expenditure authority, and three hundred forty-three thousand seven hundred seventy-seven dollars ($343,777), or so much thereof as may be necessary, of other fund expenditure to the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks for a portion of the costs related to the acquisition of easements adjacent to Bear Butte State Park located in Meade County, South Dakota.
Section 2. The secretary of the Department of Game, Fish and Parks shall approve vouchers and the state auditor shall draw warrants to pay expenditures authorized by this Act.
Section 3. Any amounts appropriated in this Act not lawfully expended or obligated shall
revert in accordance with the procedures prescribed in chapter 4-8.
Section 4. Whereas, this Act is necessary for the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, and this Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and approval.

http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2008/Bills/HB1275P.htm

South Dakota governor moves to protect Bear Butte

South Dakota governor moves to protect Bear Butte
Posted: December 31, 2007
by: The Associated Press

David Melmer Indian Country -- South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.
By Chet Brokaw -- Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.

Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.

But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar, caused by thousands of motorcycles.

Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their religious use of the mountain. Now they have an ally in the governor.

Gov. Mike Rounds wants to spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills.

Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.

Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan.

''Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome,'' said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.

''It's good of him,'' Blue Arm said. ''I think it's a good deal.''

Dean Wink, a member of the Meade County Commission, said he opposes a perpetual easement that would block all future owners from considering other uses for the land. But he said he could support an easement that prohibits development for a decade or two.

''Forever is a long time,'' Wink said.

The governor made only a brief mention of the plan in his budget speech to the South Dakota Legislature, which is being asked to approve an emergency special spending measure for Bear Butte. The easement could help calm some worries about the mountain, Rounds said.

Details will not be available until the legislative session opens in January, but it might cost up to $1 million to get the easement, State Parks Director Doug Hofer said.

Rounds' plan would use $250,000 in state money, to be matched with $344,000 in private donations and a $594,000 grant from a federal program that protects agricultural land, to buy a perpetual conservation easement on some ranch land on Bear Butte's west side.

Named Mato Paha, or Bear Mountain, because it resembles a sleeping bear lying on its side, it was formed by volcanic rock that never erupted and was then exposed when surrounding land eroded.

The butte and the land immediately around it are in a state park that was sold to the state of South Dakota in 1962 for $50,000. Because of the growth of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August, land values in the area have skyrocketed.

In recent years, Indians have gathered at Bear Butte and nearby Sturgis during the rally to protest motorcycle noise, loud concerts and alcoholic consumption near the mountain.

The 2007 Legislature rejected a measure seeking to ban the issuance of liquor or beer licenses within four miles of the boundaries of the state park after lawmakers said they did not want to interfere with private property rights.

Wink said he expects the Legislature will have a good discussion on the governor's easement plan, but local residents believe the issue should be handled locally.

''They just think the private property rights and local control are more important,'' the county commissioner said.

Some also have questioned whether tax money should be used for such an easement, Wink said.

But Blue Arm said the sacred mountain must be protected.

''I'm saying yes to anything to stop further development around the butte,'' Blue Arm said. ''In a ceremony or in prayer, there needs to be a solitude.''

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416379

Protest organizers plan smaller Bear Butte presence

Protest organizers plan smaller Bear Butte presence
Posted: August 13, 2007
by: The Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - American Indians again plan to have a presence at the upcoming Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to protest motorcycle noise, loud music and alcohol consumption around Bear Butte, but the gathering will likely be smaller. Last year, Indians from around the United States and at least one other country confronted bikers in Sturgis, then walked to the natural land mass outside of town that they consider sacred. For centuries, Indians from various tribes have come to the butte to pray, fast and hold religious ceremonies. They say noise from the bars and campgrounds disrupts the peace, and they want bikers to avoid those places. Alex White Plume, former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is again organizing this year's protest with his wife, but without issuing an invitation to other tribes. ''Last year we invited many nations. But this year we want people to come on their own,'' he said. There's a gathering planned in Rapid City and an encampment at the base of Bear Butte on land owned by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe along Highway 79, he said. ''Within 4 miles we want to stop all alcohol sales and loud noise and desecration,'' White Plume said. Efforts to pass such a buffer zone have failed at the county commission and Legislature. Tamra Brennan of Sturgis, a member of the committee organizing the encampment, said it should not be considered a protest action. ''We're not going to do any marches or things like that,'' she said. ''This is not a protest at all. It's strictly a peaceful prayer camp.'' Since the 2006 rally, alcohol licenses for several businesses that operate between Sturgis and Bear Butte during the motorcycle rally were renewed by the Meade County Commission. A license for one place that was at the center of last year's protest was not. Commissioners said they didn't renew the offsite beer license for Sturgis County Line because of unpaid and late payments to construction contractors. The owner, Jay Allen, can't apply for another year. He will be able to serve alcohol that's consumed at the bar, but can't sell it for offsite consumption. Allen also owns the Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. At the June commission hearing, Allen said by telephone that the Sturgis County Line project has been a financial headache, and that some contractors overcharged or didn't finish their jobs. Allen's representative told commissioners that he is selling his Broken Spoke saloons in New Hampshire and Florida and taken on partners at his Broken Spoke in downtown Sturgis.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415568

Broken Spoke owner leaves unpaid bills

Broken Spoke owner leaves unpaid bills Contractors ask Meade County Commission to suspend beer license
By Dan Daly, Journal staff Wednesday, June 06, 2007

STURGIS - Broken Spoke Saloon owner Jay Allen, who built the controversial Sturgis County Line rally venue north of Bear Butte last year, has a new controversy: unpaid bills.
Builders, electricians and contractors who built Sturgis County Line say Allen owes them thousands of dollars each. They haven't been paid in nearly a year, and the debts are causing financial problems for them.

Half a dozen contractors turned out at the Meade County Commission alcohol license renewal hearing Tuesday to ask commissioners to suspend approval of Allen's beer license until they are paid in full.

Commissioners agreed to table the Sturgis County Line license application until Thursday. However, the commission went on to approve all of the other alcohol licenses between Bear Butte and Sturgis.

They approved the licenses despite strident pleas from American Indian groups and supporters of a development buffer or an alcohol ban near Bear Butte. The groups urged commissioners to deny alcohol licenses to all the rally campgrounds and concert venues near Bear Butte.

The butte, also known as Mato Paha, is sacred to the Lakota, the Northern Cheyenne, the Osage, the Ponca and other indigenous groups. They decry what they see as the encroachment of the noisy motorcycle event in an area where pilgrims seek prayer and solitude.

In recent years, the groups have regularly testified before the Meade County Commission about their opposition to alcohol near Bear Butte. They have asked for buffers ranging from seven miles to 1-1/2 miles.

The tone at Tuesday's hearing was much different, in part because they were joined by the angry contractors.

Al Sutton of Al Sutton Electric in Rapid City told the commissioners that he has a lien against the Sturgis County Line property for $15,000 in electrical work plus interest and legal fees.

He said Allen sent him a check for $15,000 shortly before Tuesday's hearing. The check hasn't cleared the bank, and Sutton won't release the lien until it does -- and Allen pays the legal fees and interest.

"Just because he sent out checks and made promises doesn't mean he's cleared it up," Sutton told the commissioners.

Gene King of King's Construction said his company is owed $42,000, and he faces financial problems of his own because of Allen's unpaid bill.

Allen was not at Tuesday's license hearing. He was represented by Lon Nordbye Jr., who told commissioners that Allen is working at a motorcycle event in Ohio.

Nordbye conceded that Jay Allen has had serious difficulties in financing the new Sturgis venue. He said Allen is selling his Broken Spoke Saloons in Laconia, N.H., and Daytona, Fla. He has also taken on partners at his Broken Spoke in downtown Sturgis.

"He is actively trying to resolve the problems," Nordbye said.

Nordbye said five of six lienholders have been paid. With the sixth lien, King's Construction, he said that Allen disputes the amount that King's claims it is owed.

Ann White Hat, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who lives at the base of Bear Butte, suggested that Allen's unpaid bills should be a basis to deny the license for reasons of character.

Bear Butte groups have called on Sturgis bikers to boycott the bars and concert venues near Bear Butte. It's unclear whether that caused financial problems for Allen and the Sturgis County Line.

However, attendance was decidedly light, according to those who were at Sturgis County Line. But its location north on S.D. Highway 79 is much farther from Sturgis than most bikers usually venture.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/06/06/news/local/doc46660f9f7a42a768475003.txt

Bear Butte liquor license dispute headed for state Supreme Court

Bear Butte liquor license dispute headed for state Supreme Court
Posted: January 29, 2007
by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today


PIERRE, S.D. - The South Dakota Supreme Court has received an appeal on a lower court decision to not allow petitioners a chance to veto the issuance of a malt beverage license near sacred Bear Butte in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota.

The battle to stop owners from opening huge biker bar venues within sight and sound of Bear Butte grew this past summer and challenges the Meade County Board of Commissioners' policy that allows liquor licenses near the mountain.

Attorney Thomas Van Norman, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the tribal attorney, filed the appeal on Jan. 14 on behalf of the petitioners.

The appeal is in response to the circuit court order that denied petitioners a writ of mandamus that would have compelled Meade County, in which Bear Butte is located, to hold a referendum vote on the malt beverage license issue.

During the first week of every August, 500,000 bikers converge on the normally small community of Sturgis, located just three miles from Bear Butte. Large-venue entertainment complexes located within sight and sound of Bear Butte offer entertainment and encourage the bikers to party.

Entertainment complexes or stadiums that can accommodate some 30,000 people are either being constructed or are in operation nearby.

Bear Butte is considered one of the most sacred of sites by numerous Great Plains tribes. Oral histories point to the mountain as the source of the spiritual life of the Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota, Shoshone, Arapaho, Kiowa and nearly 25 other tribes.

Members of the various tribes pray on the mountain nearly every day of the year. Many American Indian soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan pray on Bear Butte before they leave and after they return. Families pray for ill members and many individuals seek visions on the mountain. Bear Butte is also a state park.

During the Sturgis Rally, those who pray assert that noise and other distractions from the music and the non-muffled bikes disturb their concentration and meditation. A camp composed of people from many American Indian nations gathered on the mountain for more than a month this past summer to bring awareness to the sacredness.

Support for the tribes has come from many local ranchers who also see a need to curtail the growth of the rally industry.

The trigger for the rallies and protests came when Jay Allen, owner of a new campground, bar and entertainment complex, applied for a malt beverage license for a new venue to be located just to the north of the mountain. He also owns the Broken Spoke campground and bar, located north of the mountain.

A petition to request a referendum vote on the license was filed with the county auditor within the legal time after the commission approved the license. The auditor certified the petition, but the commission unanimously voted to reject a referendum vote based on administrative decision.

The case was then sent to circuit court, which found in favor of the county.

Petitioners in the case contend that applications submitted by Allen were not treated properly by the county commission. Allen's first application, submitted in April 2006, the petitioners argue, asked for a new malt beverage license to be used at the new venue near Bear Butte. It was issued on June 9.

Also in April, Allen submitted an application for the renewal of an existing malt beverage license at the Broken Spoke. The petitioners argue that both license applications were treated similarly. The renewal was subject to only a check of sales tax licensure and comments from law enforcement on potential calls over problems at the location of the license.

Petitioners argue that a complete background check - required for new licenses - was not completed and that the commission used the same criteria as for a renewal.

In their brief to the state's high court, the petitioners further argue that the circuit court erred in its decision to deny the petitioner's first request to hold the referendum.

They also contend that the county commissioners denied the petitioners their constitutional and statutory rights by refusing to print ballots and hold the referendum vote.

The petitioners pointed out that both the legislative and administrative actions of municipal governments are subject to the referendum process in the state of South Dakota. The county commission denied a referendum based on administrative procedure.

Legal precedence points out that any decisions made by counties or municipalities on liquor licenses are subject to referendum. The law also is clear, the petitioners argue, that the discretionary powers afforded to the county commission is legislative and therefore subject to referendum.

It is not clear whether a new referendum would overturn the county commission's decision to issue two malt beverage licenses to Allen. Allen also succeeded in purchasing a full liquor license from a steak house in the county that has since closed.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414397

American Indians protest biker rally nearing sacred site

American Indians protest biker rally nearing sacred site
By Stu Whitney, USA TODAY
STURGIS, S.D. — Once a year, amid the hammering August heat, this Black Hills hamlet becomes a bikers' paradise by hosting the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally — a weeklong celebration of leather, bikes and beer that draws as many as 500,000 riders. That's in a town of 6,400 in a state of only 776,000 people.
It's also a tradition for local critics to decry the increasing size and commercialism of the 66-year-old event, which once again will congest highways and hotels (and jails) when rally week starts Monday.

This summer's clamor is louder and more emotional, however, mainly because of a clash that pits Native American heritage against chrome-and-steel capitalism.

The battle is being waged over Bear Butte, a mountain 6 miles outside Sturgis that the Plains Indians have long considered sacred. Indians from across the USA are gathering today for a four-day summit, and protests — including efforts to deflect biker traffic from the site — are planned.

With a trend toward open-air biker bars and concert venues, the rally has crept closer to the butte. This summer, construction began about 2 miles north of the mountain on a 600-acre campground billed as the "world's biggest biker bar." The camp is within sight of where Native Americans gather to fast and pray.

"In the past, all the partying was done near town, but now they're going to surround our sacred mountain and desecrate it, drink on it, and leave their trash when they go back to where they came from," says Vic Camp, 31, a Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Tempers flared last August, when Arizona entrepreneur Jay Allen announced plans to build the giant biker bar and entertainment complex on Highway 79.

Camp and other Native Americans have gathered on tribal land north of the butte to protest the granting of beer and liquor licenses to Allen and other property owners. They claim that rally-related noise disturbs the sanctity of a spiritual place whose past visitors included Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.

The protesters, joined by some area ranchers, are requesting a 5-mile "buffer zone" around Bear Butte, a state park where buffalo roam freely and colorful pieces of cloth hang from trees to symbolize expressions of prayer.

"Just imagine if they told all the Christians in America, 'You guys can't go to church ... until we're done partying,' " says Camp, who is joined by about 100 other Native Americans, with more on the way for the summit and protest. "This mountain that you see here is a sacred altar — it's our church, school, and hospital all in one," he said. "We have men up on the hill right now who are fasting and praying, and they have to listen to cement trucks driving by and the pounding of hammers."

Much of the rancor is directed toward Allen, the outspoken owner of the famed Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. He first wanted to call his new complex "Sacred Ground," complete with tepees and an 80-foot Indian statue.

Allen abandoned those ideas and changed the name to Sturgis County Line after criticism from Indian groups. He hasn't backed down on his vision, with future plans calling for 150,000 square feet of asphalt and an amphitheater to seat 30,000 concert-goers.

"I get death threats on a weekly basis," said Allen, who first attended the Sturgis rally as a leather gloves vendor in 1986.

"But I have been nothing but respectful to the Native Americans, and I tried to use this as a tool to enlighten people about their lifestyle. Their tradition isn't going away, but ours isn't either." Allen's new venue will consist this year of about 100 RV sites, and crews are working feverishly to finish a bar, vending and music areas before the rally begins. "This isn't a five-star restaurant," said Allen, who plans to travel to the rally from Phoenix in a 1954 Greyhound double-decker bus. "As long as I've got ice-cold beer and good music, we'll be OK."

A group of local volunteers, including Native Americans, called the Bear Butte International Alliance is promoting a "Don't Ride 79" campaign, urging bikers not to travel on Highway 79.

"We probably will stop the traffic from going on this road, but we're going to do it in a peaceful and respectful way," Camp said. "We're not against the bikers, and we're not against the Sturgis rally."

Meade County Sheriff Ron Merwin offered a note of caution about protesters trying to stop traffic.

"I wouldn't say we're expecting anything more than the normal rally concerns," Merwin said. "But if they start backing up traffic on Highway 79, those bikers are not going to be happy."

Camp insisted that if there's any violent action, it won't be initiated by Native Americans gathered at Bear Butte.

"The elders instructed us to go about this in a very peaceful way," Camp said. "They asked us to come here with our pipes and our sacred eagle feathers and staffs to bring many nations together.

"If it is provoked, it will be provoked by the other side — by disrespectful bikers coming through and hollering at us and spitting at us, like they have done at other protests."

Posted 8/1/2006 12:04 AM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-31-indians-bikers_x.htm

American Indians Protest Bar Development

American Indians Protest Bar Development
By CARSON WALKERThe Associated PressThursday, July 27, 2006; 4:34 AM
STURGIS, S.D. -- American Indian tribes trying to protect their sacred Bear Butte have purchased land around the Black Hills historic site to keep it out of the hands of developers eager to serve bikers who roar into town every year for a raucous road rally.
According to Meade County records, three tribes have spent $1.3 million over the last two decades to buy 2.6 square miles of land around usually serene Bear Butte, where colorful prayer flags line a hiking trail and Indians have come for centuries to fast and hold ceremonies.
Construction crews work at the site of a new campground near the foot of Bear Butte Wednesday, June 14, 2006 outside Sturgis, S.D. The butte, a rocky mound on the northeast edge of the Black Hills is a sacred American Indian site where tribe members have been coming for centuries to fast and hold ceremonies. For over twenty years tribes nation wide have been buying up parcels of land around the 3,100 foot butte to protect it from being developed into another area biker bar or site the caters to the upwards of 500,000 participants of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that will be held Aug. 7-13 this year. For a week every August, the sound of the South Dakota wind is replaced in the hills by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year's rally is Aug. 7-13, and Indians from several tribes are camping out near the butte in protest of bars and other entertainment venues they feel violate the sanctity of the 3,100-foot mountain.
"The mountain is sacred to us," said George Whipple, executive director of Tribal Land Enterprise, an arm of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "Therefore, the cultural and spiritual value of the land was what was significant to us. By keeping with that tradition, we're also keeping it from being developed into a beer garden."
The butte _ an ancient volcano that never erupted _ and the land immediately around it are in a state park, but surrounding areas are open for commercial development. That development has been driven in part by the road rally, which attracted 525,000 bikers last year.
Despite the land purchase by tribes, the Meade County Commission has approved several alcohol licenses for sites near the butte. Commissioners have said they have no basis to deny alcohol licenses and people have the right to use their land as they see fit.
"The Legislature gives us the power to issue the permits based on character and location," said Commissioner Curtis Nupen. "We have those two factors to take into account."
Character can be an issue if an establishment regularly has run-ins with the law; location concerns include proximity to churches and places where children gather, Nupen said.
With the increasing demand for land near Sturgis for businesses that cater to bikers, it's getting too expensive for even the richest of tribes to buy land and leave it idle, Whipple said.
"Agriculturally, you couldn't buy a piece of land up there and make it pay," he said. "Unless you're going to develop it or make money off the beer sales and the rally, you're spending a lot of money for not much return."
Indians have gathered at Bear Butte this summer ahead of the rally to protest development, likening the mountain to a church.
Alex White Plume, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, helped organize a camp near the butte's base designed to draw tribal members and leaders to a Gathering of Nations Treaty Summit in the days before the rally. Indians also plan to march from Bear Butte to the Meade County Courthouse in Sturgis during the rally.
All events will be peaceful, organizers said. They hope to persuade some bikers to voluntarily stay away from commercial sites east of Sturgis.
"We're here to defend our sacred site," Plume said. "We have to learn to get along, but we also have to have mutual respect for each other and that's not happening today."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072700157.html

American Indians protesting bar development near sacred mountain

American Indians protesting bar development near sacred mountain

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By Carson Walker
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:56 p.m. July 26, 2006
STURGIS, S.D. – American Indian tribes trying to protect their sacred Bear Butte have purchased land around the Black Hills historic site to keep it out of the hands of developers eager to serve bikers who roar into town every year for a raucous road rally.
According to Meade County records, three tribes have spent $1.3 million over the last two decades to buy 2.6 square miles of land around usually serene Bear Butte, where colorful prayer flags line a hiking trail and Indians have come for centuries to fast and hold ceremonies.
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For a week every August, the sound of the South Dakota wind is replaced in the hills by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year's rally is Aug. 7-13, and Indians from several tribes are camping out near the butte in protest of bars and other entertainment venues they feel violate the sanctity of the 3,100-foot mountain.
“The mountain is sacred to us,” said George Whipple, executive director of Tribal Land Enterprise, an arm of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. “Therefore, the cultural and spiritual value of the land was what was significant to us. By keeping with that tradition, we're also keeping it from being developed into a beer garden.”
The butte – an ancient volcano that never erupted – and the land immediately around it are in a state park, but surrounding areas are open for commercial development. That development has been driven in part by the road rally, which attracted 525,000 bikers last year.
Despite the land purchase by tribes, the Meade County Commission has approved several alcohol licenses for sites near the butte. Commissioners have said they have no basis to deny alcohol licenses and people have the right to use their land as they see fit.
“The Legislature gives us the power to issue the permits based on character and location,” said Commissioner Curtis Nupen. “We have those two factors to take into account.”
Character can be an issue if an establishment regularly has run-ins with the law; location concerns include proximity to churches and places where children gather, Nupen said.
With the increasing demand for land near Sturgis for businesses that cater to bikers, it's getting too expensive for even the richest of tribes to buy land and leave it idle, Whipple said.
“Agriculturally, you couldn't buy a piece of land up there and make it pay,” he said. “Unless you're going to develop it or make money off the beer sales and the rally, you're spending a lot of money for not much return.”
Indians have gathered at Bear Butte this summer ahead of the rally to protest development, likening the mountain to a church.
Alex White Plume, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, helped organize a camp near the butte's base designed to draw tribal members and leaders to a Gathering of Nations Treaty Summit in the days before the rally. Indians also plan to march from Bear Butte to the Meade County Courthouse in Sturgis during the rally.
All events will be peaceful, organizers said. They hope to persuade some bikers to voluntarily stay away from commercial sites east of Sturgis.
“We're here to defend our sacred site,” Plume said. “We have to learn to get along, but we also have to have mutual respect for each other and that's not happening today.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060726-2356-bearbutte.html

Bikers and Bear Butte

Kari Lydersen: Bikers and Bear Butte
Tuesday, June 27 2006 @ 11:12 AM PDT
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 1,384

In 1857, 30,000 Sioux and Cheyenne gathered at Bear Butte in South Dakota to plan how to deal with white settlers moving in on their sacred land. Native American warriors launched attacks on wagon trains from the mountain, incidents which are now commemorated in historical plaques along the highway. In 1874, Indian fighter George Custer visited Bear Butte, two years before making his infamous "last stand" at Little Bighorn. Chief Crazy Horse also spoke there, calling on his people never to sell the land.



Bikers and Bear Butte
By Kari Lydersen
Infoshop News (news.infoshop.org)
June 27, 2006

In 1857, 30,000 Sioux and Cheyenne gathered at Bear Butte in South Dakota to plan how to deal with white settlers moving in on their sacred land. Native American warriors launched attacks on wagon trains from the mountain, incidents which are now commemorated in historical plaques along the highway. In 1874, Indian fighter George Custer visited Bear Butte, two years before making his infamous "last stand" at Little Bighorn. Chief Crazy Horse also spoke there, calling on his people never to sell the land.

The windswept mountain is sacred to about 30 regional Native American tribes, a spiritual respite for vision quests, healing, learning and praying. And they are still fighting to defend it from white men. Now instead of pioneers in covered wagons, their nemesis is a biker turned developer who is proposing one of the world’s largest biker bars at the foot of Bear Butte.

For about two weeks every summer, the stark hills and mesas of Bear Butte rise above an incongruous backdrop: hundreds of thousands of bikers from around the US and Europe attending the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Bikers camp at the Buffalo Chip campground about four miles from the mountain, drink beer and cheer rock groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Native Americans in the area are offended by the drinking and debauchery at the foot of their sacred mountain, but they have grudgingly tolerated the motorcycle rally for the about 60 years it has been going on. Now they are furious that an Arizona biker and developer wants to turn the biker party scene into a year-round presence, with a sprawling biker bar and campground within two miles of Bear Butte on it’s currently undeveloped north side.

"We’re trying to defend this mountain that’s sacred to our people for many generations, but we’re fighting against millionaire developers," said Victorio Camp, 31, a Pine Ridge reservation resident who grew up doing vision quests at Bear Butte. "This mountain is a place where spirituality comes from. It’s a place where we gather medicines and do ceremonies. It’s hard to go up there and pray when you have 100,000 motorcycles driving by."

Developer Jay Allen started out as a participant and leather vendor at the Sturgis rally. He was a regular at the Broken Spoke Saloon in a former Sturgis lumberyard. He ended up buying the bar in 1993, and then opened a chain of Broken Spokes in Florida, New Hampshire and South Carolina. For his new 600-acre development, he made clumsy efforts to reach out to Native Americans. He announced plans to call the complex "Sacred Ground," and feature an 80-foot statue of an Indian, a tipi village and an "educational center" about Native Americans – many bikers do feel an affinity with Native Americans and want to learn more about their culture. (Some bikers also oppose Allen’s development, and testified against his application for a liquor license at a public hearing.)

Local tribes did not appreciate Allen’s gesture, however, seeing it as a case of adding insult to injury, especially considering the history of the area.

Bear Butte is part of the Black Hills which the Lakota feel were stolen from them by the US government after the Treaty of Ft. Laramie in 1868. In 1923 they filed a lawsuit charging the land was seized without just compensation, and the suit slowly made its way through the courts all the way up to a US Supreme Court decision in 1980 in which the Justices upheld a lower court decision awarding the Lakota more than $100 million for the land. Tribes have refused to accept the money, instead continuing to demand that the land be returned.

Last fall the foundation was laid for Allen’s 22,500 foot bar, a huge asphalt parking lot and a 30,000-person-plus music venue he has said will serve "the biggest music acts known to mankind." (Allen could not be reached for comment, and Sturgis rally organizers declined to comment).

Meanwhile another developer has applied for permits for another bar and campground nearby. And venues for the summer rally have encroached closer and closer to the mountain, which is mostly a state park with areas reserved for Native ceremonies. Defenders of Bear Butte are calling for at least a five mile buffer zone between the mountain and new development.

Organizers of the Sturgis biker rally, which is no doubt a crucial part of the working class town’s economy, declined to comment on the biker bar plans. A county commissioner said that since Allen owns the land and his plans meet local codes, there is no reason for the government to interfere.

Camp is particularly concerned that the development is on the north of Bear Butte, whereas the rally festivities are mainly on the opposite side around downtown Sturgis.

"All this traffic from Sturgis will be coming by now," he said. "We’re worried about the animals, the wildlife."

Native Americans also don’t like the fact that drinking alcohol will be allowed and probably rampant at the music venue and campground.

"They’ll all be drunk, looking at our mountain, and they won’t see it as such a beautiful, pure place; they don’t know the majesticness and power the place has," said Camp. "They walk around naked and drink and ride bikes; to us that’s very disrespectful."

"You wouldn’t have this in front of a church, synagogue or hospital," added Lakota activist Debra White Plume. "That’s what Bear Butte is like to us."

Different tribes have formed the Bear Butte International Alliance to oppose the development, and petitioned the county to put Allen’s liquor license up for a county-wide vote. (Their request was denied). In late spring, 27 Cheyenne teenagers ran a two-day, 190-mile relay from their reservation in Montana to Bear Butte in protest. Tribal members plan to keep fighting Allen’s plan and other development proposals in various ways. Within the past few years their lobbying has helped defeat other development proposals, including a shooting range.

"We just want to hold on to what little we have left at this mountain," said Camp. "As Lakota it is our duty to protect the earth. We’re just trying to have people understand why it’s such a sacred place. But it feels like our rights are being stepped on again, the same thing that’s been happening since Columbus came."

Native Americans from around the country will come to Bear Butte in August for a summit on protecting sacred sites. White Plume said they are planning protest actions in Sturgis, and they plan to contact musicians who have played or might consider playing at the rally or new arena.

"We see it as a desecration not only of a mountain but of our way of life," she said. "This is a genocidal issue to us. If they kill this mountain, they kill our way of life."

---------

Kari Lydersen is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, In These Times, LiP Magazine, Clamor, and The New Standard.


http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2006bear_butte

Biker Mecca on Sacred Ground

Biker Mecca on Sacred Ground
By Anne Keala Kelly

June 23, 2006

Sturgis, South Dakota, is a town of about 6,500 people, but come August the population explodes, as half a million bikers and motorcycle enthusiasts ride in like cowboys, clad in leather vests and bandannas for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year's event, however, promises to be met with resistance from the area's original inhabitants and other First Nation peoples from across the continent. They are protesting not only the onslaught of bikers but also a development at the base of a sacred hill outside of Sturgis called Bear Butte.


Anne Keala Kelly: Native American activists are braced for a tense summer, as a motorcycling entrepreneur goes forward with plans for a resort that will draw hundreds of thousands of bikers to the sacred site of Bear Butte.

"I have a hard time in the white man's way. They pray to this guy called God, but he's gold. It's all about the almighty dollar. Their priorities are money," said Alexander White Plume in a phone interview from his home in Manderson, South Dakota. White Plume is acting president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and he, along with hundreds of others, organized protests and spoke at recent public hearings over whether or not a liquor license should be given to Arizona businessman Jay Allen, who plans to build a 600-acre biker extravaganza adjacent to Bear Butte.

Allen operates an interstate chain of four biker bars called Broken Spoke Saloon, including one in Sturgis, which bills itself as the largest biker bar in the world.

Meade County Commissioners voted unanimously in April to grant a beer and malt beverage license to Allen for this new saloon in his chain, and then voted in June to allow transfer of a liquor license to the venue.

The original name of Allen's project was Sacred Grounds, and until Lakota and other nations raised objections, Allen intended to erect on the site an eighty-foot-high statue of a Native person praying. From Allen's perspective, he has treated the indigenous population fairly, noting through a spokeswoman that local tribes had passed up two opportunities to purchase the land he ultimately acquired.

At issue on both sides of this argument over the proposed development is more than expropriation of the intellectual property of indigenous peoples. It is a reminder of the vast cultural differences that exist between First Nation peoples and those who are drawn to what once was their tribal land.

One only needs to read Article 1 of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and compare it with what has happened over time to understand the profound conflict between the two competing paradigms: "From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall forever cease. The Government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they now pledge their honor to maintain it."

Enacted by Congress, the treaty codified the Sioux Nations' ownership of the Black Hills. But the treaty's opening words, "From this day forward," really only meant for the next six years, because in 1874 General George Custer and some nineteenth-century entrepreneurs, known back then as miners, breached the treaty and found gold in the Black Hills, reigniting what are called the Indian wars. Eventually those events led to white settlers hunting down Natives and either forcing them onto reservations or, as happened at Wounded Knee, disarming them and then murdering them.

Despite the dispossession of Native people and erosion of their sovereignty, the Lakota, Arapahoe and Cheyenne still go to Bear Butte to practice their religious ways. Scores of other nations have maintained connections to the butte since ancient times, making the journey there to pray much the way Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Lakota and other First Nations people aren't the only ones opposed to Allen's plans to develop Bear Butte as a haven for bikers. Some white ranchers and business owners say the Sturgis biker rally has gotten out of hand and have joined coalitions such as the Bear Butte International Alliance, which are planning to conduct civil disobedience training. Meade County, where Sturgis is located, boasts a population of only 25,000, but every year locals brace themselves for Rally Week because as many as 650,000 bikers have poured into Sturgis and the surrounding area.

Opponents of the Bear Butte development are expecting as many as 10,000 people to stand with them in solidarity to protest this intrusion on their land. When asked whether or not he believes there will be clashes between protesters and bikers, Alexander White Plume said, "We can't defend Bear Butte violently because it is a sacred site. But our younger generation is talking about direct action."

Meanwhile, Allen's development is taking shape. He has announced plans to include a rodeo arena on the site by 2008, and he has said that although he respects the Native people, he has the right to conduct business. The state of South Dakota agrees with him, because none of the legal or moral objections put forth have held sway with legislators who earlier this year rejected legislation to create a four-mile buffer around Bear Butte. Hundreds of First Nation peoples traveled more than 200 miles to attend hearings and testify against granting the liquor license. But Bob Mallow, one of the five Meade County Commissioners who voted in favor of Allen's request, said in a phone interview that none of the area's residents spoke out against it.

"If there's nothing there, we're talking about two and a half miles from Bear Butte," said Mallow. "The location is fine with us. It's a municipality. If you have a church down the street two blocks, that makes sense, but this distance seems like enough."

Allen, who has traveled to Sturgis annually since 1986, said he visits the butte every day during the rally and added that he wants to share the "magic of our precious 600 acres with not just the Native Americans but with anyone open to experiencing something greater than the common rally experiences."

Even though county and state lawmakers have green-lighted the project, the First Nations peoples are undaunted in their quest to protect this religious site. Bear Butte is one of the last remaining undeveloped sacred sites in the United States.

"We want to keep it that way," said White Plume. "Leave it in its original form. It's where we go to do our vision quest. We do ceremonies that need silence. Putting a bar and concert hall there would be like us holding a powwow outside a synagogue when they're praying."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060710/kelly

Meade County voters won’t decide on beer sales

Meade County voters won’t decide on beer sales
By Nicole Carlson, Meade County Times-Tribune Friday, May 05, 2006


STURGIS � Meade County voters will not be given the chance to decide whether an Arizona man should be allowed to sell beer near Bear Butte.

Despite a number of petitions that were turned in seeking to refer the license to a countywide vote, the Meade County Commission unanimously decided Thursday morning that their decision to grant a license to Broken Spoke owner Jay Allen was an administrative action and, therefore, the issue cannot be referred to a vote.

The issue of selling liquor near Bear Butte has been the subject of two organized protests and likely will be the subject of a third. Allen has now applied for a liquor license, which would be transferred from Mad Mary’s Steakhouse. The commission is expected to decide that matter next month.

On April 4, the commission unanimously approved a beer license for Allen’s new facility, Sturgis County Line and Bear Butte Sunsets, after nearly two hours of testimony against the action from American Indian activists who consider Bear Butte sacred.

Allen bought 600 acres north of Bear Butte last summer. The campground and saloon, now under construction, are set to open in time for the 2006 Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Opponents spent the past week gathering more than 750 signatures from Meade County residents in an attempt to overturn the commission’s decision. However, the county commission decides whether the issue is referable.

According to commissioner Dayle Hammock, the commission reviewed its decision and legal cases and met with lawyers in the state’s attorney’s office before making the decision.

“The action was an administrative decision,” Hammock said. “We decline to authorize a referendum concerning that decision.”

According to state law, administrative decisions are not subject to a referendum, but legislative decisions are.

By definition, a legislative decision is “one that enacts a permanent law or lays down a rule of conduct or course of policy for the guidance of citizens or their officers. Any matter of a permanent or general character is a legislative decision.”

Hammock said approving a beer license does not fall within that definition.

“If we made the law, it would be referable,” Hammock said. “We followed the procedure; therefore, it was an administrative process.”

Anne White Hat, a member of the Bear Butte International Alliance, criticized the board’s decision. She said she expects a public outcry.

“Are you saying that the voice of the people does not matter to you?” White Hat asked the commission.

Hammock defended the decision.

“We have followed the law, and if you do not like the law, you need to go to the Legislature,” Hammock said. “The Legislature makes the law; we follow the law.”

White Hat said the decision was an easy way out for the commissioners.

“We feel you are making a really bad decision,” White Hat said. “We’re not going away. We will be back.”

White Hat told the commissioners that her group already had pursued the next steps. Two separate groups filed court challenges Tuesday in 4th Circuit Court. Rapid City attorney Bruce Ellison filed one challenge on behalf of Meade County rancher Jessie Levin and six others.

According to the document, the group identified 10 different grounds for the appeal, including unsuitable location, failure to follow proper legal standards in the application process and violation of due process.

Also, the document alleges that a conflict of interest exists regarding commissioner Dean Wink. Before a legislative committee in January, Wink testified against a bill that would have banned alcoholic-beverage licenses within four miles of Bear Butte. That testimony indicates an “actual risk of prejudice and/or bias of said decision maker and/or personal and/or selfish motives which influenced and tainted the proceedings, and deprived opponents of the granting of the license of a fair and impartial consideration and of a fair hearing.”

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe attorney and state legislator Tom Van Norman filed another similar challenge on behalf of the tribe. Van Norman’s suit alleges that the county commission acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in determining Allen’s character and that the commission erred in “placing the burden of demonstrating suitability of character upon the challengers.”

Nancy Kile, also a member of the Bear Butte International Alliance, said the issue is not one of American Indians versus bikers or residents against bikers.

“It’s an issue of Meade County residents wanting to take our land back,” she said.

Kile said that being granted a liquor license is a privilege, not a right. She said in exchange for the license, citizens expect accountability and responsible businessmen.

Levin said she expects public outrage at the commissioners’ decision to deny the petitions.

“There was a hope that the people were finally going to get a say and a vote,” Levin said. “Our vote was taken away.”

Although the issue of Allen’s malt-beverage license is far from finished, his application for a liquor license could overshadow it. On Thursday, Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer said that the county received an application for a full liquor license for the Sturgis County Line facility. The license is a retail on-sale license that would be transferred from Mad Mary’s Steakhouse near Black Hawk.

Although the county is not involved in the private transaction, including the cost for the license, they make the ultimate decision about the approval of the transfer.

The commission will meet today to officially set the hearing for Friday, June 9, at 9 a.m. in the courtroom of Meade County Courthouse.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/05/05/news/top/news01.txt

Beer license approved near sacred Indian butte

Thursday, April 6, 2006
Beer license approved near sacred Indian butte
By Joe Kafka
The Associated Press

DOUG DREYER / AP
Jay Allen, right, who wants to build a biker bar at the base of Bear Butte, sits near Chief Arvol Looking Horse, a spiritual leader from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, on Tuesday during a Mead County Commission meeting.
STURGIS, S.D. — To American Indians, Bear Butte is a place to pray and meditate, where colorful prayer cloth and pouches with offerings of tobacco and sage are tied to tree branches along a hiking trail.
For business owners, the 4,422-foot peak is a destination for thousands of bikers who fork out money for beer and a place to camp during an annual rally in nearby Sturgis.
Despite strong opposition from Indian groups hoping to prevent further encroachment on the mountain, Meade County authorities Tuesday unanimously approved a beer license for a campground, biker bar and concert area.
The butte, on the fringe of the Black Hills, is in a state park and is protected as a National Historic Landmark. However, it is surrounded by private property.
One of those landowners is Jay Allen, who owns the Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis, just a few miles from the mountain.
Allen plans to open a bar about 2 ½ miles from the base of Bear Butte, drawing customers during the monster motorcycle rally that draws several hundred thousand people each August. He plans to also take advantage of the rally to fill his campground and sell beer.
Allen first announced development of the project on a square mile of prairie last summer, proposing to call it Sacred Ground. He talked about building an 80-foot Indian statue as a tribute to tribes but abandoned the idea and changed the project's name to Sturgis County Line after criticism from Indian groups.
He argued at the hearing that he has a right to develop his land, which totals about 600 acres. But amid strong opposition from a room full of Indians from several tribes, Allen pledged to be a good neighbor.
"I'm embarrassed that it's evolved to this," he said.
State officials have said at least 17 tribes place special significance on Bear Butte. Others have said nearly 60 tribes consider the peak sacred. Bear Butte, a volcano that never erupted, has been a state park since 1961, and a special area is set aside for Indian ceremonies.

document.write('');Opponents of Allen's project said at the hearing that thousands of noisy motorcycles and other large campground and entertainment complexes near Sturgis already disrupt the serenity of Bear Butte.
"We need a quiet place," said Arvol Looking Horse, a Sioux who wore a fully feathered headdress and buckskin tunic. "Bear Butte is a very sacred place."
Indian groups, led by the Bear Butte International Alliance, oppose all development that would disturb the tranquility around the peak. The alliance has been pressing county officials to stop issuing beer and liquor licenses within a seven-mile radius of Bear Butte.
Dean Wink, a county commissioner, said he understands the significance Indians attach to the butte. But he said that other businesses in the area have received alcohol licenses and that to deny Allen the same opportunity would be to deny him his rights.
Work on Allen's project is under way.
Allen said he hopes to have the campground and biker bar ready for this year's motorcycle rally, which officially runs one week but also draws people for a week before and a week afterward.
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002913894_butte06.html

Beer sales get unanimous OK

Beer sales get unanimous OK
By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer Wednesday, April 05, 2006


STURGIS � After listening to nearly two hours of comment � some for, most against, and much of it impassioned � the Meade County Commission voted 5-0 to approve a beer license for a new Sturgis motorcycle-rally bar and campground near Bear Butte, a sacred site to many American Indians.

Entrepreneur Jay Allen, owner of the Broken Spoke Saloon, bought 600 acres of land north of the butte. He plans to open a new Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis County Line Campground on the site for the 2006 Sturgis motorcycle rally. Later, he hopes to open a concert venue as well.

But opposition to Allen’s plan has been intense. Diverse American Indian groups including the Sturgis-based Bear Butte International Alliance and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana oppose the project. The Meade County Commission received 633 letters on the subject. There was even an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times decrying Allen’s proposal.

Tuesday’s commission meeting culminated a day of prayer and protest by Indian groups that began at Bear Butte and ended on the streets of Sturgis.

More than 400 marchers, singing and chanting “Save Bear Butte,” walked in a slow procession behind a Lakota drum group and spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse. The march ended at the front entrance of Meade County Courthouse.

Protesters carried signs that read “The End is Near, Jay Allen is Here” and “Develop Your Mind, Not Sacred Sites.”

Inside, the courtroom-turned commission room had space for only 70 people. Most of the crowd waited outside through the entire meeting.

About 25 journalists crowded into the jury box-turned press gallery as Jay Allen made his case for approval of the beer license � and 20 opponents tried to persuade the commission to deny the license.

Allen’s attorney, Bryce Flint, told the commission that the bar itself would be 2-1/2 miles north of the base of Bear Butte. He noted that other licensed biker bars and music venues, including one across the road from the Sturgis County Line property, are as close or nearly as close to Bear Butte.

Among those who spoke on Allen’s behalf was Sasha Mullins, who works for the Broken Spoke. She described her boss as a big-hearted person who wants to develop a harmonious environment for his employees and his patrons.

Flint noted that Allen’s beer-license request meets both legal tests set down by state law � character of the applicant and location of the establishment. He said Allen, who operates Broken Spoke Saloons at motorcycle events in four states, has been found to be a responsible businessman. Flint also said the neighboring landowners support his right as a landowner.

The Meade County Commission apparently agreed. There was little discussion among the five commissioners before the 5-0 vote. Dean Wink was the only commissioner who spoke to the crowd.

“I’m not convinced that Meade County needs another biker bar,” Wink said. “I do feel strongly � that private property rights have been eroded.” He said Allen’s proposal meets the standards set by the state and the county and therefore deserves a beer license. “I have a problem deviating from the standards we’ve set down.”

The decision came despite a series of passionate speeches from Indian people who talked of the sacredness of Bear Butte and its role in their cultural history. They spoke about the need to preserve the sanctity of Bear Butte so that future generations of Indian pilgrims will have a place to fast, pray and cleanse their spirits.

Speakers compared Bear Butte to Jerusalem, to Mecca, to the Christian Bible and to Mount Sinai.

“Bear Butte is a sacred place, and we need to keep it as our grandfathers (kept it),” said Looking Horse, who is revered in Lakota religion as the keeper of the sacred calf pipe. “When we sit on top of Bear Butte, we communicate with our creator.”

Carter Camp of the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte also spoke. His group is pushing for a five-mile buffer around Bear Butte. He told the commissioners that generations of American Indian soldiers who fought for the United States have come home to Bear Butte to heal their spirits. He said every biker that goes to the new Broken Spoke Saloon will go rumbling past Bear Butte. “The location of this could not be worse,” he said.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, which traces its very survival to Bear Butte, has been buying land around Bear Butte for years, L. Jace Killsback, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, said. He said the tribe has about 700 acres set aside, and it is trying to buy more.

Others said they have no objection to Jay Allen opening a biker bar for the Sturgis rally � but not at this location.

The Sturgis County Line proposal also apparently renewed some of the debate in Meade County about the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Jesse Levin, a non-Indian rancher who lives 30 miles east of Sturgis, told the commissioners that she is disgusted by the trash, dust and drunken bikers that she has seen at her place.

“When is enough going to be enough for us in Meade County?” she asked the commissioners.

State Sen. Stan Adelstein, R-Rapid City, who chairs the House-Senate Tribal Relations Committee, also spoke against the measure, as did Bruce Ellison, a Rapid City attorney.

Ellison said the United States was founded on the principle of religious freedom. “We have to figure out a way in which we can co-exist,” he said.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/04/05/news/top/news01.txt

Lawmakers want buffer to protect Bear Butte

Lawmakers want buffer to protect Bear Butte
By Celeste Calvitto, Journal Staff Writer Friday, January 27, 2006

PIERRE - Paul Valandra and Jim Bradford are on a mission.

The two Democratic state lawmakers, by introducing legislation to prohibit liquor licenses within four miles of Bear Butte near Sturgis, are seeking to protect a site that is sacred to many American Indians on the northern Great Plains.

“But we don’t want to scare anybody, either,” Valandra said this week.

Valandra, a Rosebud Sioux, and Bradford, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said they are working on an outreach effort to let people who think they might be affected know that the legislators want to talk to everybody.

“We know that we are causing concern for many people out there,” Valandra said. “We want to hear their views. � They’ve got our cell-phone numbers.”

Specifically, HB1233 says that on-sale licenses would not be issued to current businesses or those that will be within four miles of the boundaries of Bear Butte State Park.

The action comes as a result of an announcement last summer by Jay Allen, the Arizona-based owner of the Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. He wants to build a biker bar and concert site on land south of Bear Butte for this year’s Sturgis motorcycle rally.

“I remember thinking, that guy is going to catch some hell before this is all over,” Valandra said with a chuckle. “There will be Indians coming from all over.”

Allen did not return phone calls seeking comment before news deadline. But in an interview with the Rapid City Journal last year after opposition surfaced to his plans, he said, “From the onset, I’ve reached my arms out to the Native American community with totally good intentions to recognize their heritage, only to discover that it was not well received.”

State Sen. Kenneth McNenny, R-Sturgis, said the proposal may have “disastrous consquences.” He said the proposed boundaries are unclear but that he is concerned that the plan could affect a number of venues such as campgrounds and may include part of the city of Sturgis.

“I am very apprehensive about it,” House Majority Leader Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center, said.

Meanwhile, Bradford said he and Valandra have a plan to “grandfather” existing establishments with liquor licenses that might be affected.

They also have an explanation for the four-mile distance.

When tribes challenged a plan for a shooting range near Bear Butte as disruptive, experts said it would take four miles to create a buffer from noise.

“We decided to go with that,” Valandra said.

They said the quest to protect Bear Butte is shared by others.

“It’s not only Indians who are concerned,” Bradford said.

The Defenders of the Black Hills group, which came out against Allen’s plan, is raising money to buy land around Bear Butte to create a buffer zone.

“Bear Butte belongs to everbody,” Valandra said.

And the two lawmakers believe that bikers who make the pilgrimage to Sturgis each year won’t be upset with their plan.

“Bikers are cool guys,” Valandra said. “They don’t want to desecrate Indian ground.”

Bradford said more and more Sturgis rally bikers from throughout the country are visiting the Pine Ridge reservation.

“They are interested in our culture,” he said.

Bradford acknowledged that even if the law is passed, it won’t go into effect until July 1, and it wouldn’t stop Allen’s plan if he buys a Meade County license before then.

But he calls it a “step in the right direction” to preserve the integrity of Bear Butte.

“To me, it’s a unified church,” Bradford said. “I feel like other people would whose religion is being disturbed.”

Contact Celeste Calvitto at 394-8438 or Celeste.Calvitto@rapidcityjournal.com

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/27/news/top/news02.txt