In this Oct. 20, 2016, photo, a highway sign greets motorists heading into the small town of Whiteclay, Neb. The Lakota Hope faith ministry in Whiteclay has started a fundraising campaign to buy out the... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Oct. 20, 2016, photo, a highway sign greets motorists heading into the small town of Whiteclay, Neb. The Lakota Hope faith ministry in Whiteclay has started a fundraising campaign to buy out the four beer stores that sell millions of cans annually in the tiny village next to the Pine Ridge Indian... (Associated Press) 
 
 LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A faith ministry in Nebraska has started a fundraising campaign to buy out four stores that sell millions of cans of beer each year in a tiny village next to a South Dakota Indian reservation plagued by alcoholism. 
 
 The Lakota Hope street ministry in Whiteclay is looking to raise at least $6.3 million to close the stores, which are only about 200 yards from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The officially dry reservation is plagued by high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome and encompasses some of the nation's poorest counties. 
 
 Whiteclay only has about a dozen residents, yet the four stores sold 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015. The beer stores have remained opened for decades despite state investigations into alleged liquor law violations, lawsuits and protests that occasionally turned violent. 
 
 Ministry founder Bruce BonFleur and his wife have lived in Whiteclay for nearly two decades, feeding people on the streets and launching programs designed to help members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. BonFleur said he has talked with the businesses, and "we believe that the beer store owners are ready to sell out." 
 
 The stores have been facing increasing legal and political pressure, and state liquor regulators are meeting next month to discuss the stores' licenses. 
 
 Still, some activists have their doubts. Olowan Martinez, an Oglala Lakota activist who has led protests against Whiteclay, said she would be thrilled but shocked if the buyout worked as intended. Martinez said she would support replacing the stores with a roller skating rink, movie theater or a park to help entertain young people. 
 
 The idea rang hollow to Frank LaMere, a Native American activist who has fought for 18 years to close the stores. LaMere said the beer store owners shouldn't be rewarded with a payout and wants the state to revoke their liquor licenses. 
 
 "Whiteclay sadly continues to be the golden goose to many," LaMere said. 
 
 On a recent day in the Whiteclay, some people were passed out on garbage-strewn sidewalks or begging for change. Others loitered on the streets or in abandoned houses littered with dirty blankets and empty beer cans. Some people wandered along the side of the main highway through town, Nebraska Highway 87, which leads into the reservation, past 1970s-era federal housing, decrepit mobile homes and abandoned cars. 
 
 Lance Moss, a Whiteclay grocery store owner who does not sell alcohol, said he didn't know if the town would change substantially if the beer stores were sold. Moss said some regular visitors might congregate in Whiteclay and buy beer from bootleggers. 
 
 "Obviously, all the beer that's sold in Whiteclay is going to get sold someplace else," he said. 
 
 The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission is set to meet March 7 to discuss the stores' liquor licenses amid complaints that the village lacks adequate law enforcement. Last month, the local county board with jurisdiction over Whiteclay recommended that the state renew the licenses, partially amid concerns that closing the stores would lead to an increase of intoxicated drivers in Nebraska. 
 
 Representatives of two of the Whiteclay beer stores, Stateline Liquor and Arrowhead Inn, declined to comment because of their pending cases before the liquor commission. Attempts to reach the owners of the Jumping Eagle Inn and D&S Pioneer Service weren't immediately successful. 
 
 The ministry's new effort is called "B.O.B.S. Whiteclay P.L.A.N.," short for "Buy out the beer stores" and "Promote the Lakotas as a nation." 
 
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 Online: https://whiteclayredo.com/ 
 
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 Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte ||||| A federal judge dismissed an American Indian tribe's lawsuit Monday that blamed beer makers and nearby stores for chronic alcoholism on an impoverished South Dakota reservation, saying the case belonged in state court but gave a subtle nod to the tribe's claims. 
 
 The lawsuit was filed by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which governs the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned. Four beer stores named in the suit sold the equivalent of 4.3 million 12-ounce cans last year even though they're in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town with about a dozen residents on the reservation's border. 
 
 "There is, in fact, little question that alcohol sold in Whiteclay contributes significantly to tragic conditions on the reservation," U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard wrote in his ruling. "And it may well be that the defendants could, or should, do more to try to improve those conditions for members of the tribe. 
 
 "But that is not the same as saying that a federal court has jurisdiction to order them to do so." 
 
 The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the tribe could take its claims to state court. 
 
 The tribe's attorney, Tom White of Omaha, said he had not yet discussed the ruling with his clients or decided how they would proceed, but added: "I would just point out that the judge had every opportunity, if he wanted to, to say this is a spurious case or it doesn't have legal merit. And he carefully did not. That is significant." 
 
 The Connecticut-sized reservation has struggled with alcoholism for generations, despite an alcohol ban in place since 1832. It also spans some of the most impoverished areas in the country. 
 
 The tribe filed the lawsuit in February against the four Whiteclay beer stores, as well as regional distributors and four manufacturers: Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors Brewing Company, MIllerCoors LLC and Pabst Brewing Company. 
 
 An attorney for Pabst declined to comment. Messages left with attorneys for the other companies and the four stores weren't immediately returned. Some of the stores' owners have previously said their insurers told them not to speak with the media. 
 
 The lawsuit alleges that the stores and beer makers allowed alcohol sales to Pine Ridge residents knowing they would smuggle it onto the reservation to drink or resell. The beer makers supplied the stores with "volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the state of Nebraska" and the tribe, the lawsuit alleged. 
 
 The vast majority of Whiteclay's beer store customers have no legal place to consume alcohol since it's banned on Pine Ridge, which is just north, and state law prohibits drinking outside the stores. The nearest town that allows alcohol is more than 20 miles south. 
 
 The reservation includes South Dakota's Shannon County, which U.S. census statistics place as the third-poorest in the nation. It has a median household income of $27,300 and nearly half of the population falls below federal poverty standards. 
 
 One in four children born on the reservation suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and the average life expectancy is estimated between 45 and 52 years _ the shortest in the Northern Hemisphere except for Haiti, according to a lawsuit. The average American life expectancy is 77.5 years. 
 
 Vic Clarke, a Whiteclay grocery store owner who serves as a town spokesman, said Monday that the lawsuit renewed media attention on the town and has triggered a wave of protests from outside groups. 
 
 But he said the same focus hasn't come to bars in other nearby towns _ including Swett and Oelrichs, South Dakota, and Gordon, Nebraska _ that also serve American Indians, noting that a protester last week threw a makeshift stink bomb at one of the town's beer stores. He also suggested that the tribe could legalize alcohol. 
 
 Pine Ridge legalized alcohol in 1970 but restored the ban two months later, and an attempt to allow it in 2004 died after a public outcry.
– A faith ministry in Nebraska has started a fundraising campaign to buy out four stores that sell millions of cans of beer each year in a tiny village next to a South Dakota Indian reservation plagued by alcoholism. The Lakota Hope street ministry in Whiteclay, Neb., is looking to raise at least $6.3 million to close the stores, which are only about 200 yards from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The officially dry reservation is plagued by high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome and encompasses some of the nation's poorest counties. Whiteclay only has about a dozen residents, yet the four stores sold 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015. The beer stores have remained opened for decades despite state investigations into alleged liquor law violations, lawsuits, and protests that occasionally turned violent, reports the AP. Ministry founder Bruce BonFleur and his wife have lived in Whiteclay for nearly two decades, feeding people on the streets and launching programs designed to help members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. BonFleur said he has talked with the businesses, and "we believe that the beer store owners are ready to sell out." The stores have been facing increasing legal and political pressure, and the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission is set to meet March 7 to discuss the stores' liquor licenses amid complaints that the village lacks adequate law enforcement. Last month, the local county board with jurisdiction over Whiteclay recommended that the state renew the licenses, partially amid concerns that closing the stores would lead to an increase of intoxicated drivers in Nebraska.