Hope replaces homelessness on streets of Whiteclay after beer stores closed

Over nearly 20 years, I lost track of how many times I was required to drive to Whiteclay to report on a protest about the beer stores there.

Those four stores sold up to 3.5 million cans of beer a year and were the liquor stores of choice for the adjacent Pine Ridge Indian Reservation right across the Nebraska-South Dakota border.

Alcoholism is a horrible problem on the reservation – which annually ranks as one of the poorest areas in the country – even though alcohol sales and possession are banned there. So there was a steady stream of cars into Whiteclay, just two miles away.

The dusty, un...