|
STURGIS —
American Indian groups vowed Tuesday to stage daily demonstrations in
Sturgis during the 2006 motorcycle rally to protest the event’s
continuing eastward expansion toward Bear Butte, a sacred site to a
number of tribes.
However, Carter
Camp of the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte and Jay Red
Hawk of the Bear Butte International Alliance both emphasized Tuesday
that the demonstrations will be peaceful.
In addition to the
rally week protests, the groups are organizing a large, summerlong
gathering at Bear Butte. It could draw as many as 10,000 people, Camp said.
Camp said the
groups will ask bikers to voluntarily honor a buffer zone around Bear
Butte, staying away from the rally campgrounds, saloons and concert
venues east of Fort Meade Veteran’s Affairs Hospital. He
believes some bikers will side with the groups.
“We’re
not trying to shut down the rally,” Camp said. “We know the
rally has an economic impact on the state; we just want a buffer
around Bear Butte.”
The vow to protest
came amid a tense, sometimes confrontational meeting of the Meade
County Commission on Tuesday morning in Sturgis.
Despite pleas from
the crowd, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a liquor license for
Gary Lippold’s new concert venue south of Bear Butte, Rock’n
the Rally at Glencoe CampResort.
In many ways,
Tuesday’s hearing was an angry replay of the April 4 Meade
County Commission meeting, when the commission unanimously approved a
beer license for the Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis County Line
campground north of Bear Butte.
The Broken Spoke
decision could be referred to a countywide vote. Bear Butte
International Alliance members were scrambling before Tuesday’s
5 p.m. deadline to turn in enough signatures for a referendum. It
isn’t clear whether they gathered enough valid signatures in time.
At Tuesday’s
hearing, tempers flared over procedural questions. Commissioners
imposed a 30-minute time limit for each side, but only a fraction of
the opponents had spoken as the time limit expired.
“We’re
tired of asking for justice; we’re going to demand it,”
Nick Tilsen, executive director of the Lakota Action League, said
from the podium. “We don’t have a religion, ..... we have a
Lakota way of life.”
As Tilsen turned
to address Lippold directly, one of the commissioners tried to stop
him from talking. “We’re going to talk, and you’re
going to listen,” Tilsen declared, and continued his speech.
At one point,
Sheriff Ron Merwin stood between the commissioners and a number of
angry people who were still waiting to testify when the time limit expired.
When commission
Chairman Bob Mallow called a five-minute recess, the audience shouted
at commissioners as they filed out of the room together. Eventually,
some, but not all, of the people waiting to speak were given a chance
to testify.
Tuesday’s
Rock’n the Rally hearing drew about 120 people, about a fourth
of the size of the crowd at the Broken Spoke hearing April 4.
At the start of
the hearing, Lippold told the county commissioners that he needs to
serve liquor for the hospitality tents and VIP tents that would draw
the upscale crowds he needs to make the venue a success. He is paying
the county $500,000 for the liquor license.
“I can’t
sell enough booze in 10 lifetimes in (10 days per year) to pay for
this liquor license,” he told the commissioners. But with the
license, he said he will be able to draw upscale crowds and stage
country music festivals at other times of the year. He vowed to do
everything possible to mitigate the noise and other effects on Bear Butte.
His attorney, Dale
Hansen, told the commissioners that Lippold’s family ties in
Meade County go back 100 years. He said Lippold’s business
ventures employ 100 people full-time and that he is the biggest
private employer in Sturgis.
The concert venue
is a natural expansion of Glencoe, Hansen said, and that Lippold
deserves a liquor license.
But opponents
— including Lakota speakers, Christian speakers and Meade County
ranchers — talked at length about Bear Butte and its role in
American Indian culture.
They also spoke
about what they see as a continuing lack of respect shown by the
Meade County Commission and the biker-bar culture of the Sturgis
motorcycle rally.
One speaker, Nancy
Hilding of Black Hawk, noted that South Dakota law bars liquor sales
on Sunday morning out of respect for Christians but that American
Indians are denied the same protection of their religion.
Carl Meyer of the
Mennonite Central Committee was among the non-Indian speakers. So was
Gail Arnold, a Methodist minister from Belle Fourche. Arnold
presented a letter from the Association of Christian Churches in
South Dakota. It said:
“For many
years, state and local governments have shown respect for our places
of worship by establishing fair zoning practices and by exempting our
properties that are used for worship and education from taxation.
..... That is why we were surprised and dismayed to hear that you
have granted an alcoholic beverage permit to an out-of-state
entrepreneur for a Rally Park in the vicinity of Bear Butte State
Park. ..... Bear Butte has been and continues to be a sacred place of
prayer and meditation for several Native American nations. The noise
from a nearby rally park can only disrupt religious practices on Bear Butte.”
After the hearing,
protesters gathered on the courthouse steps.
“Tell our
women not to cry, because this is only the beginning,” Vic Camp
declared in an emotional rally on the steps of Meade County
Courthouse. “This is a great day to be Lakota!”
Contact Dan Daly
at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com
NOTE: In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only. |
