Butte groups plan to protest liquor license
By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer
STURGIS A number of American Indian and religious groups are planning to
protest outside the Meade County Courthouse on Tuesday, May 2, when county
commissioners consider a liquor license for Rock’n The Rally at Glencoe, the new
Sturgis rally concert venue south of Bear Butte.
Groups include the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, Bring Back the
Way and the Lakota Action Network.
In addition, Sturgis-based Bear Butte International Alliance is planning to
speak against the Rock’n The Rally liquor license. Coalition members also will
present petitions seeking a countywide referendum of the commission’s April 4
decision to issue a beer license to the new Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis
County Line campground north of Bear Butte.
Before the April 4 Broken Spoke hearing, more than 400 Lakota, Cheyenne and
Ponca people marched on the courthouse to protest the beer license.
The Rock’n The Rally hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. in the basement meeting
room of the Meade County Courthouse. Protesters say they will gather on the steps
of the courthouse before the meeting.
Gary Lippold, owner of the Glencoe CampResort at S.D. Highways 34 and 79, is
building a large new concert venue on a 34-acre site north of the campground.
He and his entertainment partners plan to stage 20 major music acts over five
nights during the 2006 Sturgis motorcycle rally. Aerosmith, Keith Urban and
Big & Rich are among the bands booked to perform.
Lippold is paying the county $500,000 for the liquor license. He said liquor
sales are needed to attract sponsors and turn Rock’n The Rally into the kind
of large-scale, upscale motorcycle venue he wants to create.
But to an increasing number of American Indian groups, the Rock’n The Rally
liquor license is another example of what they describe as the continuing
encroachment of the loud and rowdy Sturgis biker culture on one of their most
sacred sites.
“We need to protect our way of life; we need to protect our Sacred Mountain”
said T.J. Afraid of Hawk of the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or Dan Daly
Defend Bear Butte
Link to Report
Special thanks to Maureen Labert for the lead.
Contents
April 2006 Reports
Last updated on April 29, 2006