SAMPLE LETTER

TO: The Meade County Commissioners
Meade County Commissioners
RE: Bear Butte

This is to notify you that I support the effort to have a Buffer Zone around Bear Butte.

Bear Butte is a Sacred Place to many American Indian peoples such as the Lakota, Arapaho, Ponca, and Cheyenne and many more Tribal Nations. Bear Butte is a place of prayer (church), a place to learn tribal way of life (school), and a place of healing (hospital) to these Tribal Nations. Laws exist in America to protect churches, schools, and hospitals and most governments have buffer zones around such places in order to protect the integrity of such places. Creating a buffer zone around Bear Butte is not a radical action, but rather is an accepted practice across the United States and other countries.

I am aware that from the perspective of the South Dakota citizenry Bear Butte is a is a National Historic Site, a State Park that holds much Cultural Relevancy for many Plains Indians Tribes, that Bear Butte Lake is a National Wildlife Refuge. With such designations, I feel it would be most beneficial to create a Buffer Zone around Bear Butte to protect it from further destruction that will come with the development of more campgrounds, bars, amphitheaters, saloons and the heavily trafficked highways that inevitably become part of such developments.

Since most of the existing and the proposed developments will house, seat, or provide services to as many as 30,000 to 70,000 people at a time, I feel this is a matter of urgency regarding the creation of a Buffer Zone around Bear Butte - you can contribute to such an effort through your action to disapprove any future licensing of bars, saloons, liquor stores or pornographic establishments around Bear Butte. There are already more than 50 businesses that sell liquor and/or beer in Meade County.

Bear Butte, as a State Park and National Historic Site, and Bear Butte Lake as a National Wildlife Refuge, are a concern to many American citizens, the attitude of wanting integrity for such places is not limited to the American Indian People who hold Bear Butte as sacred. It is a concern of many other people as well.

Thank you for taking time to read this. The vicinity of Bear Butte is the wrong location for the type of development that you will be considering at the hearing for Jay Allen's liquor license on April 4, 2006.

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Contents

April 2006 Reports

Last updated on April 1, 2006