LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two abandoned buildings are set to be demolished in a tiny Nebraska town known for violence, panhandling and alcohol sales on the border of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it has awarded a $100,000 grant to a regional development group to remove the buildings in Whiteclay.
The unincorporated town’s four beer stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015 despite having only nine full-time residents. Whiteclay is a regular hangout for Native Americans who drink, loiter around the stores and pass out in nearby fields.
State officials identified the buildings as places where people gather to consume alcohol. The department says demolishing the buildings will make way for future development.