American Indians Protest Bar Development

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:34 a.m. ET

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) -- American Indian tribes trying to protect their sacred Bear Butte have purchased land around the Black Hills historic site to keep it out of the hands of developers eager to serve bikers who roar into town every year for a raucous road rally.

According to Meade County records, three tribes have spent $1.3 million over the last two decades to buy 2.6 square miles of land around usually serene Bear Butte, where colorful prayer flags line a hiking trail and Indians have come for centuries to fast and hold ceremonies.

For a week every August, the sound of the South Dakota wind is replaced in the hills by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year's rally is Aug. 7-13, and Indians from several tribes are camping out near the butte in protest of bars and other entertainment venues they feel violate the sanctity of the 3,100-foot mountain.

''The mountain is sacred to us,'' said George Whipple, executive director of Tribal Land Enterprise, an arm of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. ''Therefore, the cultural and spiritual value of the land was what was significant to us. By keeping with that tradition, we're also keeping it from being developed into a beer garden.''

(Click & Read on courtsey of The New York Times)

(Photo Credits: "Flag Raising,"courtsey of the Rapid City Journal;"Moon over Bear Butte," courtsey of Heeb Photo)