OK'd beer license fuels Bear Butte protester's resolve
James Falcon
July 14, 2006
[This article appeared in the July 10, 2006 issue of the Rapid City Journal.
STURGIS — About 20 to 30 men, women and children sit in a small wooded camp at the base of Bear Butte. For the next month, they will be residents of a tightly-knit community on Coyote Lane, seven miles northeast of Sturgis.
It definitely isn’t a demonstration,” Margie Loud Hawk, a temporary Bear Butte resident from Kyle, said. “(It’s) a gathering.”
They say that, through this gathering, they are showing their active opposition of business encroachment near Bear Butte, especially campgrounds with beer licenses.
Bear Butte, a state park, is also seen as a church, a place of worship, to many. The cultural significance crosses the line between intertribal differences. Both the Lakota and the Cheyenne look at the mountain as being the centerpiece for religion, an altar to the Creator. It is a place to pray, fast and learn about the spiritual history of the indigenous peoples.
However, this serenity will disappear next month.
The Free Spirit Campground, a modest-sized campground covering 43 acres, is near the northwest base of Bear Butte. For $80 a week (or $210 per week, plus $80 per person, for RV campers), campers can set up base here. Before and during the Aug. 7-13 Sturgis motorcycle rally, motorcyclists will be among those camping at the usually peaceful butte base.
Meade County commissioners on Friday approved a beer license for the campground, as well as for the Ride & Rest Campground, a new campground scheduled to open more than 2 miles south of Bear Butte. But local and some nationwide traditionalists believe that beer, bikers and sacred sites simply don’t mix.
Ulysses Riley of Gillette, Wyo., the owner and senior partner of the Free Spirit Campground, doesn’t see a problem.
It’s the Sturgis rally, and I don’t think it’s going to go away,” Riley said of his motorcycle-riding clientele.
It’s been a campground for many years,” Riley said.
He was told by the previous owner that it was a relatively quiet campground. Riley bought the campground through the Internet auction site eBay.
I don’t mean anybody any harm.” he said, adding that the situation could be worse. ”The Hells Angels, Bandidos, the Aryan Nation or the Nazis could have bought it. It would be a lot worse than it is. I just want to do our campground.”
He also said that he went to the education center at Bear Butte State Park to learn about the history of Bear Butte.
I understand where they’re coming from … as much as I can from my perspective,” Riley said.
The approval of the two beer licenses came at an early time in the demonstration, which began July 4.
Why do we have to beg?” demonstrator Bob Black Tail said in regard to protecting Bear Butte. “They (county commissioners) enjoy their role as oppressors immensely. They could care less about our spirituality.”
We knew we didn’t have a chance,” Free Man, a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, said in regards to fighting the licenses. Free Man said he believes that economics seem to overrule the culture of the Lakota or the culture of American Indians in general. “Look at all of those bars down there (in town),” Free Man added. “We only have one mountain.”
There are several bars in Sturgis, plus grocery stores and convenience markets that sell beer.
On a hill not far from the Bear Butte turnoff is the Iron House. “Welcome bikers,” a banner reads on the outside of the store. The Iron Horse is one of four establishments with beer or liquor licenses within a 5-mile radius of Bear Butte.
Among them are two Indian groups that also opposed at Meade County Commission hearings: the new Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis County Line Campground 2 miles north of Bear Butte, and the Glencoe CampResort, 3 miles south of Bear Butte, which has added a concert venue called Rock’n The Rally. Both were granted full liquor licenses this year.
There’s plenty of room on the other side of Sturgis,” Ahmbaska Camp of Pine Ridge said. “There’s no need to develop here.”
Camp said that a 5-mile wide buffer zone should be put in place for the sacred site.
It’s not too much to ask for,” he said.
Camp’s father, Carter Camp, serves as the spokesman for the group at the camp. Camp said that the group plans to march and demonstrate in Sturgis.
We intend to execute our constitutional rights,” Camp said.
Camp said that there was a sizeable turnout for the initial start of the demonstration on July 4. “We had a really good meeting,” Camp said.
This is a peaceful demonstration,” his son, Ahmbaska, said. “They’re trying to make us out as militant, but there’s women and children here.”
The land on which the demonstrators are camped is on the southern base of the butte. This land was bought by the Rosebud Sioux Indian Tribe. It is also a neighbor of the Free Spirit Campground.
Meade County commissioners made their mistake again,” Camp said of the meeting Friday morning in Sturgis.
Camp estimates that between 2,000 and 3,000 bikers will be present in the area.
You can just picture 2,000 bikers at the bottom of the butte while we’re praying up there,” Chat Bobtail Bear said. Bobtail Bear is a member of the security team that takes care of the camp and its members.
Members of the group say that with each day that passes, there is less time for them to help preserve the heritage and history of Bear Butte.
It’s good that we’re doing it here, now, and not five, 10 years down the road when there’s development,” Margie Loud Hawk of Kyle said, suggesting that nipping the development in the bud is a better tactic. She sat in a fold-out chair, swatting at an occasional fly. She was surrounded by the women and children of the group, all of whom endured the heat and flies together.
Some people want to make it Indians against bikers,” Loud Hawk’s sister, Pam Afraid of Hawk, said.
Afraid of Hawk also believes that children should get involved with the struggle.
Our children need to know these things,” she said. Meanwhile, her children and grandchildren either sat with the women or were playing nearby.
The demonstration will come to a head during the week of July 30. From Aug. 1-4, a Summit of Nations will be held. According to Camp, members from Canada, Guatemala and Venezuela — which are countries with indigenous peoples — were invited and plan to attend. During the summit, treaties will be made, Camp said. He said that he wants these treaties to be recognized by the United Nations.
This year’s Sturgis motorcycle rally will mark the end of the traditional encampment.
STURGIS — About 20 to 30 men, women and children sit in a small wooded camp at the base of Bear Butte. For the next month, they will be residents of a tightly-knit community on Coyote Lane, seven miles northeast of Sturgis.
It definitely isn’t a demonstration,” Margie Loud Hawk, a temporary Bear Butte resident from Kyle, said. “(It’s) a gathering.”
They say that, through this gathering, they are showing their active opposition of business encroachment near Bear Butte, especially campgrounds with beer licenses.
Bear Butte, a state park, is also seen as a church, a place of worship, to many. The cultural significance crosses the line between intertribal differences. Both the Lakota and the Cheyenne look at the mountain as being the centerpiece for religion, an altar to the Creator. It is a place to pray, fast and learn about the spiritual history of the indigenous peoples.
However, this serenity will disappear next month.
The Free Spirit Campground, a modest-sized campground covering 43 acres, is near the northwest base of Bear Butte. For $80 a week (or $210 per week, plus $80 per person, for RV campers), campers can set up base here. Before and during the Aug. 7-13 Sturgis motorcycle rally, motorcyclists will be among those camping at the usually peaceful butte base.
Meade County commissioners on Friday approved a beer license for the campground, as well as for the Ride & Rest Campground, a new campground scheduled to open more than 2 miles south of Bear Butte. But local and some nationwide traditionalists believe that beer, bikers and sacred sites simply don’t mix.
Ulysses Riley of Gillette, Wyo., the owner and senior partner of the Free Spirit Campground, doesn’t see a problem.
It’s the Sturgis rally, and I don’t think it’s going to go away,” Riley said of his motorcycle-riding clientele.
It’s been a campground for many years,” Riley said.
He was told by the previous owner that it was a relatively quiet campground. Riley bought the campground through the Internet auction site eBay.
I don’t mean anybody any harm.” he said, adding that the situation could be worse. ”The Hells Angels, Bandidos, the Aryan Nation or the Nazis could have bought it. It would be a lot worse than it is. I just want to do our campground.”
He also said that he went to the education center at Bear Butte State Park to learn about the history of Bear Butte.
I understand where they’re coming from … as much as I can from my perspective,” Riley said.
The approval of the two beer licenses came at an early time in the demonstration, which began July 4.
Why do we have to beg?” demonstrator Bob Black Tail said in regard to protecting Bear Butte. “They (county commissioners) enjoy their role as oppressors immensely. They could care less about our spirituality.”
We knew we didn’t have a chance,” Free Man, a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, said in regards to fighting the licenses. Free Man said he believes that economics seem to overrule the culture of the Lakota or the culture of American Indians in general. “Look at all of those bars down there (in town),” Free Man added. “We only have one mountain.”
There are several bars in Sturgis, plus grocery stores and convenience markets that sell beer.
On a hill not far from the Bear Butte turnoff is the Iron House. “Welcome bikers,” a banner reads on the outside of the store. The Iron Horse is one of four establishments with beer or liquor licenses within a 5-mile radius of Bear Butte.
Among them are two Indian groups that also opposed at Meade County Commission hearings: the new Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis County Line Campground 2 miles north of Bear Butte, and the Glencoe CampResort, 3 miles south of Bear Butte, which has added a concert venue called Rock’n The Rally. Both were granted full liquor licenses this year.
There’s plenty of room on the other side of Sturgis,” Ahmbaska Camp of Pine Ridge said. “There’s no need to develop here.”
Camp said that a 5-mile wide buffer zone should be put in place for the sacred site.
It’s not too much to ask for,” he said.
Camp’s father, Carter Camp, serves as the spokesman for the group at the camp. Camp said that the group plans to march and demonstrate in Sturgis.
We intend to execute our constitutional rights,” Camp said.
Camp said that there was a sizeable turnout for the initial start of the demonstration on July 4. “We had a really good meeting,” Camp said.
This is a peaceful demonstration,” his son, Ahmbaska, said. “They’re trying to make us out as militant, but there’s women and children here.”
The land on which the demonstrators are camped is on the southern base of the butte. This land was bought by the Rosebud Sioux Indian Tribe. It is also a neighbor of the Free Spirit Campground.
Meade County commissioners made their mistake again,” Camp said of the meeting Friday morning in Sturgis.
Camp estimates that between 2,000 and 3,000 bikers will be present in the area.
You can just picture 2,000 bikers at the bottom of the butte while we’re praying up there,” Chat Bobtail Bear said. Bobtail Bear is a member of the security team that takes care of the camp and its members.
Members of the group say that with each day that passes, there is less time for them to help preserve the heritage and history of Bear Butte.
It’s good that we’re doing it here, now, and not five, 10 years down the road when there’s development,” Margie Loud Hawk of Kyle said, suggesting that nipping the development in the bud is a better tactic. She sat in a fold-out chair, swatting at an occasional fly. She was surrounded by the women and children of the group, all of whom endured the heat and flies together.
Some people want to make it Indians against bikers,” Loud Hawk’s sister, Pam Afraid of Hawk, said.
Afraid of Hawk also believes that children should get involved with the struggle.
Our children need to know these things,” she said. Meanwhile, her children and grandchildren either sat with the women or were playing nearby.
The demonstration will come to a head during the week of July 30. From Aug. 1-4, a Summit of Nations will be held. According to Camp, members from Canada, Guatemala and Venezuela — which are countries with indigenous peoples — were invited and plan to attend. During the summit, treaties will be made, Camp said. He said that he wants these treaties to be recognized by the United Nations.
This year’s Sturgis motorcycle rally will mark the end of the traditional encampment.
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