U.S. attorney weighs in on alcohol ban: Bars in Toppenish, Wapato OK despite tribe's rule
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One year after the Yakama Indian Nation proposed banning all liquor sales within its reservation, the U.S. attorney in Spokane has asserted that certain areas on the reservation could likely continue to sell alcohol because they are in non-Indian communities.
In a letter released this week, U.S. Attorney James Shively said taverns and other businesses that sell alcohol in the Yakima County cities of Toppenish and Wapato, where Indians make up a minority of the population, would likely be exempted from the tribal ban because they qualify as non-Indian communities.
Shively had been asked by Yakama Indian leaders and the state Attorney General's Office to clarify whether a 19th-century federal statute banning alcohol in "Indian country" could be applied to the entire 1.2 million-acre Yakama Reservation in south-central Washington.
Tavern owners and their customers in those cities were relieved.
"It had been a daily conversation: Would we be ticketed? Would we be in business? Now we'll be able to stay open," said Bruce Fish, a bartender at Little John's, a tavern in Toppenish.
But there are eight other businesses on the reservation, according to Yakama leaders, which will have to cease alcohol sales.
The Spur Tavern in Harrah could be one of them. And owner Gary Betschart, who just renewed his state liquor license, said he believes he is being unfairly singled out. Tiny Harrah, population 542, is also incorporated and also largely non-Indian, he pointed out.
"I don't believe the tribe has a right to obstruct my business on my private land," he said. "We're exactly the same as them (Toppenish and Wapato). The last chapter of all of this hasn't yet been written."
A spokeswoman for the state Liquor Control Board said her agency would "sit back and wait" to see whether the Yakamas would take action on businesses not exempted by the U.S. attorney.
That would mean the Yakamas would have to pursue criminal action against those businesses - a matter the tribe said it would take up during its council meeting later. Shively said his office would not take any action until then.
Last April, the Yakamas decided to fight alcoholism by banning liquor sales on their reservation. Since then, tavern and store owners doing businesses on the reservation, as well as state authorities, have been unclear about how far the ban extends.
The situation is complex: The reservation is a patchwork of tribal and nontribal lands. Federal law defines what "Indian country" is, but not what would comprise a non-Indian community within a reservation.
And while federal statutes prohibit alcohol sales, they have never been enforced in recent memory.
Alcohol sales apparently began on the reservation in 1953 despite the federal law and the tribe's own treaty prohibiting alcohol.
Forty-seven businesses sell alcohol within the reservation boundaries; 44 are owned by nonmembers of the tribe. The majority of the businesses are in incorporated cities that fall within the boundaries of the reservation.
Tribal leaders say the reservation has a 34 percent higher rate of motor-vehicle fatalities than the national average, a teen suicide rate that is five times higher, and a 500 percent greater rate of fetal alcohol syndrome in infants. The ban was an attempt to control a chronic problem, leaders said.
But while leaders said they were disappointed that Shively hadn't concluded the entire reservation could be dry, they said they regard his interpretation "as a net gain in the tribe's battle against alcohol abuse."
"In truth, it will result in the closure of some of the worst establishments," said Jack Fiander, a tribal-council member.
Ever since the tribe proposed the ban, Fiander said, state liquor authorities have increased their enforcement on the reservation. There have been more citations for businesses over-serving alcohol and serving minors, he said.
Florangela Davila can be reached at 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com.