LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska lawmakers gave initial approval Monday to a bill that on the surface seeks to address problems that have arisen from heavy alcohol sales near an Indian reservation, but in actuality doesn’t include funding.

Legislators advanced a bill that would establish a fund to help pay for an alcohol treatment center or increased law enforcement near Whiteclay. The four stores in the village of 14 people sell approximately 4 million cans of beer annually – most to residents of the dry Pine Ridge reservation that’s within walking distance across the border in South Dakota. The reservation has one of the country’s highest alcoholism-related mortality rates.

An initial bill would have set aside $250,000 annually to the fund for the next seven years, but Monday’s watered-down version set aside no money and provided no guarantee there would be any.

Critics of the plan called it unfocused, and said it was a one-sided attack on an issue that requires deep involvement from all affected parties – including the tribe and South Dakota.

Nebraska senators said Monday that their South Dakota counterparts told them they’re interested in cooperating to address alcoholism-related problems, but couldn’t help this year.

Currently, “we only have one group at the table,” said Sen. Galen Hadley, of Kearney.

Tribal officials including Theresa Two Bulls, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, did not immediately respond to a phone message Monday. But during a legislative hearing in December, she told lawmakers the tribe wanted to work with them and that “now is the time to come together ... we need to stop pointing fingers.”

At the time, Two Bulls said the tribe supported an additional tax on beer sold in Whiteclay, with revenues going toward a detox center and possibly, a homeless shelter.

Under Monday’s bill, should money be made available to the fund, it could be used to operate an alcohol-detoxification center near Whiteclay on land owned by the tribe, said Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth, who introduced the bill.

“This isn’t the silver bullet,” to fix problems in and near Whiteclay, Louden said, “but it’s a start.”

One Whiteclay resident said it wouldn’t be a worthwhile start, even with the now-nixed $250,000. That amount isn’t enough, lawmakers haven’t clearly defined what their goals are in Whiteclay, and they can’t cure the alcoholism that creates the demand for the beer sold in his town, said Lance Moss.

“They just want to look like they’re doing something,” said Moss, who owns a grocery store in town and grew up there.

“They’re not doing anything.”

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On the Net:

Nebraska Legislature: www.nebraskalegislature.gov