SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A group of about 300 marched from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to the border town of Whiteclay, Neb., Saturday to protest the sale of beer to American Indians.

Alcohol is banned on Pine Ridge, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe and some Nebraska state lawmakers are trying to curb the sale of beer to tribal members.

Mark Vasina, president of Nebraskans for Peace, said no one believes that stopping beer sales in Whiteclay will solve alcoholism problems on the reservation. But Vasina said most beer on the dry reservation comes from Whiteclay, and officials have to consider responsible policy.

He questioned why policy-makers allow beer sales next to a dry Indian reservation, but say it's unacceptable to set up a liquor store across the street from a church or high school.

"What we're talking about is responsible public policy in the state of Nebraska," Vasina said by telephone Saturday.

Whiteclay, in Nebraska's Sheridan County, has about a dozen residents and three stores that sell thousands of cans of beer each week to Pine Ridge residents. Alcohol is banned on the 5,000-square-mile reservation, home to 15,000 Oglala Sioux, and it has one of the nation's highest alcoholism-related mortality rates.

The marchers, who gathered at Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge about noon, stopped along the way for prayers and arrived in downtown Whiteclay for a rally about 1:15 p.m. The majority were Oglala Sioux Tribe members with about 80 joining from Nebraska, Vasina said.

On Thursday, 15 Nebraska state senators signed a letter addressed to the tribe saying that the state needs to do more to address alcohol problems in the border town. That letter was read to Oglala Sioux members Saturday, Vasina said.

Speaking at the rally was Winnebago tribal member Frank LaMere, a longtime member of the Nebraska Democratic Party who serves on the party's national committee.

Saturday's event coincided with the anniversary of the unsolved 1999 killings of Ronald Hard Heart and Wilson Black Elk Junior.