Hacker News Reader

Comment by bkjelden | Hacker News Reader

Sounds like the owner or the bank are just trying to generate some PR buzz and rip off someone not from the area with more money than sense.

It's a few acres of prairie with some buildings that need to be torn down. I'm not up to date on land prices in western SD, but I can't imagine good pasture land is worth more than $2k/acre, even with the surge in beef prices recently.

It's also worth noting that the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations are located in the poorest counties in America. I've visited a couple times and it really is striking that such poverty exists in America. The one stat I can remember from a volunteer trip several years ago was that an 18 yr old boy had a <50% chance of living to 25. When I was in high school we would play football and basketball games there on occasion - our bus always had police escorts in and out of town.

View on HN

According to Google Maps, it's on the Pine Ridge Reservation. An outsider thinking he'd like to own a small town in the country might be in for a surprise. I went to high school on a different reservation in western South Dakota.

About the poverty: When I was in college in the mid-90s, I went on spring break work trips to the Rosebud reservation, and they cited a 90% adult male alcoholism rate.

The alcoholism and poverty on Pine Ridge and Rosebud are no joke. I think there's a genetic component and a cultural component that together almost guarantee it; both drivers are exacerbated by the insular nature of their community.

I volunteered with the Habitat chapter near there. They could not build on the res because any houses under construction would be stripped of their copper wire and plumbing before they could be completed. What they really need is a big employer to set up shop there: rising tide floating all boats, etc.

"I think there's a genetic component and a cultural component that together almost guarantee it; both drivers are exacerbated by the insular nature of their community."

You want to explain that, particularly the genetic component?

Predisposition for alcoholism is hertiable.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa60.htm

Given that, is there a specific genetic study saying the genetic condition is inherited in Native Americans (and I guess specifically the Lakota)?

> a specific genetic study saying the genetic condition is inherited

These studies are not really about one genetic condition that causes alcoholism, but genes or combinations that provide higher odds of immunity.

There is an a gene more dominant in parts of Asia that increases short term side effects for alcohol, reducing alcoholism.

Europe is suspected to have similar changes through genes that are less compatible with alcoholism dominating over others that might be better for most things, but not for the pickle that was the middle ages.

Why so snarky? It would be pretty surprising if there weren't a genetic component to differences in populations.

I was involved in social services in the 90's on a reservation and "genetics" was one of those fun ways for people to give up (both the alcoholic and service providers "waste of money of those people"). I'm not terribly convinced seeing how different families have gone.

I think you've hit on one of the main reasons people get uncomfortable talking about genetic explanations for behavioral differences; it starts to sound like you're saying that some groups can't be helped or that there's an implied ranking of populations. Neither, of course, follows.

As someone posted NIH below, it's not a far reach to believe some populations have this gene.

And no, it's not an excuse to give up on them, just a hurdle that needs to be overcome.

> What they really need is a big employer to set up shop there: rising tide floating all boats, etc.

The casinos on some reservations have had a positive impact. At least there is a good employer in the area for those wanting a regular life. In my opinion (as an outsider) the best thing for them is to go to college off the reservation.

There is a casino around there. But there's also the town of Deadwood a couple hours away, which is likely more appealing.

That's very believable. When I was there, every single morning I would see flatbed trucks hauling mangled cars down the road - presumably the cars were wrecked in a DUI accident the night before.

The one stat I can remember from a volunteer trip several years ago was that an 18 yr old boy had a <50% chance of living to 25.

This doesn't pass any sniff test I can think of.

I could believe "still living there when he was 25". Might be a corrupted context statistic.

The life expectancy for males in the county (whole reservation) is 71-72 years. If 50% are dying in their "stupid nearly adult years" they are going to have to have bunch living past 100 to bring the average up.

It is interesting how these sorts of things travel. When I talk to people about North St. Louis I get the impression that they think 1 out of every 2 people who live there are killed in a drive-by shooting, so I understand why someone would believe that half of all men on a reservation die before they're 25. It can't possibly be true, though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com