A Native American man, who asked not to be identified, sleeps on the cold concrete of a chapel as the dawn light breaks on Route 87 in Whiteclay, Neb. Sheridan County residents defended Whiteclay's embattled beer stores, telling local leaders that shutting them down would "scatter" alcohol-related ills and lead to more drunk driving. The four stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer last year a few hundred yards south of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, where liquor is banned but alcoholism is rampant.

Portrait of Vince Brewer Jr., who's son Vinnie Brewer III, 29, of Pine Ridge was gunned down in the parking lot of the SuAnne Big Crow Youth Development Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation. "Even if you come from a good family, you had a good upbringing, there’s no guarantees — no guarantees here. It’s very easy for them to fall in with the wrong group," Vince says. “Choices. You always hear that, all the time. It’s about choices. And Vin made the wrong choice.”

Terri Marti of Lincoln holds a high school photo of her father, Doug Marti, who took his own life in 1976. The 42-year-old father of four was plagued by mood swings and had threatened suicide before. He’d been through treatment for alcoholism twice, but the day before he died, he went to a bar. He bought a gun. Early the next morning, he left home and drove to the Villager Motel on O Street. He took off his glasses and his rings and his Rolex and set them on the dresser. He wrote notes to his children. Then he was gone.

Newborn Stone Charles Daniel Haifley (second left) is wearing a blue sleeper, resting in the crook of his mother's arm. He was their biggest baby, she says. Their only baby who arrived early. His parents know why. “Because he needed to meet his brother.” On the last night of his earthly life, parents Kendra (left) and Damon brought his baby brother to the hospital to meet Silas (not shown) who was dying. They brought Roman (right), his older brother, too.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Hawke, of Lincoln, enjoys a moment with his daughter Brooklyn during a sending off ceremony for him and additional members of the Nebraska Army National Guard's Company G, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion, based out of Lincoln, Neb., on Friday, June 3, 2016.

Judith Gibson (left) and Barbara DiBarnard share a tender moment after they were married in their home in Lincoln, Neb. on Friday, June 26, 2015. Barbara and Judith, who have been together for 27 years, were finally able to be legally apply for a marriage license in Nebraska following the U. S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states.

Six-month-old Robert Bielski, Jr. stares at the menacing image of actor Clint Eastwood in the middle of a movie fight as it peers from his family's television set at home in Philadelphia.

Five-year-old Brayden Ogorzolka of Aurora is enveloped by a frothy amalgam of mud and soap suds as he hits the bottom of the Slip-n-Slide on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, during the Nebraska Sports Council's Mud Run '13 at the Lancaster Event Center.

Thirteen-year-old Nicole Coffey (left) of West Friendship gets surprised by a double volley of water from the hoses of Joe Ingegneri, 11 (top) of Mt. Airy, and Nick Boeh, 10 (right) of Glenwood as she attempts to clean her pigs in time for the market auction Wednesday night at the Howard County Fair.

As the Benediction is performed by Reverend Joe Ehrmann, James Weems III (right) looks up towards the sky as he is held by his father, Baltimore City police officer James Weems Jr. during Fallen Heroes Day at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Weems' wife had been engaged to a Baltimore City police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1986.

Several silky strands of Canada geese flying in a "V" formation head southward under the contrails of passenger jet during a unseasonably warm day in Lincoln, Neb. on Thursday, March 14, 2013, at Seacrest Field.

Strategically positioned between two Jersey cows, Sean Mayer, 10 of Taneytown, Maryland aims a rubber band at a friend in the cow barn at the Howard County Fair.

An embarrassed Corey Taylor (center), 12, stands by as Panthers coach Melvin Jordan (right) scrutinizes his haircut at practice. "Where'd you leave your hair," Jordan asked. "At the barbershop," answered Taylor. To which the coach replied, "You mean you actually paid someone to clean your head?"