Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today urged those American Indians who can qualify as members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin -no matter where they may be living today --to participate in the election of a nine member Menominee Restoration Committee March 2, 1974.
"About 3, 000 Menominee Indians are believed to be living in Wisconsin," Thompson pointed out. "Another 3,000 are believed to be living elsewhere. We hope that all Menominee will help to restore their tribal government - terminated in 1961 - by participating in this election," he said.
Voting will take place between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. March 2 at four polling places within Menominee County: In Neopit, Keshena, South Branch, and Zoar, all Wisconsin. Qualified voters unable to vote in person may vote by absentee ballot. A request for tins ballot must be made to Area Director Raymond P. Lightfoot, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U. S. Department of the Interior, 831 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. 55402, telephone a/c 612 725-2904.
All absentee ballots must be received in the office of the Area Director no later than February 27.
To participate in the election of the Menominee Restoration Committee one must be: A person listed on the final roll of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, or an enrollee's descendant who on March 2, 1974 will be at least 18 years old and who possesses at least one-quarter degree Menominee blood.
Until a tribal governing body is regularly elected as provided for under the law, the Menominee Restoration Committee will officially represent the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in those matters relating to the restoration of Federal services to the tribe and its members as provided by the law. Its immediate duties will include tile drafting of a tribal constitution and by-laws and updating the tribal membership roll.
At the time termination was considered for the Menominees, they had more than $10 million in trust and realized an annual profit from their lumber business. In less than seven years after termination, the tribe was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Menominee Reservation Act was signed into law by President Nixon December 22, 1973.
