BIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL NAMED TO INTER-STATE BOARD--Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of Schools for the Navajo Area of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' school system recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory. Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are represented on the 16-member panel.
The laboratory was established under a provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-10~ Title IV) to provide research, surveys and studies for the advancement of education in the region. Particular research needs are recognized in the multicultural four-State area which has many Indian and Spanish-American residents.
SEMINOLES RENAME RESERVATION--The Seminole Indians of the 480-acre reservation adjacent to Hollywood, Florida, have passed a resolution to name their reservation Hollywood. The tribal land had informally been known as the Dania Reservation.
The new name for the reservation was chosen to demonstrate the close cooperation and neighborly relationship of the Indian and non-Indian communities. The city of Hollywood provides many services to the Indians of the adjacent reservation including schooling, fire and police protection, and water and sewage disposal.
PRIVATE CAPITAL BACKS INDIAN BUSINESSES--Indian enterprises prove increasingly attractive to private investors, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In 1951, when BIA began assembling data, a total of approximately $20 million in private and non-Bureau Government capital was loaned to individual Indians and tribal groups for various enterprises. In the 1965 calendar year more than $173 million from private and non-Bureau Government lending institutions went to Indian businesses. This is an increase of more than 850 percent in the 14-year period.
PROJECT FOR RETARDED CHILDREN--A special pilot project for teaching retarded youngsters ended this spring at Teecnospos, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. The results are now being studied and evaluated.
Mrs. Frances Bentzen, of the BIA Education staff in Washington, D.C., developed the project, which involved a pilot group of 47 Indian youngsters aged 8-16. All were having difficulty with classwork and were becoming frustrated and indifferent.
The group was initially tested by research psychologists and divided among four highly qualified teachers. Small classrooms were used and teachers were permitted wide range in selecting work, materials for highly individualized instruction.
Last April, the group was again tested. When the program continues next fall, teaching methods will be adjusted on the basis of results.
HARRY WINSTON, INC. TRAINING INDIANS--Harry Winston, Inc. of Chandler, Ariz. has renewed a $78,000 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide initial on-the-job training or continued training for 60 area Indians. The company is one of the world's largest and best known diamond mining and processing firms.
In May, 1962 the Chandler processing plant was established near the Gila River Reservation, south or Phoenix, Ariz. From its opening, the company has successfully employed Pima and Maricopa Indians from the neighboring Gila River and Salt River Reservations in diamond polishing and processing operations. Of the 73 employees comprising the current work force, 66 are, Indians.
In times of national emergency, the skills involved in diamond processing are considered crucial and an available pool of trained Indian employees would be invaluable.
ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING CONTRACT NEGOTIATED WITH PLASTICS PLANT--Dimensions, Inc. of Waubun, Minn. will train 15 Chippewas from White Earth Reservation in skills needed for fabricating plastic parts. The company recently negotiated a $1,725 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
OREGON INDIAN GIRL HONORED--Myrtle Adams, a member of the Wasco Indian Tribe, Warm Springs, Ore., attended the National Youth Conference on Natural Beauty and Conservation in Washington, D. C. June 26-29. She represented the Camp Fire Girls of Oklahoma. Miss Adams attends the Fort Sill Indian School in Lawton, Oklahoma, and will be a senior next fall. This summer she plans to participate in the work-study program for students who plan to attend Oklahoma State University.
JOB CORPS CENTERS ON RESERVATIONS--The Poston, Ariz., Job Corps Center, dedicated June 5 on the Colorado River Reservation, is the eighth such installation to operate in an Indian area. Job Corps Conservation Centers, established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, provide basic and general education, vocational skill training, and a change of environment for disadvantaged youths. While in training on the reservations, the young men work on useful and productive resource conservation projects. The recently opened Fort Simcoe Center on the Yakima Reservation in Washington began to receive its first corpsmen on May 2. Already in operation were other centers at Winslow, Ariz., Mexican Springs, on the Navajo Reservation; on the San Carlos Reservation, Ariz., Mescalero Apache, N. Mex.; Flathead, Mont., and Makah Reservation, Wash.
BUREAU ANNOUNCES CONTRACTS FOR JOB CORPS PROJECTS--A number of contracts have been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in recent weeks for construction projects in Job Corps Conservation Camps on Indian reservations:
A $97,768 contract to Building Mart, Inc., of El Paso, Tex., for construction of two prefabricated metal buildings at 8-canyon Job Corps Conservation Center on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Arizona. One building will be used for recreation and the other will serve as a combined workshop-vocational training/warehouse building. Four bids ranged to a high of $118,908.
An $81,055 contract to Flynn Steel Buildings, Phoenix, Ariz., for construction of a metal, rigid frame workshop/vocational training building; a warehouse/storage building; and completion of a recreation building on the San Carlos Reservation. Two other bids were received, the highest $110,000.
A $39,580 contract to Flynn Steel Buildings of Phoenix, Ariz., for construction of a metal, rigid frame building to serve as a combined workshop, vocational training center and warehouse at the Poston Job Corps Center on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona. Six bids were received ranging to a high of $72,800.
A $36,746 contract to the Banes Company Inc. of Albuquerque, N. Mex., for construction of a prefabricated metal workshop/vocational training and warehouse building on the Navajo Reservation at Mexican Springs, N. Mex. Six bids ranged to a high of $48,988.
A $124,500 contract to Pacific Ventures Inc. of Seattle, Wash., for construction of a recreation building, a combined workshop-vocational training and warehouse structure and a vehicle storage building at Fort Simcoe Center. Seven bids were received, ranging to a high of $380,000. The Center is on the Yakima Indian Reservation.
A $112,687 contract to Building Mart, Inc. of El Paso, Texas, for construction of three prefabricated metal buildings at the Winslow, Ariz. Center. The buildings will house a vocational training workshop, recreation facilities and a laundry. Five bids were received, ranging to a high of $150,200.
INTERIOR FAVORS EXTENSION FOR CLAIMS COMMISSION--The Department of the Interior has recommended that Congress pass a bill to extend the life of the Indian Claims Commission from April 10, 1967 to April 10, 1972. The recommendation was based on the fact that an estimated 500 claims of Indian groups now pending against the United States cannot be disposed of by the 1967 termination date.
FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO COVER FIVE AWARDS--The second Supplemental Appropriation Bill, 1966, provided $7,872,114 to cover five awards granted by the Indian Claims Commission and the Court of Claims. Signed by the President May 13, 1966, the bill includes funds to pay:
An award of $4,479,498 to the Confederated Utes in Court of Claims Case No. 47567, a petition by the tribe for a general accounting.
$2,450,000 awarded to the Umatillas in Dockets No. 264, 264-A, 264-B for lands and for the loss of fish and eel runs on the Umatilla River.
$876,477 to the Wea (Peoria) Indians in Docket No. 314, as additional payment for lands ceded under a Treaty of October 2, 1818.
$63,680 to the Seminoles of Oklahoma in Docket No. 248, as compensation for income from oil and gas leases on the Mekasuky Mission School Tract.
$2,458 to the Poncas of Oklahoma in Docket No. 324 in response to a petition for a general accounting.
