The Department of the Interior today announced adoption of regulations providing for the government of three Indian villages in Osage County, Oklahoma, which in the past have not had an effective form of local government.
The areas affected are Grayhorse Indian Village, Hominy Indian Village, and Pawhuska Indian Village, which lies just outside the city limits of Pawhuska. All three villages were reserved from allotment under the 1906 law which provided ~or the allotting of the surface of other lands in Osage County to members of the Osage Tribe. Subsurface or mineral rights were retained in tribal ownership.
Up to now the villages have been supervised under uncodified regulations which were approved in 1932 and have not adequately met their needs.
"Absence of well-defined regulations, the Department pointed out, has periodically resulted in situations that have threatened the welfare of the members of the Osage Tribe."
The new regulations were unanimously approved by the Osage Tribal Council at a meeting in Pawhuska on August 29. They provide for the organization of five member committees in each of the villages under regulations established by the Osage Tribal Council and for the drafting of constitutions and by-laws by these committees Subject to approval by the Tribal Council and by the superintendent of the Osage Indian Agency.
Provisions are also included to cover the issuance of dwelling permits, the sale or mortgage of improvements, the renting and inheritance of improvements, the setting aside of certain tracts for tribal use and benefit, and other related matters.
The full text of the regulations is being published in the Federal Register
