New superintendents have been named for two Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies -- the Zuni in New Mexico and the Fort Hall in Idaho -- Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced today. Both superintendents are Oklahoma men and transfer from North Dakota agencies.
I James D. Cornett, Superintendent of the Fort Totten, N. D., and Agency has been reassigned to head the Zuni Agency, and William A. Mehojah, Superintendent of the Turtle Mountain Agency, Belcourt, N. D., is to be Superintendent of the Fort Hall Agency.
Cornett succeeds Joseph F. Otero in the Zuni post. Otero transferred to the Department of Commerce to become executive assistant to Orren Beaty, Federal Co-Chairman of the Four Corners Regional Commission. A successor for Cornett at Fort Totten has not been named.
Mehojah succeeds John L. Pappan, who was transferred to be Superintendent of the Osage Agency at Pawhuska, Okla. A successor for Mehojah at Turtle Mountain has not been named.
Cornett, 45, a native of Kaw City, Okla., began his career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a soil scientist and has served at the Fort Peck and Blackfeet agencies, Mont., and the Zuni Agency, N. M. While at the Zuni Agency he served as acting superintendent for a period of 6 months.
Cornett graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University in 1952. He served in the Navy during World War II. Cornett is married and has one son.
Mehojan, 51, is a native of Sayre, Okla. Government began in 1939 at the Pawnee Agency years with the Veterans Administration, Mehojah responsible positions with the Bureau of Indian South Dakota, and North Dakota.
His career with the Federal Except for a period of seven has served in progressively Affairs in Oklahoma, Montana, and Of Indian descent, Mehojah was graduated from Haskell Institute and Muskogee Junior College. He served in the Army in the European Theater during World War II. He is the father of a son and daughter.
Cornett's transfer is effective May 19; Mehojan's transfer is effective June 2.
