News by Year

To participate in the Energy Conservation Program, Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Directors have been authorized to extend Christmas vacation in any school under their jurisdiction 14 days -- or until January 21, Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today.

Time lost if a school is closed until January 21 is to be made up by extending the school year, week, or day, Thompson indicated, adding that he must be informed of whatever program a school that remains closed an added 14 days elects to compensate for time lost.

A contract amounting to nearly $2.4 million has been awarded to Nielson's, Inc. of Dolores, Colorado, to build slightly more than 12 miles of road and a bridge over a wash on the Navajo Indian reservation about 10 miles south of Shiprock, New Mexico, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Appointment of a four member Ad Hoc Hearings and Appeals Board to decide appeals as to qualifications of Village Corporations and other matters under appeals as to qualifications of Village Corporations and other matters under Interior Rogers C. B. Morton.

Chairman of the Board, which will be headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, will be Judith M. Brady, 32, of Anchorage; Alaska. Mrs. Brady has been editor of the Alaska Native Management Report published by the Alaska Native Foundation.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson pointed yesterday to this Administration's "solid record of achievement" in achieving restorations of land to Indian tribes in an address to the National Tribal Chairmen's Association in Phoenix, Ariz., December 6.

The National Tribal Chairmen's Association, which includes the heads of each American Indian tribe recognized by the United States government and entitled to services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is holding its annual meeting in Phoenix December 5 - 8.

It is a pleasure for me to be with the Tribal Chairmen’s Association today. We have a common interest in improving the quality of life for Indian people. The problems that face us are complex and difficult and they will require all the effort we can put against them.

Proposed regulations for the preparation of plans for the use or distribution of judgments made to American Indian tribes or groups by the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims have been drafted and can now be commented on, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Morris Thompson, 34, Athabascan Indian and native of the State of Alaska, was sworn in yesterday as Commissioner of Indian Affairs by Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton to become the 41st and youngest Commissioner of the 141-year-old B1U'eau of Indian Affairs

The largest cession of land to a group of Native Americans in the history of the United States is one way to describe the effect of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed by the Congress December 18, 1971.

Or, put another way, The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will put about one-twelfth of Alaska into the hands of the Alaska Native corporations --an administrative device unique in the annals of solutions to aboriginal land claims.

Lauding the action of the Senate today in confirming President Nixon's nomination of Morris Thompson as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said he was confident Thompson would provide the leadership to begin "a new era for American Indians."

Alaska Natives will begin to get one-twelfth of the land in their State, and a sizeable chunk of cash as well, under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in early 1974. This will come about through a system of corporations that is uniquely Alaskan.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is now making up a roll of United States citizens who are of one-fourth or more Indian, Aleut or Eskimo ancestry or combination of these born on or before December 18, 1971.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act has three basic components: Land, money, and an interrelated corporate structure Land, money, and an interrelated corporate structure of Native villages and regions.

Since Alaska Natives -- Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts --are a land-oriented people, the cession of 40 million acres of land to them under the Act is of great importance. One-twelfth of Alaska will be in their hands starting in early 1974.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. 19 - The American Indian National Bank, the first institution of its kind, has opened for business at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. in the nation's capital.

This bank, the American Indian National Bank, is a product of the spirit and vision of the Indian people. It is a symbol of Indian self-determination. More important, however, it is a working symbol that will bring new prosperity to our Indians, and a full opportunity for equal economic footing with the rest of the Nation.

Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton has assured representatives of the Indian tribe that the Interior Department is committed to finding “a practicable way'' to deliver which the tribe is entitled as recognized in a 1965 agreement, involving construction of the Central Utah Project.

In a statement released in Washington today, Secretary Morton said the Department intends to carry out terms of the water agreement "with all possible dispatch," and that he has ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to expedite its feasibility report on phases of the Central Utah Project.

American Indians who work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., are offering three multi-colored travel posters for sale as unusual Christmas gifts.

The posters, designed by American Indian art students, are based on the theme, "Discover America with the First Americans," an invitation to visit Indian reservations at vacation time.

The posters sell for $1.75 each with all proceeds going directly into college scholarships for Indian youngsters

­­"Miss Indian America XX", Maxine Norris, 21, Papago Indian of Casa Grande, Arizona, will visit Washington, D.C. November 10 through 16 as the guest of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary tor Indian Affairs announced today.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced that on the basis of a vote count made on November 6, a Thirteenth Regional Corporation will not be established for Non-Resident Alaska Natives.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act provides that if a majority of all eligible non-resident Alaska Natives, 18 years of age or older, voted for the establishment of a Thirteenth Regional Corporation the Secretary would establish that corporation. The necessary majority was not obtained.

(Tulsa, Oklahoma) Senator Dewey F. Bartlett, R-Okla., today called for action by Congress on Indian legislation now pending.

Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, today made public his remarks to Mrs. Robert Jim on the passing of her husband Robert Jim, Chairman of the Yakima Indian Tribe, Washington, member of the National Council on Indian Opportunity, and the National Tribal Chairman’s Association.

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I take this opportunity to address the 30th annual convention of the national congress of American Indians.

You have dedicated your convention and its efforts to the goal of restoration of the Menominee tribe to federal recognition and trust status and have adopted as your theme “Restoration now”.

It is a very great honor to appear before this distinguished audience.

I know that you are aware that the problems of Native Americans are gathering, day by day, an increasing and long overdue awareness and commitment in the conscience of all Americans - and certainly with the United States government.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today called President Nixon's nomination today, of Morris Thompson! 34, of Juneau, Alaska, to be Commissioner of Indian Affairs "a key step in assuring constructive progress in helping our Indian citizens move forward."

"Morris Thompson, an Indian himself, will bring to the Bureau of Indian Affairs the professional qualifications and leadership which are needed to meet the urgent challenges facing the Indian people today," Secretary Morton said.

­­­ Appointment of Stanley D. Lyman, 60, Superintendent of the Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, S. Dak., since October 1971, to head the Indian Trust Protection Office of the Phoenix Area, Bureau of Indian Affairs, beginning November 11, was announced today by Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the

It is indeed an honor TO represent the Secretary of the Interior at this 30th Annual Convention of the National Congress of American Indians.

I am also pleased to have the privilege of representing your Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Secretary Morton has requested me to convey his best wishes for the continued success of NCAI and extend his personal regards to Mr. Leon Cook, Mr. Charles E. Trimble, along with other officers and directors for the excellent work done in the past year.

Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin today announced the publication of a new Bureau of Indian Affairs booklet on the current status of Indian education.

Indian Education: Steps to Progress in the 70's is a 60 page booklet that gives a comprehensive outline of the numerous Bureau of Indian Affairs programs underway to raise the American Indians' level of education.

Speech of Marvin L. Franklin,

Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs,

At the Student-Faculty Center,

Oklahoma City University,

Oklahoma Education Association Convention, Indian Education Division,

October 19, 1973

Mr. Chairman, Governor O'Callaghan, distinguished guests, ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honor to respond to your invitation to be here for the Third Annual State Indian Conference. I congratulate our hosts, the

A Nevada Indian Affairs Commission, for this event, and I congratulate

Assistant to the Secretary office "Interior' for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin today announced the award of a $2.3 million contract to expand the facilities of Sherman Indian School, Riverside, California. This is the second phase of a $5.2 million effort to modernize the school

The contract was awarded to Buster and Schuler Construction, lnc. Redland, California.

A $1. 2 million dollar contract has been let for the construction of a new gymnasium at Phoenix lndian School, Phoenix, Ariz., Assistant to the

Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today. The contract was awarded to M. Greenburg Construction Company, Inc. of Phoenix.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton has appointed William L. Rogers as his Special Assistant for the 10 - state Missouri Basin Region, with headquarters in the Denver Federal Center. The post has been vacant and the appointment is effective immediately.

Rogers, 52, is a professional engineer who joined Interior in June, 1970, to serve as Deputy Under Secretary. He has handled a variety of top-level assignments in the Department, serving most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today the award of a $2.4 million contract with Burgess Construction Company of Phoenix, Ariz., for the bituminous surfacing of 12.768 miles of Navajo India n Reservation road extending from Ganado, Ariz.; to the Nazlini - Sawmill Road Junction. Included in the contract is a 200-foot bridge to be built over Ganado Wash near Ganado Lake.

Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today that representatives of the National Center for Dispute Settlement will preside at a meeting of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe in Holton, Kansas, Saturday, September 29. A move to stop the meeting had been turned down by the Federal Court on September 11 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Korton announced today that he has notified the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District in Nevada that its contract for management of the irrigation works of the Newlands Reclamation Project will be terminated October 31, 1974.

The Secretary said that the immediate reason for the action is the repeated violations by the District of the Department's operating criteria and procedures for the Project.

Contracts totaling nearly $7.5 million to build roads on American Indian reservations entered into by the close of fiscal year 1973 will help make those land areas more economically and socially viable and accessible to visitors, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs predicted today.

Distribution of Indian Claims Commission judgments totaling $2.7 million awarded to the Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, will be made beginning about September 6, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton has appointed Reid P. Chambers, former Acting Professor of Law at the University of California at Los Angeles, to be Associate Solicitor of the Interior Department for Indian Affairs, effective immediately.

Chambers, 33, has had background.in Federal Indian Law, not only teaching at UCLA and the University of Colorado Law Schools, but also in litigation involving protection of Indian rights and resources.

It is a great honor to be invited to participate in the annual ceremonies of the Ponca tribe and be the guest of the respected leaders of the tribe, chairman John William and councilman Dana Knight.

He's also distinct pleasure to appear before the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce forum and renew my acquaintance with so many of my longtime friends.

WASHINGTON. D.C.--Senator James Abourezk today asked Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton to take immediate personal charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs until a commissioner of that agency is legally appointed. Abourezk is chairman of the Senate Interior Subcommittee on Indian Affairs.

Abourezk said that the intervention or the Interior Secretary is required immediately to stop the BIA from going ahead with a reorganization plan which is being implemented "prematurely, illegally and without realistic involvement of the Indian tribes."

Thirty American Indian students at Haskell Indian Junior College Lawrence, Kans., the only Indian college operated by the Federal Government, completed a summer internship in government in Washington, D.C., in August Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

"These young people representing nine states were chosen from about 100 who asked to be included in the program," Franklin indicated.

It is a great pleasure to be here and l am highly honored to address this first graduating class of reservation Police officers trained at Brigham City, which represents the beginning of a new era and a new chapter in Indian community self-awareness.

I bring greetings from Secretary of the Interior Morton and the regrets of the Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs Marvin Franklin who could not accept your invitation because of pressing matters in Washington.

This graduation marks a milestone in the progress of Indian people towards self-determination.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs ship North Star III sidled up to craggy Little Diomede in the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska last month and the, skilled crew worked for 43 straight hours --helped by the fact that there are now only about four hours of darkness a day on the tiny island to upload more than 400 tons of building material under conditions that would have challenged the Navy Seabees.

Indian young people have little or no difficulty gaining admission to the college or university of their choice. They tend to enroll immediately after they graduate from high school, drop out for a year or two, and then return to their undergraduate studies. Education and social work are their most common majors. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is their greatest source of financial help

Assistant Attorney General J. Stanley Pottinger announced today the creation of an Office of Indian Rights within the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Carl Stoiber, senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division and head of the special task force on Indian rights, has been named Director of the new Office. R. Dennis Ickes will serve as Deputy Director.

The Department of the Interior announced today that amendments by Alaska Natives to enrollment applications filed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will be considered on appeal if received by the Enrollment Coordinator in Anchorage, Alaska, by August 15, 1973.

Forty American Indian police, including two Indian policewomen, will graduate in August from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Police Academy, presently located in Brigham City, Utah, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

American Indian trust landowners have been given greater flexibility when they negotiate over electric power rights-of-way across their land, and the process of granting these rights-of-way has been streamlined with the abandonment of certain time consuming requirements, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

This has come about through amendments to Title 25, code of Federal Regulations--which concerns American Indians and their trust lands--published recently in the Federal Register.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs jurisdiction for ten Alaskan villages has been transferred from one Bureau agency to another so that the areas served by the agencies will more closely correspond to those of Regional Corporations established under the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act, Marvin L Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

Distribution of Indian Claims Commission judgments totaling over

$5.5 million awarded to the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and Indiana, will be made beginning about July 19, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

What is the status of follow-up actions at Wounded Knee?

Substantial losses were suffered by Indian residents of Wom1ded Knee during the 71-day occupation of the village.

Restoration efforts by the Bureau of Indian Affairs include:

The Indian Education for Health Committee of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare will meet July 19 and 20 between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in the Indian Health Area conference room, 388 Old Post Office and Court House Building, Oklahoma City, Okla., Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs announced today.

"The meeting is to continue to develop ways and means of coordinating and improving education and health programs for Indians throughout the United States, Franklin indicated.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton in a statement issued today urged support of legislation to restore the terminated Menominee Indians of Wisconsin to Federal status as Indians.

Marvin Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, testified today before the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in support of H.R. 7421, the Menominee Restoration Act.

The text of Secretary Morton's statement follows:

I would like to speak to you quite frankly on a subject that has occupied fully one half of my life and about which I feel strongly.

That subject is a professional career in our Armed Forces for an Indian citizen.

Want to attend an Eskimo blanket-toss? Potlatch? Snake or crown dance? Exhibition of Indian arts and craft?

The American Indian Calendar, 1973, listing events under the sponsorship of Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts scheduled to take place from the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean is now available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402. The price is 45 cents.

The Department of the Interior today proposed legislation which would enable all of its Indian, programs to be granted to tribes for their administration and would channel an additional $25 million in bloc grants for economic and tribal development.

The Department of the Interior today announced proposed new procedures applicable to probating of Indian estates. The new procedures would apply where a tribe holds a statutory option to buy the interests of designated beneficiaries. The new procedures are being published in the Federal Register as proposed and interested parties are given 30 days to comment.

This press release is being issued to clarify a release of May 2 pertaining to the lowering of the voting age for tribal elections.

Thirty Choctaw Indian students from Choctaw Central High School, a Bureau of Inc1ian Affairs school at Philadelphia, Miss., sang songs of the Choctaw, Quapaw, Kiowa, Osage, Hopi, Acana Pueblo, and Navajo tribes in their Choctaw costumes in an auditorium of the Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., on May 4.

The Federal regulations regarding Indians voting in tribal elections have been amended to conform with the 26th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified June 30, 1971, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The amendments are to Part 52 of Title 25 (Code of Federal Regulations). Four sections were changed to reflect the lower voting age.

Regulations have been published in the Federal Register to cover distribution of nearly $3 million awarded the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia Indians by the Indian Claims commission under two different dockets, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN:

The President has recent­ly received a number of letters concerning the pro­posed Trans-Alaska pipe­line. He has asked me to share with you our view of some of the issues raised.

Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today that the first exhibition of art at the John F. Kennedy Center will be a showing of works by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Scheduled to open at the Kennedy Center on April 1, 1973, the multi-media show will feature several of the best known American Indian artists, working in sculpture, painting, graphics, ceramics, jewelry, costumes and poetry.

The Department of the Interior has proposed amendment of Title 25 of the Code of Federal regulations to establish requirements and filing application deadlines for enrollment with the Mdewakanton and Wahpakoota Tribe of Sioux Indians and the Sisseton and Wahpeton Mississippi Sioux Tribe, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The proposed amendment is being published in the Federal Register.

America's attention has been focused on the irresponsible violence at Wounded Knee. The future of Indian self-determination can only be set back when unrepresentative groups disregard the law.

Instead of leading to solutions and the conditions for a new era of Indian self-determination, violence leads only to more violence, and more suffering.

Human injustice cannot be eliminated without the conditions for equity --and full moral responsibility cannot be met without full legal authority.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS

To THE AMERICAN PEOPLE:

There has been and is being much written about the American Indians. Much of the editorializing is out of focus. The reader ls often left with the impression that the Federal Government is some kind of a monster on the war path trying to destroy the American natives. Nothing could be farther from the troth. I am not trying to de­fend the past. I am the first to admit that the formulae of the past fell short of the mark and resulted in a rela­tive holding action in the struggle for existence faced by the Indian tribes. ­­­

The award of a $985,056 contract to construct municipal facilities at Red Lake, Minn., was announced today by Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs.

The following statement was issued today by Ralph E. Erickson, Special Assistant to the Attorney General:

A six-month study of the school construction needs of public school districts serving Indian students is currently underway, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The National Indian Training and Research Center (NITRC) of Tempe, Arizona, is conducting the study under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A number of gifted American Indian students will be given the chance to go with some of the Nation's leading scientists on world-wide expeditions under an Exploration Scholarship Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary of the U. S. Department of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

"The program began on a pilot basis last year, when 11 American Indian and Alaska Native high school and college students were chosen to participate," Franklin said. "We hope to have as many selected this year."

Sixty tribal groups recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the U. S. Department of the Interior have qualified to participate in a $881,160 Tribal Government Development Program, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

Participating tribes are in the States of Alaska, Arizona California, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada) New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington a Wisconsin.

The Department of the Interior has approved a contract between three New Mexico Pueblos and the Pojoaque Valley Irrigation District to operate and maintain a proposed dam and reservoir in northern New Mexico, Marvin L Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

Regulations have been published in the Federal Register to govern distribution of $13.2 million awarded the Osage Indian Tribe of Oklahoma by the Indian Claims Commission, largely for fair payment for triba11ands taken many years ago, the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The new regulations specify procedures to be followed by eligible persons in order for them to share in the distribution of judgment funds.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced approval of the largest Land and Water Conservation Fund project to date on Indian Indians. The $550,000 L&WCF grant is for development of the Blackfeet lands. St. Mary's Lake Recreation Complex in Montana.

Theodore B. White, 52, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux and Oneida Indian tribes, has been named Chief Tribal Operations Officer in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C., the Department of White has already assumed the duties of the Interior announced today his office.

He came to the Washington, D.C.,office from the post of Superintendent of the San Carlos Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona. This agency has jurisdiction over the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B Morton today announced the appointment of Marvin L. Franklin, 56, an Oklahoma City business executive and member of as Assistant to the Secretary for the Iowa Indian Tribe Indian Affairs, a new position in the Interior Department.

After consulting with representatives of the Indian community, Richard S. Bodman, Assistant Secretary--Management and Budget, today announced several steps to improve the operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the U. S. Department of the Interior.

Immediate measures being taken are:

Indians of North Carolina, II a new 24-page booklet describing the life or the 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living today in the Tarheel state, has just been published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Richard S. Bodman announced today. Bodman has administrative control of all Indian operations for Interior.

The Indians --with their traditional independence, resourcefulness, and close ties to nature --provide the United States with its unique character, some authorities say. Now their relationship to the land, their neighbor, states, and local governments, is the subject of a book, "The States and Their Indian Citizens," just published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U. S. Department of the Interior.

A $2.5 million supplemental appropriation for the Bureau of Indian Affairs will make it possible for some 3,000 Indian youth to receive scholarship grants enabling them to begin or continue their education in 1973 at the college level.

In making the announcement, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton said the additional funds will enable the Bureau to meet the needs of all eligible Indian applicants. The 3,000 youths are in addition to the record high of 11,009 students already receiving higher education assistance under the Bureau's regular appropriation.