News by Year

Sidney L. Mills, director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' office of trust responsibilities, has been appointed director of the BIA's area office at Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ross Swimmer, Interior assistant secretary for Indian affairs announced today.

Mills, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, served as the Albuquerque area director from 1978 to 1982, before coming to Washington for the position in trust responsibilities. Both positions are at the senior executive service level.

Interior Secretary Don Hodel today announced the appointment of LaDonna Harris, a nationally known enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe, as the U.S. representative "to the Inter-American Indian Institute (III.).

Interior Secretary Don Hodel today pledged to work with tribal governments so that Indian reservations can share in economic prosperity and not be "islands surrounded by the rest of America."

Addressing a joint meeting of the National Congress of American Indians and the National Tribal Chairmen's Association in Tulsa, Okla., the Secretary also said that he does not plan to abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or to establish an additional agency to take over Indian trust responsibilities now administered by BIA.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel said today he was "absolutely that the President had nominated Ross Swimmer for Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “We are exceedingly fortunate that Mr. Swimmer is willing to accept this position,” Hodel said, "for he has extraordinary qualities of leadership and business experience vital to the success of U.S Indian programs.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel said today he has sent letters to the Pueblo of Santa Ana and to the New Mexico Attorney General rejecting the Pueblo's proposal to conduct parimutuel wagering on greyhound dog races on reservation land.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel has signed into existence a Royalty Management Advisory Committee, a key element of the Department's action plan to improve the processing of mineral royalties collected on federal and Indian lands.

The President's 1986 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to stress the basic goals of strengthening tribal government, encouraging economic development and providing essential program services on the reservations.

Ownership of the 170-acre campus of the former Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah will be formally returned to the city in a ceremony to be held in the City Hall January 28.

John W. Fritz, the Interior Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, will give Mayor Peter C. Knudson a quit claim deed to the Congressman James V. Hansen CR. Utah) and the Brigham City council will be present.