Past News Items

John A. Jollie, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe of North Dakota, has been selected as the new coordinator of the Tribal Managers Corps (TMC), a program in the BIA's Division of Self-Determination Services.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today named three businessmen from outside the Government to make a survey of the operations and programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Walter Bimson, chairman of the board, Valley National bank of Phoenix, Arizona, was chosen as the chairman of the team. The other non-Government members are Robert D. Lutton, Santa Fe Railroad, Chicago, Illinois, and J.R. Johns, Sears Roebuck Company, Dallas, Texas.

Three officials of the Department will assist in the survey.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the appointment of Carl W. Beck of Apache County, Arizona; as a special consultant on Indian Affairs.

A former official of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mr. Beck resigned in 1948 to enter private business.

He served in the Indian Service for 23 years in a number of responsible positions including the superintendencies of the Western Shoshone Agency, Owyhee, Nevada, and Fort Hall, Idaho. He entered the Navajo Indian Service in 1929.

Christian H. Beitzel will replace Robert B. McKee as superintendent of the Crow Creek Indian Agency in South Dakota when the agency moves from Fort Thompson to Pierre on December 1, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Persons claiming Menominee Indian blood have until September 17 for filing applications to have their names added to the present tribal roll, Acting Secretary Fred G. Aandahl said today. Applications should be filed with the Menominee Tribe, in care of the Superintendent, Neopit, Wisconsin.

I have been informed that demonstrations are planned sometime this weekend in Washington, D.C., and in other parts of the country protesting the resettlement of those Navajo families residing on land partitioned to the Hopi Indian Tribe as a result of the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (P.L. 93-531) passed by the U.S. Congress in 1974.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced the appointment of Guy C. Williams as Superintendent of the United Pueblos Indian Agency, Albuquerque, N. Mex., effective April 1.

The appointment results from the recently announced reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Williams since 1950 has been assistant director of the Albuquerque Area Office which is being discontinued. He will head the agency headquarters at Albuquerque which serves the 19 Indian Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley.

The American Indian set an all-time record this past year in accepting job opportunities off his reservation, Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis announced today. According to figures received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, almost 3,500 Indians moved away from their reservation homes to areas that offered greater employment advantages.

The figures go on to show that most of the Indians who make the voluntary relocation move make a success of their new ventures.

Removal of Federal restrictions which have operated for years to hold the lands of a limited number of admittedly competent Indians in compulsory trusteeship against the owners' wishes was announced today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood.

The effect of the move, which applies only to Indians actively seeking unrestricted title to their lands, is to equalize the status of all competent Indians in their dealings with the Bureau.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today cxmow.1ced the selection of three prominent Oregonians--Thomas B., Watters of Klamath Falls., William L. Phillips of Salem, and Eugene Favell of Lakeview - as management specialists for the Klamath Indian Tribe. They will supervise the program of property appraisal, subdivision and management under the tribal termination law enacted last August.