Past News Items

The Department of the Interior today announced the selection of Clyde W. Hobbs, superintendent of the Crow Indian Agency in Montana for the past four years, to head the Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyoming, effective June 4.

He succeeds Arthur N. Arnston who has been superintendent at Wind River since 1954 and is being assigned to complete the wind-up of Indian Bureau responsibilities on the Catawba Reservation in South Carolina as provided by a 1959 law.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover will hold a media briefing on Thursday, September 9. Their briefing will focus on a new report documenting the management of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and other issues affecting the BIA budget.

The briefing will be held in Room 7000 of the Main Interior Building, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC, it begins at 4:00 p.m. EST.

Great Plains Region is pleased to announce Craig Martin as the new Regional Fire Operations Specialist.

Throughout his 16-year career, Craig has dedicated himself to growing his experiences and qualifications. From working as a Regional Prevention Specialist, hotshot crew member, engine operator and emergency firefighter in three different agencies across the nation, Craig has developed a depth of experience that will serve the region and Indian Country well.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $976,677.84 contract for construction of 18 miles of roadway on Navajo Route 1, starting approximately 38 miles west of Shiprock, New Mexico, and running westerly to Walker Creek, Arizona.

In an address to the Building Economic Self-Determination in Indian Communities conference today, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover attacked the lack of jobs and opportunities on Indian reservations, and pointed out some of the major barriers to economic development on the reservation. "Unemployment on Indian reservations is 49%*. Nearly half of our people are not working, because there are not enough jobs, and not nearly enough opportunity in Indian country. What would happen if half of America were unemployed?

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today expressed gratification over the selection of Mrs. Clara B. Gonzales, a school principal on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico, as one of the recipients of Seventh Annual Career Service Awards which are being presented by the National Civil Service League at a Washington banquet ceremony on March 21.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, invites everyone to participate in a POW WOW sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Equal Employment Office and the Bureau's Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) in celebration of National American Indian Heritage Month. The POW WOW will be held outside (weather permitting) and open to the public. This event will feature music, traditional dance, storytelling, cultural displays, and Native American lore. The activity will also feature representatives from various Native American organizations.

Three Oklahomans will take on new responsibilities April 1 in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a series of related personnel transfers announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Graham E. Holmes, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Muskogee, Okla., for the past year, has been named Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau in charge of legislative activities.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs is pleased to announce that on June 3, 1996 the Department of Justice on behalf of the Department of the Interior petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the Eighth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals holding that Sections of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, (IRA) (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), is unconstitutional (69 F.3d 878).

Section 5 of the IRA provides in part that:

The Department of the Interior announced today the transfer of Homer M. Gilliland, superintendent of the Fort Berthold Indian Agency at New Town, N. Dak., for the past two and a half years, to the post of superintendent at the Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz.

Gilliland succeeds John C. Dibbern, who has headed the Colorado River Agency for the past six years and is now moving to the Indian Bureau's area office at a11up, N. Mex., as assistant area director for economic development.