Past News Items
Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan said today that Anthony J. Hope will provide the strong leadership needed to organize and begin operations of a new National Indian Gaming Commission. President Bush nominated Hope and the Senate confirmed the appointment on May 16, 1990, following hearings before the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Hope will serve as first chairman of the commission established by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (Public Law 100-497). The commission is to regulate, establish standards for, and monitor gaming on Indian lands and reservations.
Date: toThe Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, announced today that John O. Crow, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau, has been named as one of 10 Federal employees to receive the Career Service Award presented by the National Civil Service League.
Date: toAssistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer has informed Indian tribal leaders that almost $3 million could be saved over a five year period by using a private contractor for services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.8 billion in Indian trust funds. The $3 million figure was arrived at in cost comparisons between the proposal of a selected bidder and an in-house Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) proposal.
Date: toAward of a $701,853 contract calling for the construction of more than 23 miles of highway to promote tourism and facilitate travel through the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations was announced today by the Department of the Interior.
This project will complete construction of approximately 400 miles of primary reservation roads for Routes 1 and 3 authorized by a 1958 amendment to the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act of 1950.
Date: toInterior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer has announced the appointment of Joe M. Parker, a Chickasaw Indian, as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Muskogee, Oklahoma area. The appointment was effective May 25.
Since 1976, Parker has been superintendent of the BIA' s Tahlequah, Oklahoma agency, one of seven agencies under the Muskogee area office.
Date: toThe Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposed bill to provide for disposition of funds appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of Oregon.
The judgment is for $3,650,000 for the Snake Tract, or Oregon Area, in Docket No. 87 of the Indian Claims Commission. The Commission has divided the total area involved into three tracts. The Snake Tract, consisting of lands in Oregon, Nevada, and California, is the only one for which a final award has been granted.
Date: toUnprecedented attacks in Congress on American Indians programs demonstrate a reckless disregard for the federal government's deep and historic legal responsibilities to Indian Tribes. Yesterday, the Interior Appropriations conferees proceeded to gut the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal agency most responsible for fulfilling the Federal Indian Trust Responsibility. The conferees cut a full 26 percent from the Bureau's Central Office function, compromising the capacity of the agency to perform its mission, provide executive direction, and conduct oversight.
Date: toThe Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced completion of the membership roll of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, making possible a tribal referendum which will determine the future course of tribal affairs. The roll includes 442 persons.
Adult Poncas will shortly receive ballots on which to indicate whether or not they wish to divide their tribal assets and end the special relationship they now hold with the Federal Government by virtue of their Indian status.
Date: toSecretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said today that while he is approving a lease between an Indian tribe and a solid waste disposal company that contemplates construction of a landfill on tribal land in southern California, he will take steps to prevent the wholesale targeting of tribal lands across America for waste disposal.
Date: toMuch has happened in our country since the last annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians--much of tragedy and much of accomplishment.
I am sure I do not need to recall to you that shattering event of last November. The friendship of the late President Kennedy for the American Indians and his warm, personal interest in seeing that the full resources of the Federal Government were employed in their behalf is well known to you. Our loss is great.
Yet, we can count ourselves fortunate in that the loss of one great President has led to the gain of another.
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