Past News Items

Dr. William J. Benham, a Creek Indian, has been named to head up the Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs on the Navajo Reservation. In this capacity, he will serve as one of three Assistant Area Directors for the Bureau's operations in the Navajo area.

Dr. Benham, a native of Holdenville, Okla., is a veteran of the Navajo education program. He joined the Bureau in 1950 and has served as both teacher and principal in various BIA schools for Navajo children. From 1963 until his recent reassignment he was Director of Schools for the Gallup Area Office.

Washington, D.C. - OMB Director Richard Darman and Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that, effective immediately, all adjustments associated with the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) accounting and financial management system must be reviewed by a special management team established by the Department of the Interior (DOI). Further, Darman and Lujan announced the establishment of a plan to improve management at the BIA.

Although many eastern Indian tribes are now decimated or dispersed, they left a rich legacy for the people who followed. So says an illustrated 28-page booklet, "Indians of the Eastern Seaboard,” just issued by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The booklet is the latest in a popular series of publications about the first inhabitants of what is now the United States. It describes relationships between the Indians and the Pilgrims, the Jamestown colonists, and the Florida missionaries, and the influence this interplay had on the Nation.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today the formation of a Working Group on Indian Water Settlements, which will report to Interior's Water Policy Council.

The Group's primary tasks will be to establish a set of principles to guide Indian water settlements; assist in the work of negotiating teams dealing with such settlements; and. keep the Council apprised of upcoming actions and report to the Council on the progress of ongoing negotiations, particularly when key decision points are approached.

New industrial development opportunities for the 16 largest Indian land areas should result from a recent Labor Department ruling, on their eligibility for Federal contracts, Robert L. Bennett, commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department f of the Interior, said today.

Bennett said the Labor Department's Bureau of Employment Security has designated the 16 areas eligible for the first preference in Federal procurement contracts as the result of negotiations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch of Commercial and Industrial Development.

Interior Secretary James Watt cited the Cherokee Historical Association of North Carolina for service to the community at the Interior Department's 49th Awards Convocation in Washington D.C., today.

The Public Service Award of the Department was given to Frank H. Brown, chairman of the Cherokee Historical Association and John A. Crowe, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that he has asked for tribal ratification of a proposal to establish an "American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame," on the campus of Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kans.

"The Hall of Fame," Bennett said, "will not only memorialize the achievements of great Indian athletes but will be a source of inspiration for young Indians seeking to develop rewarding and productive lives in modern America."

Edward H. Hall, who is affiliated with the Arikara and Hidatsa Tribes, has been appointed superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Crow agency in Montana. For the past several months, Hall has been working as a special assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs

WASHINGTON - Today, just two weeks after U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the Department was forming a new Joint Task Force (JTF) to combat the opioid crisis in Indian Country, the Secretary announced the JTF's first raid seized 49 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of $2.5 million and more than $20,000 worth of marijuana, plus smaller amounts of heroin, and other narcotics. The raid was led by Interior's JTF with partnership from the Pueblo Tribes and New Mexico law enforcement officials.

BIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL NAMED TO INTER-STATE BOARD--Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of Schools for the Navajo Area of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' school system recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory. Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are represented on the 16-member panel.