Past News Items

Regulations to establish two Courts of Indian Offenses, one to serve the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina and the other for western Oklahoma Indian tribes served by the Anadarko Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are being published in the Federal Register, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C— After 12 years of litigation over its management of the trust funds of individual Indians, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson today issued a decision in the Cobell lawsuit rejecting the plaintiffs' theory that the government owes them $47 billion.

"The Department is gratified that the court recognized the complexities and uncertainties involved in this case," said James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior. "We look forward to working with the court, the Congress, and the plaintiffs to bring the case to final closure."

This bank, the American Indian National Bank, is a product of the spirit and vision of the Indian people. It is a symbol of Indian self-determination. More important, however, it is a working symbol that will bring new prosperity to our Indians, and a full opportunity for equal economic footing with the rest of the Nation.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz Friday said Indian tribal sovereignty could be endangered unless tribal leaders weigh the political ramifications of tribal decisions as carefully as they weigh other factors.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today pledged to restore integrity in government relations with Indian tribes, fulfill the United States' trust responsibilities to Native Americans, and work cooperatively to build stronger economies and safer American Indian communities.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson will present the Indian Leadership Award of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to Mrs. James M. (Marie) Cox, Comanche Indian of Oklahoma, and to the Cherokee Action Committee for Foster Children of North Carolina April 2 at 2 p.m. in the Department of the Interior Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

"These awards represent unique contributions in the realm of foster care by American Indians and are a part of National Action for Foster Children Week," Thompson said. National Action for Foster Children Week is March 31-Apri1 6, 1974.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior today confirmed its agreement with leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota on a major program of tribal land consolidation.

The program was announced by the tribal leaders in Washington on December 5.

To help finance the operation, the Bureau will extend the tribe a loan of $500,000 from its revolving loan fund.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that he has appointed Vicki L. Forrest as the new deputy director for the BIA’s Office of Trust Services. Forrest, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, came to the BIA from the Interior Department’s Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST).

George E. Keller, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Rosebud Agency in South Dakota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Keller, who was born on the reservation, has been Community Services Office at the agency the past four years. He was formerly Education Program Administrator at the Lower Brule Agency, Principal of the Pierre School and Guidance Supervisor at the Flandreau Indian School.

Award of a $46,458 contract for construction of a temporary movable school on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Inscription House, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.