OPA

The Department of the Interior today announced adoption of new regulations establishing uniformity in Indian tribal voting matters concerning tribal constitutions, by-laws and constitutional amendments. The regulations apply only to the 76 tribes which were reconstructed pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934, and do not affect the 72 tribes in Oklahoma and Alaska which voted to exclude themselves from application.

The new regulations establish definite procedures for creating voting districts, posting election notices, setting polling hours, preparing voting lists and clarifying voter eligibility.

Indian tribes, bands, and communities generally operate under a tribal organization. The Bureau of Indian Affairs encourages the tribes to develop written constitutions.

The new uniform voting regulations will facilitate revision of tribal constitutions by eliminating the need for approval by the Secretary of voting regulations in each instance of a proposed constitutional change.

The full text of the new regulations is being published in the Federal Register. These regulations were published as proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on June 26, 1963, and public comments were invited. Several modifications were made in the light of public comments received.

The appointment of Dr. Gordon Macgregor as Special Assistant was announced today by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has been assigned to the office of the Assistant Commissioner for Economic Development. He will coordinate programs for the social and economic growth of imp0¥erished Indian communities.

An anthropologist and specialist in community development, Dr. Macgregor will help coordinate long-range social and economic improvement plans for Indian reservations and will serve as liaison with the Office of Economic Opportunity in helping to chart Indian community action projects under the anti-poverty program.

Dr. Macgregor returns to the Bureau after a 15 year absence. He first entered the Indian service in 1936 as a specialist for tribal organization and served later in the division of Indian education and as superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. During the 1950's he served for two years with Interior's Office of Territories and with the Agency for International Development, both assignments focusing on economic and social planning. For the past seven years he has been engaged in research and development of community health services for the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

A graduate of Yale in 1925, Dr. Macgregor holds a Ph. D. from Harvard. He is the author of several monographs and studies, including Warriors Without Weapons, a study of the Pine Ridge Sioux of South Dakota. He was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and is now a resident of Falls Church, Virginia.

William A. Mehojah, a Kaw Indian, has been appointed superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Turtle Mountain Agency in Belcourt, North Dakota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today. The agency serves the Fort Totten and Turtle Mountain Reservations.

Mehojah, a career employee with more than 24 years of service, has served since 1962 as administrative manager of the Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, North Dakota. At Belcourt he succeeds Leonard Lay, who has transferred to the Bureau's Aberdeen Area Office as housing development officer.

A native of Washunga, Oklahoma and a World War II veteran, Mehojah joined the Interior Department Bureau's staff in 1939 as a clerk-stenographer at the Pawnee Indian Agency in Oklahoma. In 1946 he transferred to the veterans Administration regional office in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as a claims examiner. He returned to the Indian Bureau in early 1953 as a supervisory procurement clerk in the Billings, Montana, area office. He subsequently served in a series of supervisory positions with the Northern Cheyenne Agency, Lame Deer, Montana; the Rosebud Agency, Rosebud, South Dakota; and the Standing Rock Agency.

"Mr. Mehojah has demonstrated his administrative ability in his many years of capable service with the Bureau," said Commissioner Nash. "We are pleased to have this opportunity to appoint another American Indian with managerial and leadership qualities to a post where he can serve and inspire the Indian people.

More than $1 million in new construction is slated for the Indian school at Chilocco, Oklahoma, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today.

Award of two construction contracts paved the way for a new 320-student dormitory and related facilities, sorely needed on the campus of the 82-year-old school. An $890,000 contract for construction of the dormitory, a garage and related improvements to replace two obsolete and overcrowded sleeping halls has been awarded Munger Emmons Construction Company of Enid, Oklahoma. Fourteen higher bids were received ranging to a maximum of $1,200,000.

A utilities improvement contract for $144,000 calls for construction of complete water and sewer systems, a 200,000 gallon steel water tank, road grading, fencing and similar work. It was awarded to McNally Company of Dallas, Texas, the low bidder. Eleven other bids ranged Upward to a high of $400,000.

With a campus of 8,600 acres and 75 buildings, Chilocco Indian School enrolls about 1,200 students in grades 7 through 14. Intensive vocational programs comprise the two years of post-secondary offerings at this non-reservation boarding school for Indian youth. About 500 of the students come from the Navajo reservation, and the remainder represent 33 tribes in various parts of the country.

Construction of the new dormitory complex marks the second step in expansion and modernization of the school.

Last year the old vocational shop was replaced by a new modern structure. Long range construction programs include the replacement of the old kitchen-dining hall, gymnasium, and academic classroom and home economics buildings.

The Department of the Interior today announced that all Tillamook Indians who consider themselves eligible to participate in a judgment distribution totaling approximately $149,000 should contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office in Portland, Oregon, regarding applications.

The funds cover a 1962 judgment of the Indian Claims Commission in favor of the Nehalem and Tillamook Indian Bands. Money was appropriated by Congress in May 1963. Public Law 88-506 of August 30, 1964 provides for disposition of the funds.

The preparation of a roll to serve as the basis for the distribution will be under the direction of the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Box 3785, Portland, Oregon. March 1, 1965 has been set as the deadline date for accepting applications, in accordance with the 1964 Act.

Public Law 88-506 directs that each person of Tillamook Indian ancestry is eligible to apply for enrollment providing:

1. He was born on or prior to and was living on August 30, 1964, and

2. His name or the name of an ancestor through whom he claims eligibility appears either on the census roll of the Nehalem Band of Tillamooks of January 28, 1898, or the annuity payment roll of the Tillamook Band of Tillamooks prepared in 1914.

Some of the Tillamooks are today found on and near the former Grande Ronde and Siletz Reservations in Oregon. The Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde Community and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, both terminated in 1956, included Tillamook Indians among their membership. Former members are now widely scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest. Until applications have been received and evaluated, there is no way of determining the number of persons who will be eligible to share in the award.

Specific regulations to be followed in effecting the distribution are being published in the Federal Register. They include provisions for appealing rejections, handling the shares of minors and insuring that persons in the armed forces overseas will not be overlooked.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is prepared to make a per capita judgment distribution of funds totaling approximately $548,000 to all persons who are members or can prove ancestry with those Paiute bands whose chiefs and headmen signed the Treaty of December la, 1868.

Those considering themselves eligible for enrollment should contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office in Portland, Oregon, regarding applications.

The funds cover a 1960 judgment of the Indian Claims Commission in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of the former Malheur Reservation in Oregon. Distribution of the funds is authorized by Public Law 88-464, signed August 20, 1964. The preparation of a roll to serve as basis for the distribution will be under the direction of the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Box 3785, Portland, Oregon. May 21, 1965 has been set as the deadline for accepting applications, in accordance with the Act.

Public Law 88-464 directs that all persons of Paiute Indian ancestry are eligible for enrollment providing: 1. They were born on or prior to and living on August 20, 1964

2. They are members of or descendants of members of the bands whose chiefs and headmen signed the unratified Treaty of December 10, 1868

3. They relinquish any rights they might have to participate as beneficiaries in the awards granted in Docket 87 of the Northern Paiute Nation claim.

The Paiute Indians who may be eligible are now principally found in the Burns and Warm Springs Reservations in Oregon and others may be scattered throughout the California-Nevada-Oregon area. Until applications have been received and evaluated, there is no way of determining the number of persons who will be eligible to share in the award.

Specific regulations to be followed in effecting the distribution are being published in the Federal Register. They include provisions for appealing rejections, handling the share of minors and insuring that persons in the armed forces overseas will not be overlooked.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today described as "welcome news" the plan to establish a $500,000 plastics molding plant at Durant, Okla., which will provide jobs for upwards of 100 Indian men and women. The new installation is being built by a subsidiary of Strombecker Corp., a Chicago manufacturer.

"It is highly gratifying, “Secretary Udall said, "that this industry has chosen to locate a new plant in the mid-State area where many Indians live--and where many are in need of jobs Full-scale cooperation between the industry, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and State and local officials in Oklahoma have resulted in benefits not only for the Indian population but for the community as a whole.

"The Strombecker plant in Durant signals another step forward in our effort to improve the economic lot of American Indians--an effort that has gained great momentum in the past four years, It Forty other plants have been assisted in locating on or near Indian communities in recent years, providing jobs for 1,500 Indians and promising employment for more than double that number as production reaches full capacity. Negotiations are under way with several more expanding businesses. The industries presently operating represent a wide variety of enterprises, including, for example, diamond cutting, electronics parts assembly, textile manufacturing, and production of Indian-design gift items.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs worked with the Durant Industrial Foundation, a community corporation created to assist in financing new industry, and the Oklahoma State Department of Commerce and Industry in helping pave the way for establishing the plastics enterprise in Durant. Operations will begin in a new, 30,000-square-foot structure.

“The Bureau's role is that of catalytic agent," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash said. "Our Industrial Development staff brings together industries in search of new locations and communities in search of new enterprises. Much of the attraction for industries locating on or near Indian reservations lies in the availability of workers. Indians have demonstrated a high degree of manual dexterity and pride in precision workmanship. With training, provided through Bureau funds, they are the answer to a chronic need of many employers."

Production at the new installation, to occupy a 25-acre tract on the western edge of Durant, is scheduled to start in June. At the outset, approximately 75 people will be employed. The payroll will be increased as output gains.

The Miccosukees of Florida, kin to the Seminoles and Creeks, but consistently aloof from both tribal organizations, have emerged from the Everglades after more than a century and are now going into their own tribal business.

With a constitution and bylaws that were formulated and approved in January 1962, the Miccosukees are now, for the first time in the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, accepting Federal aid from the United States.

The Department of the Interior reports that December 19 is set for the dedication of their first tribal enterprise--a restaurant financed in part by a $150,000 Bureau loan. Located 40 miles west of Miami, it is expected to attract the steady stream of tourists who travel U. S. 41, the Tamiami Trail. The restaurant and an adjacent new filling station are expected to provide employment to tribal members and produce revenue for the tribal budget. The enterprise, to be maintained by Miccosukee workmen and staffed with Miccosukee waitresses, has already brought some measure of prosperity to Miccosukee families. Tribal members were among the construction workers.

The restaurant is only the beginning. Ground was broken earlier this month for a two-room schoolhouse to serve the three dozen school-age Miccosukees who are enrolled tribal members. At present these children, ranging in ages from 6 to 15, are attending class in a one-room portable structure provided by Dade County. The Bureau of Indian Affairs will finance the new school and has already provided two teachers.

A community center and 15 modern “chickees” will complete the Miccosukee tribal complex. Construction of the multipurpose center will be financed by the Bureau, and the homes will be underwritten by the Public Housing Administration. A model house, already completed, retains the traditional thatched roof (under which is modern beam-and-board roofing) and is composed of four large rooms, kitchen and bath. The local public power company has sent homemaking demonstrators to the Miccosukees to show women how to use the modern stoves, refrigerators and other appliances that will change the way of family life on this stretch of the Tamiami Trail.

There are 140 enrolled members of the Miccosukee Tribe, but the Bureau employees who have been working with them estimate that there are probably 200 or more other Miccosukees who are living in the Everglades area and it is expected that they will eventually take part in the tribal activities. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is providing job training so that tribal members may be employed in the tribal ventures.

The Miccosukees are no strangers to residents of southern Florida. Jimmy Tiger's Indian Village--the homestead of his family and relatives about 30 miles west of Miami on the Tamiami Trail--is open to the public; and a crafts shop markets Jackets, blouses, skirts and similar clothing of Miccosukee creation and design, as well as moccasins and other handicrafts from the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina.

While crafts work is not as prevalent among the Miccosukees as among some of the tribes of the Southwest, visitors to the new restaurant and other buildings being planned will be able to feast their eyes upon a variety of Indian-made artifacts created by Indian art students as part of the interior decor. (The students attend the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.) For example, the windows in the restaurant, an i-frame structure, will be decorated with fenestrations by a youthful Seneca weaver. Paintings, sculpture, lamps, murals, and even the stone carvings on the concrete buttresses are products of the Institute's students, all Indians, who represent several tribes from all parts of the United States. The motif is in keeping with the tropical environment and faithful to Miccosukee tradition.

Why, after centuries of isolation in the Everglades, have the Miccosukees decided to change their way of life? Philleo Nash, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, suggests a reason:

“The Miccosukees," Nash says, "recognize the root of the Indian's problem today--he is often so far removed from the mainstream of American society that he gets only the backwash. The Miccosukees are learning to choose, in this time of change, the things they should keep and the things they must discard."

Barney Old Coyote, a Crow Indian and career civil servant, has been appointed coordinator of the youth conservation camps for the Job Corps and related antipoverty programs of the Department, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

In announcing his personal choice of Old Coyote, Secretary Udall said, "He has grassroots knowledge of the conservation programs of this Department. He has played an intimate and leading role in helping people to help themselves. He is especially well qualified to give leadership to this Department's efforts to blend natural resources conservation needs with human needs so as to provide the disadvantaged young people of this Nation an opportunity to become fully qualified builders of the Great Society."

Born January 10, 1923, on the Crow Reservation in Montana, Old Coyote has held varied assignments with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1949 in Montana and the Dakotas. His most recent assignment was as assistant superintendent of the Rocky Boy's Reservation at Box Elder, Montana.

Udall noted that one of the chief duties of the Department in the Administration's war on poverty will be to help raise the living standards of the nearly 400,000 Indians on reservations. He said Old Coyote had demonstrated unusual talent in community relations work with Indians during his long Government service.

Old Coyote attended elementary and high schools in Hardin, Montana; Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas; and Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II as an aerial engineer-gunner, flying 50 missions in the European and Mediterranean Theaters.

He entered civilian Government service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Crow Agency as a clerk, later being assigned engineering duties in the Bureau's soil and moisture conservation program there. Transferred into real estate activity for the Bureau, he served as a realty officer at Fort Yates, North Dakota, and at Aberdeen and Rosebud, South Dakota.

Old Coyote was selected for the Bureau's management intern training program in 1958, and served as an administrative assistant at Aberdeen until his transfer to the Rosebud agency. He received a Bureau incentive award in 1957 for designing and instituting a new leasing procedure on Indian-owned trust lands.

Married to a Winnebago Indian from Nebraska, he is the father of six children. He is a member of the American Legion, veterans of Foreign Wars, Lions Club and Knights of Columbus; has been active in Boy Scout work; and has been much in demand as a public speaker, acting as master of ceremonies at many Indian celebrations, commencements and similar events. In his younger days he played baseball with the old amateur Midland Empire League in Montana, and participated in basketball, golf and boxing in high school.

Perry E. Skarra, a specialist in resources management for Indian trust land, has been appointed chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' branch of forestry, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today.

He succeeds George S. Kephart, who retired from Federal service on December 28 after 31 years of service. Skarra will supervise forest use and improvement operations on nearly 13 million acres of Indian-owned forest lands held in trust by the Federal Government. He comes to the Washington post from a 10-year assignm0nt as assistant director of the Bureau's area office in Portland, Oregon. Prior to 1954 he served for four years 88 superintendent of the Yakima Indian reservation in Washington. He also has held various forestry posts wi.th the Bureau I s field establishments and with the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

Born in Hancock, Michigan, Skarra was graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1938 with a B. S. in forestry. He is a member of the American Forestry Association and the Society of American Foresters.