OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that representatives of each Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will meet in Albuquerque to discuss energy conservation on the part of the agency March 20, 21, and 22.

This is the second meeting of its kind. The first was held in Washington.

“Fuel shortages and fuel costs within the scope of the Bureau’s plant management unit will be the topic under discussion,” Thompson indicated.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has Area Offices in Aberdeen, S. Dak.; Albuquerque; Anadarko, Okla.; Billings, Mont.; Juneau, Alaska; Minneapolis, Minn.; Muskogee, Okla.; Window Rock, Ariz.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.

It operates 200 schools in 17 states on Indian reservations and in remote areas throughout the country. Seventy-seven are boarding schools with a total enrollment of 36,000.

The meeting will take place at the Quality Inn Motel, 717 Central N.W. in Albuquerque.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board announced today issuance of revised Source Directories No. 1 and No. 2, which will be of particular interest to potential customers of authentic Native American arts and crafts.

Source Directory No.1 deals with Native American owned and operated arts and crafts organizations located throughout the United States, including artist and craftsman cooperatives, tribal arts and crafts enterprises, and non-profit Native American arts organizations

Source Directory No.2 is a compendium of Native American arts businesses which are privately owned and operated by (1) Indian or Eskimo designer-craftsmen and artists who design, produce and market their exclusive products; or (2) Indian or Eskimo merchants who retail and/or wholesale authentic Native American arts and crafts products.

Entries in both directories give names and addresses of the businesses, telephone numbers, and business hours, outline major products handled by each business, and indicate if mail orders are accepted.

As most of the listed sources maintain retail shops, the two directories also will be of special interest to tourists and travelers throughout the United States during the Bicentennial Year. For the travelers' convenience, businesses are listed alphabetically by State.

Single copies of the Source Directories are distributed free upon written request to: Indian Arts and Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that the Minnesota Sioux Indian Tribes presented a Peace Pipe to the United States in a recent White House Ceremony.

Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller accepted the pipe June 25 from Glynn A. Crooks, tribal councilman of the Shakopee-Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe. Crooks called the pipe a symbol of "trust, unity, friendship and peace."

Crooks, acting in behalf of the Minnesota Sioux Inter-Tribal Council, presented the pipe "in commemoration of the American Bicentennial Celebration." He noted that four ribbons hung from the pipe, "representing the four major races of man --yellow, red, black and white. They hang together just as all of us should," he said.

President Ford will meet with more than 200 leaders of the American Indian community at the White House Friday afternoon (July 16), Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

It will be the first time a President of the United States has met with such a broad representation of the Indian leadership.

"This is an historic occasion," Commissioner Thompson said "President Ford has invited the chairmen of major tribes and leaders of national Indian organizations to meet with him so that he can personally express to them his support for their efforts under the Administration's policy of Indian self-determination.

The meeting with the President will be in the East Room of the White House at 3 p.m. Friday. The President's talk to the group will be followed by a reception.

Prior to the White House session, the Indians will meet at the Old Executive Building for discussions of Indian programs with Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe, Commissioner Thompson and top officials of other Federal agencies which have special programs for Indians.

Dr. Theodore Marrs, Special Assistant to the President, is coordinating the meeting.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe today hailed the new spirit of determination and confidence among Indian leaders. In remarks to 200 leaders of the American Indian community at a White House meeting, Secretary Kleppe said: "Whether young or old, the Indian leaders today have a new spirit --perhaps it is revival of a very old spirit-- of determination and of confidence."

"I certainly applaud those of you who have brought about this new era -- the older leaders who have worked quietly but diligently over the years to demonstrate the capability of Indian leaders and the younger ones who are making such great strides."

Secretary Kleppe acknowledged that previously the image of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the, Interior Department had been one of "inflexibility --of bureaucrats who sit behind big desks in Washington and decide what would be best for the Indians."

"Let me assure you," the Secretary told the Indian group, "that if that were ever the case, it is not the way we operate today."

"The critical question is where we should draw the line when a tribe wants to take action which the BIA and I feel would be detrimental to that tribe," the Secretary said.

"Mistakes are made every day in government at all levels. Do we have an obligation to allow tribal governments to make mistakes? Self determination Says that we have the obligation - to allow you to take action which our best judgment tells us is a mistake, our trust responsibility argues that we do not have the legal authority to allow you to make mistakes if we can prevent them. We constantly strive to determine that fine line between the two extremes."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is strengthening its Office of Indian Education Programs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Under a new organizational structure, approved July 13, the authority of the office will be extended and some major functions transferred from field units to the Washington headquarters.

Commissioner Thompson said, "We are determined to effect needed improvements and provide the best possible leadership in this most important area of Indian education. We made the first step w]hen we hired Bill Demmert to run the education programs. Now we are moving to give him the staff and organization he needs."

The appointment of Dr. William G. Demmert as Director of Indian Education Programs was announced by Thompson in March of this year. Demmert, who is Tlingit and Oglala Sioux, was the first Deputy Commissioner for Indian Education in the United States Office of Education.

Under the new structure, Demmert's staff is expected to be enlarged.

Functions that will now be centralized in the Washington office include the administration of the Johnson-O'Malley funds for public school programs, higher education assistance programs and the ESEA Title program. Funding, for these programs in 1976 was more than $80 million.

The Washington office will also have line authority over the Bureau's three post-secondary schools. They are the Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Office of Indian Education Programs will have in Washington a Management Support Staff, Planning and Program Development Staff, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and a Division of Post-Secondary Education.

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of persons of Cherokee Shawnee Indian ancestry are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The roll will be used for a per capita distribution of funds awarded to the Shawnees by the Indian Claims Commission.

A total amount of $300,000 was awarded by the Claims Commission to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma on behalf of the Shawnee Nation as additional compensation for 24,138 acres of land in Kansas. About 40 percent of this amount will go to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, with the balance going to descendants of the Cherokee Band of Shawnees.

Comments, suggestions, or objections to the proposed regulations should be sent within 30 days to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Services, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20245.

Regulations governing the enrollment of persons under the amended Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act were published today in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Settlement Act was amended by legislation enacted January 2, 1976, which reopened the rolls for a period of one year for those persons who missed the original enrollment deadline of March 30,1973.

Alaska Natives will receive 40 million acres of land and almost one billion dollars under the provisions of the Settlement Act, signed into law December 18,1971.

Eligibility for enrollment was not changed by the amending legislation. In general, the requirements are that a person be at least one quarter degree Alaska Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut blood - or a combination thereof - and living on December 18,1971.

Persons seeking to enroll should write to Enrollment Coordinator, Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Information or assistance can also be obtained by contacting any Bureau of Indian Affairs office or any of the Alaska Regional Corporations.

The enrollment regulations are now effective.

A plan for the use and distribution of more than $9 million awarded to the. Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award is compensation or reservation land taken by the united States in the early part of this century. The reservation is in North Dakota.

The plan, approved by Congress and made effective June 20,1976 calls for a per capita distribution of 80 percent of the fund to enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes (the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.)

The remaining 20 percent of the fund will be used for tribal programs, including a land purchase program, legal contingencies and the development of parks and recreation areas.

­­"Miss Indian America XX", Maxine Norris, 21, Papago Indian of Casa Grande, Arizona, will visit Washington, D.C. November 10 through 16 as the guest of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary tor Indian Affairs announced today.

"We're happy to be the host to this charming representative of all Indian people," Franklin said. "Miss Norris tells us she is looking forward to meeting with the Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton, visiting the offices of Arizona Congressmen, National Indian Organizations, and the Federal agencies which administer Indian programs.

She will be an honored guest at the dedication of the American Indian National Bank --· unique in U.S. history -- at 2:30 p.m. November 15, 1973 at the bank offices, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 310. She will visit the office of Indian Education and Indian Health Services, both parts of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare

The American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. will be host to a dinner and reception in her honor November 14 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Restaurant. The American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. is an organization made up of Indians who live within the Greater Washington, D.C. area.