OPA

Thirty American Indian students at Haskell Indian Junior College Lawrence, Kans., the only Indian college operated by the Federal Government, completed a summer internship in government in Washington, D.C., in August Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

"These young people representing nine states were chosen from about 100 who asked to be included in the program," Franklin indicated.

The young Indian students came to Washington from the Kansas Bureau of Indian Affairs school in late May. They were housed in nearby Maryland apartments where they paid their own rent, and from which they bought their own groceries and commuted to what were largely downtown Washington, D.C., jobs. Haskell counsellors came with the group and a representative from each apartment met regularly with one of the counsellors.

''The experience gave these young people a chance to see the Nation's capital and an opportunity to grow by exposure to a way of life other than the one most had known," Franklin said.

The students, by state,

Arizona: Maxine Blackgoat, Navajo; Valerie Cruz, Apache (Whiteriver); Sally R. Gishie, Navajo; Rosalie Lopez, Papago; Mary Hellen Mitchell, Navajo; Serena Nachu, Apache; Danny Yazzie, Navajo; and Phillis Yazzie, Navajo.

California: Anthony Wapp, Kiowa-Sac & Fox; Terri White, Choctaw

Kansas: Anita Arkeketa, Wichita-Delaware; Ramona McLemore, Cherokee­-Choctaw; Deborah Mzhickteno, Otoe-Pottawatomi, Sac & Fox.

Missouri: Jesse James, Jr., Creek-Sioux.

New Mexico: Steven Begay, Navajo (Crownpoint); Dawna Riding-In, Pawnee (Gallup); James Riding-In, Pawnee (Gallup); George Tsadiase, Zuni (Zuni); Alta Mae Tsosie, Navajo (Chinle); Lela M. Virgil, Jicarilla Apache (Dulce).

Oklahoma: Jaxine Busbyhead, Cherokee; Sunny Frejo, Pawnee; Adell Gaines, Choctaw (Tulsa); Oliver B. Neal, Chickasaw-Cherokee; Suzette Snyder, Choctaw (Tuskahoma); Wesley Wildcat, Pawnee.

South Dakota: Dorothy Tabacco,Sioux (Pine Ridge); John Yellowhair, Sioux (Pine Ridge).

Washington: Virginia Marie Penn, Chehalis.

Wisconsin: Delores Jane Mann, Oneida.

The young people held jobs within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Interior, National Capitol Parks, and the Bureau of Land Management, all within the Department of the Interior.

Several trips to Washington, D.C., landmarks and environs of the Nation's capital were arranged for the group while they were in the District of Columbia.

Haskell Indian Junior College was established in 1884 and has an enrollment of nearly 1,200 students from more than one hundred American Indian Tribes.

Some of the students who were in Washington, this summer were taking a voca­tional curriculum and others preparing for an additional two years of college or more elsewhere.

Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton has appointed Reid P. Chambers, former Acting Professor of Law at the University of California at Los Angeles, to be Associate Solicitor of the Interior Department for Indian Affairs, effective immediately.

Chambers, 33, has had background.in Federal Indian Law, not only teaching at UCLA and the University of Colorado Law Schools, but also in litigation involving protection of Indian rights and resources.

He participated in the Pyramid Lake case, the case to establish the North Slope Borough in Alaska, a case to defend Indian fishing rights in the Columbia River, and another to confirm the treaty hunting and fishing rights of the terminated Klamath Indians.

He has served as a consultant to the Native American Rights Fund, California Indian Legal Services, and the Administrative Conference of the United States, and was an Associate in the law firm of Arnold and Porter, Washington, D. C., for three years before taking the UCLA post in 1970.

Chambers was born June 10, 1940, in New York City. He spent his entire childhood in Washington, D. C., where he attended Sidwell Friends School. He was graduated magna cum 1aude from Amherst College in 1962, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded an Amherst Memorial Fellowship to Oxford University. He earned a B.A. degree from Ba11io1 College at Oxford, England, in 1964, and a law degree (J.D.) from Harvard Law School in 1967.

He is a member of the bar, U. S. Court of Appeals, D. C. 9th and 10th Circuits, and the U. S. District Court, District of Columbia.

Chambers is married to the former Barbara Friedman, of Bethesda, Maryland, and has two children, Megan (age 6) and Randy (age 3).

Distribution of Indian Claims Commission judgments totaling $2.7 million awarded to the Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, will be made beginning about September 6, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The awards for Dockets 289 and 314D made to the Peoria’s represent additional payment for land ceded in Indiana in the 1800's and their actual fair share. Funds to cover the awards were appropriated and have been on deposit since January 8, 1971, for Docket 314D and December 15, 1971, for Docket 289 and are being distributed to the Peoria’s under an Act of Congress of July 31, 1970.

Shares to individual Peoria’s will be processed through the Treasury Department's regional disbursing office in Denver and mailed directly to each person whose name and address appear on the final roll of those eligible to share in the award. Checks that cannot be delivered will be returned to the Regional Disbursing Office in Denver and remained when the correct mailing address is obtained. Shares for minors will be held in trust.

Contracts totaling nearly $7.5 million to build roads on American Indian reservations entered into by the close of fiscal year 1973 will help make those land areas more economically and socially viable and accessible to visitors, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs predicted today.

''These projects should help Indian reservations catch up with the rest of the country," Franklin said. ''No local roads were built on Indian reservations from 1900 to 1935 -- when the rest of the Nation was getting its foothold on a transportation system," he said. ''Today's Indian reservations need local roads to move the people, goods and services necessary for optimum economic, social and educational development."

The contracts include:

A $1,627,936 contract to asphalt surface 27 miles of the southern end of Route 18, Hualapai Trail (U,S, Highway 66 North) on the Hualapai Indian Reserva­tion, Coconino County, Arizona. The successful bidder is W.R. Skousen, Mesa, Arizona.

This will bring all-weather access to the Havasupai Reservation 27 miles closer and provide asphalt surfacing to the junction of the road leading to the Hualapai Youth Camp and Thornton Lookout.

A contract for $1,543,345 to grade, drain and surface and construct curbs, gutters and sidewalks on Zuni Pueblo streets was let to Neilson, Inc. of Delores, Colo. In addition, the contract provides for grading, draining and surfacing Nutria Road and Rio Pescado Bridge on the Zuni Reservation in McKinley County, N.M. When completed, the project will provide additional hard surface streets and sidewalks in Zuni Pueblo and an all-weather road to the Nutria Lakes Recreation Area. Total construction mileage involves 13.04 miles.

A $1,168,998 contract for grading, draining, and bituminous surfacing of 30.3 miles of access roads and bus routes serving Queens Well, Santa Rosa Ranch; and Pisinimo on the Papago Indian Reservation, Arizona. Successful bidder was D.C. Speer Construction Company, Phoenix, Ariz.A $919,338 contract to grade, drain, and give a bituminous surface to a 12 mile stretch of road that serves the villages of Vaya Chin, Hickiwan, and Charco 27 on the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona was let to Ashton Company Tuscon, Ariz. This road, on Route 34 is a school bus route and has been given high priority by the Papago Tribe.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Korton announced today that he has notified the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District in Nevada that its contract for management of the irrigation works of the Newlands Reclamation Project will be terminated October 31, 1974.

The Secretary said that the immediate reason for the action is the repeated violations by the District of the Department's operating criteria and procedures for the Project.

The operating criteria were adopted by the Secretary following a law suit brought by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in the United States District court in Washington, D. C., in which an order was .entered limiting the amount of water available to the District and requiring the Secretary to terminate the District's management of the project if there were substantial violations of the criteria.

These operating criteria are designed to assure that as much water as possible from the Truckee River flows to Pyramid Lake, a unique desert lake located 30 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada.

The lake is fed solely by the Truckee River. It is also the major resource of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation which was reserved by the Paiute Indians in 1859 and has been their home ever since.

The lake contains an important fishery, including the Lahontan brook trout and cui-ui lakesucker, both of which are on the Secretary of the Interior's list of endangered species.

During the next 13 months the Secretary said, the Department will expect scrupulous compliance by the District with the operating criteria, including the water used ceiling of 288,000 acre feet. Any water diverted, used or stored in violation of the criteria will be deducted from water allowed to the district in subsequent years, after the United States assumes control of Derby Dam and other project facilities, Secretary Morton said.

Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc., has been awarded a contract by the Department of the Interior to head up a team of independent consulting groups which will prepare a study and report on various characteristics of the Alaska Native community and on selected Federal programs, it was announced today.

The studies were mandated by Section 2 (c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, signed into law by President Nixon December 18, 1971. It requires the Secretary of the Interior to study Federal programs primarily designed to benefit Alaska Native people and to report back to the Congress with his recommendations by December 18, 1974.

Eight firms submitted proposals to lead the studies for the Interior Department. The Nathan firm will serve as prime contractor in conjunction with James R. Leonard Associates, Inc., the Alaska Native Foundation, the University of Alaska, and Sidney Hollander Associates, Inc., at an overall cost of $531,547.

Award of the contract was based on four criteria, Department officials said: understanding of the problem and logic of the proposed approach, experience, resources and ability to deliver, and price. Interior's evaluation of the eight proposals it received, placed the Nathan proposal substantially ahead of all others, they said. The work to be done falls into three major categories:

1. A statistical analysis of demographic and socio-economic characteristics (population, size of households, vital statistics, migration, income, business development, employment and unemployment, educational levels and opportunities, health, housing, and such social indices as parental desertion, crime rates, and delinquency.)

2. A descriptive summary of major Federal programs designed to serve Alaska Natives --their objectives, histories, administration, financing, operations, performance, and program evaluations, and how these relate to data in the statistical analyses.

3. A survey and presentation of Native views regarding the services they need and how they are being delivered by these programs.

Sampling of Native views will cover various kinds of communities, from the urban areas of Alaska to small and remote villages --covering 50 or 60 in all.

Robert R. Nathan Associates is one of the oldest and largest economic consulting firms in the united States, with years of experience in Alaska. During the 1960's it conducted an in-depth social and economic study of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands for the Department of the Interior.

The Alaska Native Foundation was organized in 1968 to provide technical assistance to the Alaska Federation of Natives; it provides services to the 12 Native regional corporations. Its directors represent a cross-section of Native leadership across Alaska.

James R. Leonard Associates is a firm of economic management and social services consultants with many private and U. S. and foreign government contracts. Sidney Hollander Associates is one of the Nation's oldest marketing and opinion research firms.

Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today that representatives of the National Center for Dispute Settlement will preside at a meeting of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe in Holton, Kansas, Saturday, September 29. A move to stop the meeting had been turned down by the Federal Court on September 11 in Kansas City, Kansas.

This meeting is a rescheduling of a meeting called last November in which tribal members were to select a committee to draft a new constitution. The prior meeting was postponed due to threats of violence to tribal members.

Earlier, in October 1972, following a prolonged deadlock and a request from the majority of the Potawatomi business committee, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs had withdrawn approval of the tribe's constitution. It was hoped that this action would end the factionalism resulting from weaknesses in that governing document and clear the way for a new constitution that would unite the tribe behind its governing body.

The National Center for Dispute Settlement of the American Arbitration Association is a private non-profit organization devoted to the peaceful resolution of public and community issues.

"The purpose of having professional neutrals preside at this meeting," Mr. Franklin said, "is to foster an atmosphere wherein democratic processes and self-determination can function. This procedure should encourage a large turnout of tribal members and insure a fair and orderly selection of a representative committee."

Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today the award of a $2.4 million contract with Burgess Construction Company of Phoenix, Ariz., for the bituminous surfacing of 12.768 miles of Navajo India n Reservation road extending from Ganado, Ariz.; to the Nazlini - Sawmill Road Junction. Included in the contract is a 200-foot bridge to be built over Ganado Wash near Ganado Lake.

"The new road will provide an all-weather road for use of general traffic and commerce to the communities of Ganado and Nazlini and the surrounding area," Franklin said.

The road constructing project is in line with the Administration's program to accelerate reservation development. An immediate objective is to increase the number and improve the quality of reservation roads.

Five other bids were received, ranging to a high of $2.9 million.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson-today announced that applications for enrollment at Intermountain Boarding High School, Brigham City, Utah, will be accepted from members of all tribal groups served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the past, this Bureau school had been operated solely for Navajos.

Enrollment on an all-tribal basis was recommended by an all Indian Study Commission. Established by the Commissioner to assess possible uses of the large facility, it represents major Indian organizations. Intermountain Boarding High School is now being phased out as a Navajo learning center.

"All-tribal enrollment at Intermountain will be on an experimental basis for one year," Thompson said. "In addition to increasing educational options for Indian students, the experiment will provide firm indicators of the need, or lack of need on the part of Indians for such a program. The All Indian Study Commission will continue its review of other potential plans for the school facility."

The decision to close Intermountain as a Navajo boarding school was based on the availability of classroom space on the reservation. This came about when Grey Hill Boarding High School, Tuba City, Ariz. --in the heart of the Navajo Reservation was opened this fall. Intermountain is located some 500 miles from the Navajo Reservation.

Commissioner Thompson indicated that the all-tribal program at Intermountain would present some problems "because the new students will not be coming from other Bureau schools but will be youth not now in school or in public schools which are not adequately meeting their needs. We are trying to reach Indian students most in need of help --to give them a better chance," the Commissioner said.

Intermountain – a $50 million property – accepted no freshman students in 1973-1974, limiting its program to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. This same limitation will continue. Applications for admission to the school should be submitted to the Bureau’s agency office serving the tribal group to which the potential student belongs.

This press release is being issued to clarify a release of May 2 pertaining to the lowering of the voting age for tribal elections.

The recent amendment to Part 52 of Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, did in no way affect the voting age provided in tribal governing documents for voting in tribal elections to elect tribal representatives. Instead, the lowered voting age is applicable only to those elections authorized by the Secretary and conducted pursuant to his regulations under the authorities given him by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Such elections are, therefore, Federal elections and are limited to those pertaining to the adoption or amendment of the governing documents of those tribes that have chosen to organize under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act.

The regulations now conform with the 26th amendment to the U. S. Constitution which hold, in effect, that no person 18 years of age or more shall be denied the right to vote in federally authorized elections.

Four sections were changed to reflect the lower voting age.

The regulations were also amended to eliminate the requirement that the Election Board require a return receipt when notifying each adult tribal member not living on the reservation that he must register to participate in elections called by the Secretary of the Interior. It is no longer necessary to establish proof of delivery of the notice since the U.S. Postal Service has its system for recording the delivery of certified mail, and such information is available from its records.