OPA

A $3,000,000 program of public school expansion to accommodate nearly 3,000 Navajo Indian children by September 1955, in communities of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado bordering the Navajo Reservation was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Fred G. Aandahl.

Funds for the program, which is to be administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, were included in the supplemental appropriation act approved by President Eisenhower on August 26. Grants will be made to the local school districts, on an estimated cost basis of $1,000 per Navajo student, to finance new construction, remodeling of present facilities, and purchase of equipment.

The 3,000 Navajo enrollees include about 1,000 to be enrolled this fall in existing facilities and another 2,000 to be accommodated by the fall of 1955 through the expansion program. Board and room for the children while they are attending the public schools will be provided in the border communities by the Indian Bureau. Only children of the fourth grade and above will be included.

The communities participating in the program are Flagstaff, Holbrook, Winslow and Snowflake in Arizona; Gallup, Farmington and Aztec in New Mexico; Richfield, Utah; and Cortez, Colo.

All work under the program must meet State standards for school construction and the facilities are to be available to Navajo students on an unsegregated basis.

The public school expansion is part of the Indian Bureau’s broad program aimed at providing educational opportunities for all 27,000 of the Navajo children now of school age by the fall of 1955. Only a little over 14,000 of these were enrolled in school during the term which ended last June. Plans now under way will provide for an additional 8,000 in the fall of 1954.

In approving the $3,000,000 item, the congressional conferees made the following statement: "This program is authorized under the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act (25 U. S. C. 631) which was enacted to meet a special situation due to the large number of Navajo children for which no school facilities have been provided in accordance with the treaties made with these tribes. No statutory authority exists for this type of program for Indians other than Navajo and Hopi Tribes, therefore no precedent is established by this action."

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Crow Creek Indian Agency now located at Fort Thompson, South Dakota, will be moved about December 1, to Pierre, S. Dak.

The move to Pierre was recommended by Indian Commissioner Glenn L., Emmons as a change from previous plans which called for transferring the agency from Fort Thompson to Chamberlain. Shortly after the proposed move to Chamberlain was announced last spring, the mayor of Chamberlain, Herschel V. Melcher, wrote a letter indicating his strong opposition" This was followed by a resolution adopted by the Chamberlain City Commissioners on April 7 and signed by Mayor Melcher which also opposed the move.

The decision to transfer the Crow Creek Agency, which serves both the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Reservations, from Fort Thompson was made necessary by the backing up of waters behind the Fort Randall Dam which will create serious problems at the present site. Location of the agency at Pierre, on the grounds of the Indian school has been approved by a majority of the Indians affected and by the responsible officials of that community.

Promotion of Harry L. Stevens from the position of superintendent, Papago Indian Agency, Sells, Arizona, to assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Phoenix, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Albert M. Hawley, reservation principal at San Carlos Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., succeeds Stevens at Papago.

Mr. Stevens, an Apache Indian, joined the Bureau in 1933 as camp superintendent at San Carlos Agency and remained there until 1941 when he was named senior camp superintendent at Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn. After one year he was named principal field aid in charge of the Fond du Lac sub agency, Cloquet, Minn. and in 1943 was transferred to the Central Office as personnel technician. From 1944 to 1949 he was in charge of the Walker River sub agency, Schurz, Nev., and served for two years as assistant to the superintendent, Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz. He was assigned to the Papago Agency in 1951 as administrative assistant and became superintendent in 1953. Prior to entering the Federal service, he was an instructor in the Arizona State Prison and high school teacher at Holbrook, Ariz.

Mr. Hawley came with the Bureau in 1935 and for eight years was a boys' advisor at the Carson Indian School, Stewart, Nev. After Navy service during World War II, he returned to the Bureau as principal for the Carson School in 1946 and one year later was name reservation principal. In 1950 he became principal of the Tuba City Boarding School on the Navajo Reservation and in 1951 returned to the is position at the Carson School for two additional years. He has been reservation principal at San Carlos Agency since 1953.

Consolidation of the two Minnesota Indian agencies, now located at Cass Lake and Red Lake, in a new headquarters at Bemidji on December 1 was announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons.

The move, which is expected to result in a saving of about $11,000 a year in operating expenses, will involve only about 15 percent of the Indian Bureau personnel in Minnesota and will be chiefly a consolidation in the over-all direction of the program and in "housekeeping functions" The great majority of employees engaged in providing services to the Indians will. continue to be stationed at Cass Lake, Red Lake, Nett Lake and Warroad.

Establishment of the consolidated agency at Bemidji was informally approved by responsible officers of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas and was formally endorsed by the Executive Council of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe on August 21. Subsequently the Executive Council asked for postponement of the move pending further study. This request, however, was received after the Department had decided to proceed with the merger.

Present superintendent of the Consolidated Chippewa Agency at Cass Lake is J. W. Kaufmann and the superintendent at Red Lake is Richard D. Butts. Superintendent of the new Consolidated Minnesota Agency at Bemidji has not yet been selected.

The Alaska Native Service of the Bureau of Indian Affairs has completed arrangements for hospitalizing 290 Alaska native tuberculosis patients under contract in the Laurel Beach, Riverton and Firlands State Sanatoria at Seattle, Wash., Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Movement of the patients from Anchorage, the Territorial collecting point, by plane to Seattle will begin shortly and will involve about 75 patients during the remainder of the month.

The same number will be moved in November and December and the final group of 65 in January 1955.

The first 150 patients to be moved will be placed in the Laurel Beach and Riverton Sanatoria and the balance at Firlands.

Hospitalization of the Alaska natives in the Washington State Sanatoria will be in addition to the medical care provided by the Alaska Native Service in its own hospitals of the Territory which will continue to be maintained at the present level of capacity. Any patients who are moved from the ANS hospitals to Seattle will be replaced by other tuberculous natives needing hospitalization.

The program was made possible by a supplemental appropriation and is aimed at alleviating the widespread and serious tuberculosis problem among the Alaska natives.

Substantial progress in the Department's program to provide educational facilities for 22,000 Navajo children during this school year is being made, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay said today.

As of October 15 about 19,000 children are enrolled in public, Federal and mission schools, both on and off the reservation.

Expansion of reservation schools scheduled for completion in November will accommodate another 1,500 children.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports that completion of a new school on the reservation at Kayenta, Arizona, in January, will permit the enrollment of 500 more children. An additional 1,000 seats will be provided' in public schools now under construction on the reservation at Fort Defiance and Ganado.

When the Navajo Emergency Education Program was drawn up last winter, approximately 14,000 Navajo children, out of a total school-age population of 28,000, were enrolled in schools of all types. The Bureau's goal, announced at that time, was to provide for at least 7,000 additional children during the present school year and to accommodate the remainder of the "backlog” group by the fall of 1955.

Promotion of Theodore B. Hall from the position of Superintendent, Osage Indian Agency, Pawhuska., Oklahoma, to Assistant Area Director for the Indian Bureau at Gallup, New Mexico, effective October 30, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

A successor to Mr. Hall at Osage Agency has not yet been selected.

Mr. Hall, a veteran of 24 years with the Indian Bureau, has been Superintendent of the Osage Agency since 1940. Prior to that he served for six years as Superintendent of the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz. He joined the Bureau in 1930 as an appraiser at Quapaw Agency, Miami, Okla. and had a few years of service at Leupp and Sacaton, Ariz., in the early 1930's. Before coming with the Bureau, he had several years of experience in school teaching and private business in Oklahoma. He was born at Whitfield, Okla., in 1902.

Appointment of Peru Farver, a veteran of 44 years' service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to head the Bureau's work in tribal affairs was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Mr. Farver, a Choctaw Indian, first entered the Bureau service in 1910 as a teacher at Union Agency, Muskogee, Okla., and has been superintendent at Fort Hall Agency, Fort Hall, Idaho, since August 1953. In the years between he held a variety of assignments and was superintendent at Tomah Agency, S. Dak.; Red Lake, Minn.; Cheyenne River, S. Dak., and Belcourt, N. Dak.

In his new position in Washington he will be under the supervision of Miss Selene Gifford, Assistant Commissioner for Community Services, and will coordinate the Bureau's activities in connection with tribal government, tribal budgets, and tribal enrollment.

A successor at the Fort Hall Agency has not yet been appointed.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced three important personnel moves in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Russell G. Fister will transfer from the position of assistant area director, Minneapolis, Minn., to be superintendent at Osage Agency, Pawhuska, Okla., effective November 27. He will succeed Theodore B. Hall whose transfer to the position of assistant area director, Gallup, New Mexico, was recently announced.

James W. Kaufmann, now superintendent of the Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn., will become superintendent of the new combined Minnesota agency at Bemidji on December 1.

Richard D. Butts, superintendent of the Red Lake, Minn., agency, which is being absorbed in the new headquarters at Bemidji, will transfer to the Bureau's Washington Office as program officer on December 1.

Mr. Fister has been with the Bureau for 28 years. After holding a number of clerical and fiscal positions, he was appointed in 1943 assistant director of credit in the Bureau's central office and four years later was promoted to director. In 1948 he transferred to the Bureau's Navajo headquarters at Window Rock, Ariz. as business economist and was later named director of resources. He transferred to Minneapolis as assistant area director last June.

Mr. Kaufmann originally came with the Bureau in 1929 as agricultural extension agent at Consolidated Chippewa Agency and subsequently served in this line of work for 21 years. His service included assignments at Minneapolis, Spokane, and Oklahoma City. He has been superintendent at Cass Lake since 1950.

Mr. Butts has been superintendent at Red Lake since last June. Before that he served three years as superintendent of the Umatilla Agency, Pendleton, Oregon. He came with the Bureau in 1948 following his discharge from the Army with the rank of major and was soil conservationist at the Colville Agency, Nespelem, Wash., until 1951.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton today announced that the Department of the Interior has entered into a use agreement with the Department of the Air Force to preserve Wildwood-Air Force Station near Kenai, Alaska, in good condition until arrangements can be made to transfer title to the base to the Kenai Native Association. Interim uses planned for the 'facility include a program for boarding high school students and Indian Action Team activities.

"Vice President Agnew, who is deeply interested in this program, and I are pleased to be able to make this arrangement which will further the program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs give the Kenai Native Association an opportunity to take step forward in building an economic base in their community, and advance President Nixon’s program of self-determination,” Morton said.

Wildwood Air Force was constructed and activated by the U.S. Army in 1953 as a communications station. It was transferred to the Air Force in 1965 to implement the policy of consolidating all long haul communications in Alaska under the Air Force as Agent for Defense Communications Agency. The base encompasses approximately 4,300 acres, has 65 buildings including 18 family units with a total area of 471,000 sq.ft. The inactivation of the mission and closure of the station by July 1, 1972 was announced by the Air Force on September 29, 1971.