OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has named Francis E. Briscoe, 56, an enrolled member of the Caddo Indian Tribe from Anadarko, Okla., Area Director, Portland Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs Briscoe has served in an acting capacity since Dale M. Baldwin retired last year.

"The Bureau of Indian Affairs is fortunate in having a man with the education and experience of Francis Briscoe to fill this post," Commissioner Thompson said. He has served in four Area Offices of the Bureau as well as with the Bureau in Washington, D.C. He also brings to the job a degree in business administration

Briscoe began his 25-year career with the Bureau in 1949 as a clerk typist in the Central Office, Washington, D.C. He then held positions of increasing responsibility in Area Offices at Minneapolis, Minn., Aberdeen, S. Dak., and Albuquerque, N.M. From 1955 to 1965 he again served in Washington, D.C., as an accountant, supervisory accountant, and financial manager. He moved from the post of Area Director for Administration in Aberdeen, S.Dak. to the same post in Portland in 1972.

Briscoe is a graduate of Oklahoma University, Norman, Okla., with a B.B.S. iii Business Administration. Fran 1940 to 1945 he served in Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany as part of the 45th Division (Thunderbirds) of the U.S. Army.

He has completed the Interior Department's manager training program and has had additional supervisory and management training.

He is married to the former Bonnie Lee Stribbling (Choctaw), Ardmore, Okla.

The Department of the Interior today proposed legislation which would enable all of its Indian, programs to be granted to tribes for their administration and would channel an additional $25 million in bloc grants for economic and tribal development.

Entitled the "Indian Tribal Government Grant Act," the legislation provides, first, a general granting authority which would permit the Secretary of the Interior and any tribe to enter into a grant arrangement for the tribe's performance of programs and activities now performed under existing appropriation authorizations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs staff.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said the legislation is designed to carry out the policy of promoting Indian self-determination set forth by President Nixon in his July 1970 message to the Congress on Indian affairs.

"The bill aims at achieving the greatest possible degree of Indian control, consistent with trust responsibilities, in the planning and administration of federally funded programs serving Indian tribes," Secretary Morton said.

This proposal, the Secretary stressed, should be viewed as complemen­tary to Departmental and other proposals aimed at achieving increased Indian self-determination by means of tribal takeovers of Federal programs or contractual arrangements.

Under the general grant authority in the bill, greater Indian control and involvement would be permitted in the planning and administration of the local governmental and other programs now controlled by BIA employees who are responsible to Federal officials rather than to the elected tribal government.

The second major function of the bill is to make available $25 million to tribes in part on an entitlement basis and in part based on an evalua­tion of their plans and needs. This part of the proposal stems from the President's Human Resources Message sent to the Congress on March 1, 1973, in which the President stated:

"I shall propose new legislation to foster Indian self-determination by developing an Interior Department program of bloc grants to federally recognized tribes as a replacement for a number of existing economic and resource development programs. The primary purpose of these grants would be to provide tribal governments with funds which they could use at their own discretion to promote development of their reservations. “

Tribes receiving grants under this part of the proposal would be authorized to spend the funds for four major purposes:

Strengthening tribal government including executive direction, planning, financial management, and technical assistance; ­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Developing natural resources, and construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of community facilities;

(3) Economic development, employment assistance, work experience, and training, including special youth programs in support of these activities; and

(4) Land acquisition in connection with these purposes.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Want to attend an Eskimo blanket-toss? Potlatch? Snake or crown dance? Exhibition of Indian arts and craft?

The American Indian Calendar, 1973, listing events under the sponsorship of Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts scheduled to take place from the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean is now available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402. The price is 45 cents.

"This year an increasing number of American Indian tribally owned motels are in a position to make visitors to Indian events welcome," Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, said.

Typical events to which travelers are invited by their Indian and Alaska Native hosts are: Indian stick dances, which take place at Nulato, Alaska; beaver roundup at Dillingham, Alaska; Ahoolai Days at Window Rock, Arizona; Bear dance at Jaynesville, California; and Whaa-Laa Days at Worley, Idaho.

Franklin said a number of Indian observances depend upon seasonal activities and exact dates cannot be determined in advance. He urged tourists to check with tribes, local Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, and local Chambers of Commerce for specific dates if they are not already indicated or if the traveler is building his itinerary around a particular occasion.

The publication includes a list of Bureau Area Offices, the states they serve, and their telephone numbers.

Campgrounds as well as motels are available on some reservations.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Amon A. Baker, 48, a member of the Cherokee Nation to be Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Sequoyah High School, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Baker replaces Edwin Moore who was appointed Assistant Area Director for Education in Muskogee in February 1964.

Baker holds a B.S. and Masters degree from Northeastern College, Tahlequah, Oklahoma in Industrial Arts and Education. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946.

He began his career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1950 as an Instructor at the Seneca Indian School, and in 1955 became a teacher at Sequoyah High School. In 1964 he was Construction and Maintenance Representative for the BIA Muskogee Area Office, and later became Construction Analyst. Baker returned to Sequoyah High School in 1965 as Building and Grounds Manager until February 1974 when he became Acting Superintendent.

“We feel fortunate to have a man with the qualifications of Mr. Baker to assume the post of Superintendent of Sequoyah High School," Commissioner Thompson indicated. “He has the academic background and the experience in Indian Education to make a real contribution to our Indian students."

Baker is married to the former Jean Thompson, also a member of the Cherokee Nation. They have four daughters.

Regulations have been published in the Federal Register to cover distribution of nearly $3 million awarded the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia Indians by the Indian Claims commission under two different dockets, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The Indian Claims commission is a special tribunal established under a congressional act of August 13, 1946 to consider claims of Indian tribes, bands, or other identifiable groups for monetary judgments -- against the United States -- usually involving fair payments for tribal lands taken many years ago by treaty or agreement.

The regulations implement legislation authorizing distribution of awards in docket 314 D of $1,209,900 and in docket 289 of $1,501,294. The cases were decided by the commission in that order.

The Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia has existed since 1854. The Weas were first found by non-Indians in what is now Wisconsin. They moved across the Great Lakes to the mid-West, where they joined the Piankashaw. Later the Peoria and Kaskaskia tribes, which had come somewhat similar route and had already merged, became affiliated. All were members of the Illinois Confederacy.

The Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia moved to northeast Oklahoma in 1868.

After an Indian tribe receives an award from the Indian Claims Com­mission the Congress appropriates funds to cover the amount of the award and passes special legislation authorizing use of the money. When a per capita distribution from judgment funds is authorized the amount authorized for distribution is paid in equal shares to those persons eligible to share in the funds.

The Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) authorizes the distribution of funds derived from judgments awarded the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskias and directs the Secretary of the Interior to bring current the roll prepared in accordance with section 1 of the Act for the purpose of distributing awards appropriated for the Tribes after 1968

In order to bring the roll current, it was necessary to amend Section 41.3, Part 41 of Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The regulat­ions recently published in the Federal Register establish the requirements for eligibility for enrollment and the deadline for filing applications.

Funds awarded to the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia Indians as the result of the settlement of docket 314-D are to be distributed on a per capita basis to persons whose names appear on the roll after it is brought current as of January 8, 1971 -- the date the Congress appropriated the money to pay the award granted in this case.

It will be brought current by adding the names of children born to persons whose names are on the roll prepared pursuant to section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) between July 31, 1970 and January 8, 1971 and living as of, January 8, 1971 and by deleting the names of enrollees who died between July 31, 1970 and January 8, 1971.

Money the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kask­askia Indians are now entitled to as the result of the settlement of docket 289 is to be distributed on a per capita basis to persons whose names appear on the roll after it is brought current as of December 15, 1971 -- the date the Congress appropriated the money to pay the award of docket 289.

It will be brought current by adding the names of children born to persons whose names are on the roll prepared pursuant to section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) between January 8, 1971 and December 15, 1971 and living as of December 15, 1971 and by deleting the names of enrollees who died between January 8, 1971 and December 15, 1971.

In the case of each docket, application for enrollment is the re­sponsibility of the parents, guardians, or other parties having legal custody of eligible children.

Persons whose names appear on the roll of the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peorias and Kaskaskias prepared in accordance with section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) and section 41.3 (m) of Title 25 Code of Federal Regulations need not reapply for enrollment. But, they are required to furnish current information as to their whereabouts. Add­ition to the roll will be made only on the basis of applications.

Applications for enrollment may be obtained from and must be filed with the Area director, Muskogee Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U. S. Department of the Interior, Federal Building, Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401.Applications must be filed no later than May 15, 1973.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of two Superintendents of Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies in the Pacific Northwest - the Umatilla, Western Washington Agencies --and one Assistant Superintendent -- within the Yakima Agency.

Jose Carpio, 46, an Isleta Pueblo Indian, will become Superintendent of the Umatilla Agency July 21. Headquarters of the Agency is at Pendleton, Ore. Stephen A. Lozar, 49, an enrolled member of the Flathead Tribe, will become superintendent of the Western Washington Agency headquartered at Everett, Wash. July 28. Merritt E. Youngdeer, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, will become Assistant Superintendent of the Yakima Agency July 21. Agency headquarters is at Toppenish, Wash.

Carpio replaces Harold Duck, who retired December 1973 after ten years as Superintendent of the Umatilla Agency. He has served at four Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies: Colorado River, United Pueblos, Jicarilla Agency, and Eastern Navajo Agency. He has also held posts at Albuquerque Indian School, from which he was graduated, and the Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, New Mex. He served as Administrative Manager at the Eastern Navajo Agency and the Institute of American Indian Art.

He was graduated from the Department of the Interior supervisory and management training course, and is a veteran of four years in the U.S Marine Corps.

Stephen A. Lozar replaces George Felshaw who died in October 1973 after more than 11 years as Superintendent of the Western Washington Agency. Lozar cares to the Western Washington Agency from the Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz. He had been real property management officer at the Western Washington Agency in 1968 and assistant superintendent until September 1971 when he moved to the post of Area Field Representative at Riverside, Calif.

He has served in posts at the Warm Springs, Umatilla, Flathead and Wind River Agencies. In addition, he has worked in the Portland and Sacramento Area Offices.

He has attended the University of Montana and served for a year in the U.S. Army.

Merritt E. Youngdeer replaces Barney Dunn, who retired recently after A 14 years as assistant Superintendent of the Yakima Agency. He is a graduate of Haskell Institute - now Haskell Indian Junior College - commercial course and the Navajo Area 7th bureau Field Management Program and the Interior Department Manager Development Program.

He began his career in 1964 with the Rosebud Indian Hospital of the Indian Health Service. He has held successively responsible posts in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Wind River, Tuba City Agencies, in Wyoming, and Arizona, in the Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, N.M., and the Anadarko Area Office, Anadarko, Okla.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton in a statement issued today urged support of legislation to restore the terminated Menominee Indians of Wisconsin to Federal status as Indians.

Marvin Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, testified today before the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in support of H.R. 7421, the Menominee Restoration Act.

The text of Secretary Morton's statement follows:

"Today the Department of the Interior has taken an important step to implement the policy of Indian self-determination which the President set forth in his July 8, 1970, Indian Message to the Congress. This position is a concrete reversal of the policy of terminating Indian tribes --discontinuing the Federal trusteeship for Indian land and ending special Federal services to Indian 'people --which dominated much of the 1950's and part of the 1960's.

"The policy of termination crystallized in the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 108, on August 1, 1953, which declared the withdrawal of Federal supervision over Indians to be the policy of the Congress. The Menominee’s were the first Indian group to be terminated under the policy heralded by H.Con.Res. 108.

"The philosophy of termination has, in my judgment, long since been discredited. Its underlying premise --that Indians should relinquish their unique identities --is one which President Nixon rejected in his campaign for the Presidency. On September 27, 1968, he stated: "We must recognize that American society can allow many different cultures to flourish in harmony and we must provide an opportunity for those Indians wishing to do so to lead a useful and prosperous life in an Indian environment."

“I would add to this statement my own profound respect for the rich wisdom of Indian culture. I am convinced from my dealings with Indian people that the mainstream of American life is broad enough to hold more than one channel. I have been skeptical as to whether termination was willingly accepted by all tribes which underwent it.

"The Menominee case --in which per capita payments of certain funds due the tribe were attached to the Act authorizing termination --seems to bear this out. In his 1970 Indian Message the President repudiated the policy of "forced termination" in favor of Indian self-determination. Restoration of the Menominee’s to Federal status helps achieve the shift in policy advocated in that message.

"Today Menominee County is engaged in a stiff battle for fiscal survival. Restoration of the Federal relationship should relieve the Menominee’s of some of the burden which they have striven to shoulder since being terminated.

"I hope the Menominee Restoration Act will be enacted and that the Menominee’s will prosper in their new relationship with the United States."

The award of a $985,056 contract to construct municipal facilities at Red Lake, Minn., was announced today by Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs.

The contract with Peterson Construction Co., Inc., of Grand Forks, N.D., will provide for construction of a municipal center with court complex, police department, detention facilities, adult rehabilitation center, fire station and other related facilities. Existing detention facilities at Red Lake have been overcrowded and .have needed replacing for the past 35 years, but it wasn't until two years ago that the project was activated.

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians took the lead in preparing a comprehensive study with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to determine the needs and best solution for the problems that exist on the reservation.

"Once again we see what individual and tribal initiative can achieve in getting a job done the way the Indians want it done," said Franklin. Along with the proposed center will go a new correctional approach of limited detention facilities while focusing on prevention of delinquency, crime and alcoholism through rehabilitation activities. The need for a fire equipment building is vital to the Red Lake community, Franklin said, and will be included in the total proposed project. Construction of the municipal facilities will begin soon with completion expected next September. The center at Red Lake will be the second Bureau funded rehabilitation and treatment centers for Indians. The other center is located at Colorado River, Arizona., and will be included in the total proposed project.

Construction of the municipal facilities will begin soon with completion expected next September. The center at Red Lake will be the second Bureau funded rehabilitation and treatment centers for Indians. The other center is located at Colorado River, Arizona.

A six-month study of the school construction needs of public school districts serving Indian students is currently underway, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The National Indian Training and Research Center (NITRC) of Tempe, Arizona, is conducting the study under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"We expect more than 400 school districts serving Indian students in 23 states will be involved in the six-month study," Franklin said. "The NITRC study will not be limited to major impact districts --those with more than 50 percent Indian enrollment --but will encompass all areas where Indian students form a significant part of the school population."

Many of the public school districts serving Indians have no adequate tax base to replace obsolete or inadequate facilities because of surrounding Indian-owned, tax-exempt lands and the general poverty of the areas. In an effort to develop legislation that will provide assistance to these schools on a realistic and uniform basis, the Bureau was asked by the House Appropriations Committee to conduct an in-depth study and suggest solutions to the problems.

"We consider this study of the school situation as very significant since more than 68 percent of the nearly 205,000 Indian students are enrolled in public schools," Franklin said.

Preliminary research conducted in 80 major impact school districts shows that Indians are the fastest-growing segment of the school population in the United States. Enrollment at many of the schools has doubled over the past five years. The rapid population increase has combined with the deterioration of outdated school buildings to create a serious backlog for construction aid.

In a preliminary study, the Gallup-McKinley District in New Mexico where Zuni and Navajo children are educated was found to have the greatest need of any single district. At the state level, Arizona was found to have the greatest overall need.

Limited construction aid has been provided for some public school districts with large Indian enrollment under Federal legislation known as Public Law 815. Congress has also approved specific funding for a few schools in critical need. The report of the House committee on Appropriations requesting the Bureau to make the study said the problem has intensified each year and has ~ now reached a point where the committee can no longer provide funds for construction of these schools without a comprehensive study of their needs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today named superintendents to three Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies - those at Fairbanks, Nome, and Bethel. The appointments are effective August 1, September 1, and August 4, respectively.

Frederick P. Baker, 35, an enrolled member of the Mandan Hidatsa Tribes of Fort Berthold, N. Dak., is to be Superintendent at Fairbanks. Gary T. Longley, 42, an Eskimo, will undertake the Superintendent’s post at Nome. Peter P. Three Stars, 47, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is to become Superintendent of the Bethel Agency. All three men have lived and worked in Alaska prior to these appointments.

Baker has a B.S. in education from Bemidji State College, Minnesota, and has also attended the University of Michigan and University of California, Los Angeles. He was an Employment Assistance Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Fairbanks in 1969, a post he held until 1971. He has also been a Community Living Guidance Specialist with the Bureau in the Los Angeles Field Employment Assistance Office from 1967 to 1969. He began his work life as a teacher-coach in a public school in Naytahwaush, Minn., and his Government career as an education specialist with the Indian Health Service at Standing Rock, N. Dak., Belcourt, N. Dak., and Pine Ridge, S. Dak.

He returns to the Bureau from a position as associate director, Division of State and Support Services, Mountain Plains Education and Economic Development Corp., National Institute of Education, Glasgow Air Force Base, Mont. He has served as chairman, Division of Special Academic Services, Mary College, Bismarck, N. Dak. and is now a member of its Indian Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Haskell Indian Junior College Board of Regents. Haskell is a Bureau of Indian Affairs school.

Gary Longley, a native of Nome where he will head the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency, has attended the University of Alaska. He served with the U. S. Air Force for four years, and with the Alaska National Guard for two.

He began his civilian Government career as a weather services specialist at Anchorage, Alaska. then became a health officer with the Alaska Native Health Service. He first came to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1972 as an enrollment coordinator at Anchorage. Most recently, he has been executive director with the Bering Straits Native Corporation -one of 12 regional corporations established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act – in Nome. Regional corporations are formed as businesses for profit although their articles of incorporation and bylaws have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Peter Three Stars has a B.S. in education from the University of South Dakota at Springfield, S. Dak., and has taken Bureau of Indian Affairs management training courses.

He was a relocation officer with the Bureau at Juneau, Alaska, from 1958 to 1959 and an elementary teacher at Unalakleet, Alaska, from 1959 to 1963. In 1963, he became a tribal operations officer at the Juneau Area Office and moved to a similar post with the Bureau in Washington, D.C. in 1971.