OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the award of two contracts totaling about $5 million for the grading and draining of a total of nearly 40 miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation in both Arizona and New Mexico. The Navajo Reservation, approximately the size of the State of West Virginia, is in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

The contract for the longest stretch to be graded and drained under one of these two contracts -- 22.3 miles beginning at Pueblo Pintado, N. M. and running southeast to the McKinley-Sandoval County Line four miles west of Torreon, N. M. -- has been let to Owl Constructors of Compton, Calif. for about $2.5 million.

The contract for the shortest stretch 16.25 miles that will link the Navajo Indian communities of Rough Rock and Chilchinbeto, Apache County, Ariz. with Many Farms, Ariz. -- has been let to Nielsons, Inc., Dolores, Colo. also for about $2.5 million.

Thompson indicated that the Bureau hopes to let contracts for bituminous surfacing of these two stretches of road in the next fiscal year.

''The 22 mile New Mexico roadway is the last stretch of the 100-mile BIA Route N9 project," Commissioner Thompson explained. "When completed, this 100 mile stretch of road will be an all-weather highway from U, S, 666, 15.5 miles north of Gallup, N. M., across the eastern part of the Navajo Reservation to Torreon, N.M. via Crownpoint and Pueblo Pintado. There it will connect with another surfaced road which goes into Cuba, N. M.” It also ties in with New Mexico State Highway 44.

The eastern part of the Navajo Reservation has been dependent upon a dirt BIA Route N9. Work began on the 100 mile project April 1963 with the grading and draining of a stretch of road from U. S. 666 to Coyote Canyon.

The contract to grade and drain the road between Many Farms and Rough Rock calls for work to begin at Arizona State Highway No. 63 at Many Farms and extend westerly 13.5 miles toward Rough Rock. What is termed "Rough Rock Spur" will then be built southwesterly nearly 2.4 miles into Rough –Rock Community and then, near the Rough Rock Mutual Help Housing Site turn northwesterly .31 mile to the new Rough Rock High School.

''When completed, the Many Farms - Rough Rock road will be the main route to what have been the isolated communities of Rough Rock." Commissioner Thompson indicated. "It will serve the Navajo Indians and the general public traveling to and from various kinds of work. It will also provide access to medical facilities and serve as a school bus route. In addition, it will provide better access to nearby recreational areas.”

The area the road will serve has been something of a Federal educational center. Many Farms BIA boarding high school was the home of the Navajo Community College which has received considerate Federal funding prior to its move to Tsaile, near Window Rock, Ariz. The high school, plus the BIA elementary boarding school at Many Farms has a combined enrollment of nearly 1,000. Rough Rock Demonstration School enrolls about 400 students in an educational program under contract by BIA to the Navajo Tribe through which young Navajo are taught elements of the main American culture in conjunction with elements of the unique Navajo culture.

"Projects such as these will help Indian reservations catch up with the rest of the country, “ Thompson pointed out. “No local roads were built on Indian reservations from 1900 to 1935, at a time when the rest of the country was being knit together through a paved road system.”

A contract amounting to nearly $2.4 million has been awarded to Nielson's, Inc. of Dolores, Colorado, to build slightly more than 12 miles of road and a bridge over a wash on the Navajo Indian reservation about 10 miles south of Shiprock, New Mexico, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

­­ When completed the project will give all-weather access to the otherwise isolated community of Burnham, New Mexico, the Navajo Irrigation Project, the proposed El Paso Gasification Plant, Chaco Canyon National Monument, and to medical and recreational facilities. It will also serve as a route for school buses and will eventually connect with New Mexico State Road 371.

"Roads on Indian reservations enable the economy of the reservation to expand," Commissioner Thompson said. "They enable children to be bussed to school instead of being transported to boarding school away from their families. They provide a social lifeline that keeps a community healthy and viable. I am proud to announce that this stretch of road will be built by the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

The contract calls for the construction of 12.178 miles of bituminous highway beginning approximately 3.5 miles north of Newcomb from U.S. Highway 666 and extending easterly to Burnham, New Mexico, and constructing 603.5 feet of pre-stressed concrete bridge over Chaco Wash.

To participate in the Energy Conservation Program, Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Directors have been authorized to extend Christmas vacation in any school under their jurisdiction 14 days -- or until January 21, Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today.

Time lost if a school is closed until January 21 is to be made up by extending the school year, week, or day, Thompson indicated, adding that he must be informed of whatever program a school that remains closed an added 14 days elects to compensate for time lost.

At least one Indian tribe -- the Navajo -- bas told the Bureau of in Affairs that 10 percent of the year's supply of fuel in schools reservation can be saved by extending the Christmas holiday 14,” Thompson said. “On the basis of the Navajo’s wish to conserve, we decided to give the option of closing to all BIA schools.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs operates 200 schools in 17 states on Indian reservations and in remote areas throughout the country. They report to 12 Area Directors. Of the 200 BIA schools, 77 are boarding schools with a total enrollment of almost 36,000 and 123 are day schools with a total enrollment of more than 16,000. Fifty-three of the day schools are located in Alaska.

In addition, the Bureau operates one Indian junior college, one post­secondary art institute, and one post-secondary polytechnic institute.

Total enrollment in all Indian schools operated by the Bureau repre­sents approximately 25 percent of the almost 207,000 Indian children of school age living on or near reservations in the United States.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that proposed regulations for the implementation of the Indian Financing Act are being published in the Federal Register September 3, 1974.

Thompson said that full funding of $80 million is being sought for the Act, which was approved by President Nixon April 12, 1974.

The Indian Financing Act of 1974 itself:

1. Consolidates existing Indian revolving loan funds already administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and authorizes the appropriation of an additional $50 million for the consolidated fund from which direct Federal loans will be made to Indian organizations and individuals.

2. Creates a new Indian Loan Guaranty and Insurance Fund under which up to $200 million in loans made by private lenders to Indian tribes or tribal members can be guaranteed or insured for up to 90 percent of the unpaid principal and interest due.

3. Provides for interest subsidies to reduce the cost of borrowing from private lenders under the Loan Guarantee and Insurance Fund.

4. Establishes the Indian Business Development program which will stimulate and increase Indian entrepreneurship and employment by providing equity capital through non-reimbursable grants to-Indians and Indian tribes to establish and expand profit-making Indian-owned economic enterprises that benefit Indian reservations and communities. The act authorizes appropriations of up to $10 million for Indian Business Development Program grants for each of the next three fiscal years.

Parts 80, 91, and 93 of Title 25, Code of Federal Regulation’s -- the first two of which are revisions -- will implement these provisions. Part 80 sets forth regulations on the Indian Business Development Fund, Part 91 the Revolving Loan Fund, and part 93 the Loan Guarantee and Insurance Fund.

Written comments, suggestions, or objections regarding these parts must be made to the Director, Office of Tribal Resources Development, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20245 within 30 days after the date published in the Federal Register.

Each of the proposed parts defines "Indian" as any person who is a member of any Indian tribe, band, group, pueblo, or community recognized by the Federal Government as eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and any citizen of the United States who is one-fourth degree or more Alaska Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut. "Tribe" is defined as any Indian tribe, band, group, pueblo, community, or any Alaska Native village recognized by the Federal Government as eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

When loans are involved, they will be made only when there appears to be a reasonable chance of payment. The applicant must first try to get financing at reasonable rates from other Government sources, such as Farmers Home Administration or Small Business Administration, and usual commercial sources such as banks, and other savings and loan institutions.

Loans from the revolving loan fund will be made only when the applicant is unable to obtain a guaranteed or insured loan. Grants will be made only if they contribute to the economy of a reservation. They are limited to the lesser of $50,000 or 40 percent of the total cost of the project.

Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that four American Indian tribal councils in the Great Lakes Area have been awarded contracts totaling over $90,000 under the Tribal Government Development Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order that their governments can be made more effective.

The four tribal councils are Red Cliff Tribal Council, Bayfield, Wisc., $22, 000; Bad River Tribal Council, Ashland, Wisc., $24,850; Bay Mills Executive Council, Brimley, Mich., $25,000; and St. Croix Chippewa Council, Webster, Wisc., $18,850.

"A strong tribal government is the basis of Indian self-determination," Thompson indicated. ''Through contracting procedures tribes are given money to accomplish goals the y themselves set. These can include training in parliamentary procedure for tribal council members, development of ordinances for the Indian reservation governed by the tribal council, development of a constitution for a tribe, development of budgetary processes by the tribal government, and so forth,"

A "bill of rights" for students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools has become a part of the Code of Federal Regulations, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

"This new part of the Code," Commissioner Thompson said, "is like our Constitutional Bill of Rights in that it is simple, brief and to the point. It provides a sound base for local school communities --parents, students and staff -- to develop regulations and programs which accord with the law, are respectful of individual rights and promote a spirit of responsibility."

Included in the rights listed in the regulations are: Right to an education, freedom from unreasonable search, reasonable privacy, a safe and secure environment, freedom of religion and culture, freedom of speech and expression, the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the redress of grievances and the right to due process and disciplinary actions which could involve suspension for expulsion.

The essential elements involved in due process are also spelled out in the regulations.

The regulations are applicable, in addition to the Bureau schools, to schools operated by Indian tribal groups which are funded under contract by the Bureau. In 1974 there were 13 such schools.

“The consideration of students’ rights is a fairly recent phenomenon in the United States," Commissioner Thompson said. “Years ago it was accepted that school officials exercised a rather autocratic authority. Our increased consciousness of the rights of minority groups has changed this --and I think it is for the better. We cannot effectively teach democracy in a dictatorial school setting. Maintaining needed discipline within a framework of freedom is a challenge, but one that we must and will meet.”

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Jeff. Muskrat, 52, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to be Superintendent of the Cherokee Agency of North Carolina, which serves the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The Cherokees were divided during the Indian Removal of the mid-1800’s. Muskrat will assume his new post October 14.

The new Cherokee Superintendent is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who holds the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, following service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. A native of Grove, Okla., he attended Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College, Tulsa University and Maryland University as well as the United States Army Ordinance School, United States Army Engineering Management School, and United States Army Command and General Staff College.

Since his retirement from military service in 1967, Muskrat has been a farmer-rancher in Grove, Okla. and has worked for an Alexandria, Va. Based private engineering contractor. Since 1970, he has been the Administrative Manager of the Indian Technical Assistance Center, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Denver, Colo.

“The Cherokee Indians of North Carolina are fortunate to have a man with the demonstrated ability of Jeff Muskrat to administer their Agency,” Commissioner Thompson said today. “Muskrat has served in numerous leadership capacities with the U.S. Army – from the post of platoon leader to that of battalion commander. As a part of his military experience he has been supply officer, training officer, instructor, and commanding officer. The background he has acquired from these jobs can be transferred to the work of Superintendent of the Bureau’s Cherokee Agency.

“While Administrative Manager at the Indian Technical Assistance Center in Denver, Muskrat has worked extensively and successfully with Indians of almost every tribe served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs over a four-year period.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Charles W. James, 53, Choctaw Indian born in the Indian community of Kanima, Okla., to the post of Area Director, Anadarko Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

"James has a solid administrative background combined with a feel for Oklahoma and a knowledge of varied Indian cultures," Commissioner Thompson pointed out. "He brings to the Anadarko Area Directorship 20 years of government experience, three of those years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We are fortunate to have such a man for this job at this time.”

James attended Northern Arizona State College at Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona University. He was a paratrooper in World War II serving in Belgium, England, France, and Germany with the U.S. Army.

The Anadarko Area Director began his administrative career with the Federal Government in 1953, when he became an organization and methods examiner with the Navajo ordnance Depot, Department of the Al~, Flagstaff, Ariz. He worked with Navajo Indian people in this capacity and in 1956 moved from the post of examiner to supervise other examiners.

He became a management analyst with the White Sands Missile Range, an Army missile-testing center in New Mexico, in 1958. He moved from that position to a supervisory post at White Sands in which he directed the entire manpower program of the range.

James was appointed Superintendent of the Yankton Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, in 1911 and. moved to the job of Director pf Support Services, Aberdeen Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, .in 1973. He was appointed Acting Area Director of the Aberdeen Area Office July 1, 1974.

He is married to the former Beatrice Lumsdem of Oklahoma. They have two daughters, Sandra Strickland, Ashburn, Georgia, and Vicki Tunnell, El Paso, Tex.

Regulations for the preparation of plans for the use of distribution of judgments made to American Indian tribes or groups by the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims have been published in the Federal Register of January 15, 1974, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

In compliance with the Act of October 19, 1973 (87 Stat. 466, 467, 468), a public hearing on the proposed regulations was held at Denver, Colorado, on December 13, 1973. In addition, numerous oral and written comments, suggestions or objections to the proposed regulations were sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and received consideration equal to that given to all oral testimony presented at the public hearing.

The proposed regulations were amended as a result of the hearing, written and oral comments, and continued Departmental and Bureau review.

In implementing a 180-day time schedule set by the 1973 Act for the disposition of judgment funds, the regulations:

Provide for the earliest possible completion of research to identify the ultimate or present-day beneficiaries of judgments.

Provide for the affected Indian tribe or group to hold a preliminary meeting of the tribal governing body, or a public meeting, to develop a proposal for the use of distribution of its judgment funds. The, Area Director or Superintendents will assist in arranging these meetings and make available technical assistance to the Indian people.

Provide for a hearing of record to receive testimony on the tribal proposal for the use or distribution of the funds.

Within 180 days of the appropriation of judgment funds, or in the case of awards for which covering funds were appropriated prior to passage of the 1973 Act, within 180 days from the date of that Act, the Secretary of the Interior will submit the final proposed plan, and ,other pertinent items, to the Chairmen of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and to the governing body of each affected tribe or group. Unless ether the Senate or the House disapproves a submitted plan by resolution, it becomes effective on the 60th day from its submission to the Committees.

Disapproval of a plan will require the submitting of proposed legislation for the use or distribution of the funds, after further consultation with the affected Indian tribe or group

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the first in a series of steps that must be undertaken by the nearly 3,000 Menominee Indians of Wisconsin to restore their tribal government which was terminated in 1961.

Tribal candidates for the Menominee Restoration Committee will be nominated January 19, with elections to be held no later than March 5.

The new procedures follow the signing of Public Law 93-197 "Repealing the Act Terminating Federal Supervision over Property and Members of the Menominee Indian Tribe” -- the Menominee Restoration Act -- by President Nixon December 22, 1973.

As it made its way through the legislative process the new law was supported by all Wisconsin Senators and Congressmen, State and local Wisconsin government officials, and Menominee Indians and other American Indian groups. Of it Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said: "In his 1970 Message to the Congress on Indians, the President repudiated the policy of 'forced termination' in favor of self-determination on the part of Indians. Restoration of the Menominees to Federal status helps achieve the shift in policy advocated in that Message."

“It is with great pleasure that I am writing you to announce a general council meeting of the Menominee Indian Tribe," said Commissioner Thompson, in an individual letter sent each person believed to be a Menominee Indian tribal member.

The general council meeting will convene January 19, 1974 at 1 p.m. in St. Anthony Parish Hall, Neopit, Wisc., to nominate tribal candidates for election to positions on the nine-member Menominee Restoration Committee as provided in Public Law 93-197.

In Congressional debate preceding passage of the Menominee Restoration Act these points were made:

1. At the time termination was considered for the Menominees, the tribe had more than $10 million in trust and realized an annual profit from its lumber business. Because it was economically ahead of all other American Indian tribes in the Nation, it was encouraged to become like its non-Indian neighbors and terminate its special relationship with the Federal Government. It agreed to do this. In less than seven years after termination the tribe was on the verge of bankruptcy.
2. The total cost of the Menominee Tribe to Uncle Sam in the year preceding termination was $59,000. The tribe was reimbursing American taxpayers for all other services received. By 1966, nearly $2 million was authorized by Congress to be paid by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare over a four-year period to the State of Wisconsin to compensate for "extraordinary expenses occasioned by the Termination of Federal supervision over the affairs of the Menominee Tribe of Indians."
3. The Menominee Tribe owned 234,000 acres when termination proceedings began; today it owns 8,000 less.

At the time Congress approved the 1966 appropriation the Menominee Indians were troubled by an inadequate tax base, high costs of treating tuberculosis, high welfare and correctional costs, inadequate job training, and large numbers of school dropouts and juvenile delinquents.

Public Law 93-197 is an outgrowth of an investigation authorized by Congress upon expiration of this Act in 1971.

Commissioner Thompson congratulated members of a Menominee tribal delegation who visited him following passage of the restoration act to discuss methods of proceeding.

“We are happy that the Menominee Indian Tribe is being restored to Federal recognition and services, and that it will now receive health, education, and economic and community development programs it relinquished upon termination," Thompson said. We believe this will save Menominee land from further inroads, and give the Menominee a new self-image."

In explaining details of the January 19 meeting to those entitled to participate Thompson said, "Only the living persons listed on the final roll of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and all descendants, who on January 19, 1974 are at least 18 years of age and who possess at least one-quarter degree Menominee Indian blood, of persons on such roll, are entitled to participate in the nomination process or to be nominated as a candidate for a position on the Menominee Restoration Committee. Descendants are required under the law to take an oath that they are, in fact, descendants of enrollees and otherwise qualified."

Identification of those entitled to participate in the nomination process or to be nominated as a candidate for a position on the Menominee Restoration Committee will commence in the Parish Hall at Neopit at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m. the meeting will be called to order for the purpose of receiving nominations. Following the conclusion of nominating candidates, and if time permits, there will be a general tribal discussion period.

The general election to determine the membership of the Menominee Restoration Committee will be announced later.

Until a tribal governing body is regularly elected as provided for under the law, the Menominee Restoration Committee will officially represent the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in those matters relating to the restoration of Federal services to the tribe and its members. Its immediate duties will include the drafting of a tribal constitution and by-laws and updating the tribal membership roll.