OPA

Plans for the use and distribution of $4.9 million awarded by Indian Claims Commission to the Western Apache Indians are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award, for lands taken by the United States without compensation between 1873 and 1902, will be divided equally between the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the San Carlos Apache Tribe as present-day successors of the Western Apaches.

The plans for both tribes, approved by Congress and made effective December 3, 1975, provide for 80 percent of each tribe’s share to be paid on a per capita basis to enrolled members, with remaining 20 percent to be programmed for projects of continuing benefit to the tribes.

The programmed funds for the White Mountain Apache Tribe will be used to curb juvenile delinquency by providing recreational facilities and programs for the youth of the reservation.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe will emphasize economic development in the use of their programmed funds. They will also set aside a portion of the funds for educational purposes and for a funeral program.

Special funding for implementing the Indian Self-Determination Act in fiscal year 1977 has been requested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson said today.

A request for $32.9 million for self-determination services is included in the Bureau's budget request submitted January 21 to Congress by President Ford.

Commissioner Thompson said that "funds to provide grants to tribes under section 104 of the Act, to offer technical assistance and meet tribal overhead costs for contracted programs are absolutely essential for carrying out the Administration's Indian policy and making Indian self-determination a reality."

Fiscal year 1977 will be the first full year of implementation for the Act, designed to strengthen tribal governments and give Indian communities control of reservation programs.

The $589.5 million requested for the operation of Indian programs represents an increase of $19.8 million. This includes $243.8 million for Indian education programs; $155 million for Indian Services, including the $32.9 million for se1f- determination; $88.7 million for tribal resources development; $24 million for trust responsibilities; $76.1 million for general management and facilities operation, and $2 million for Navajo-Hopi settlement programs.

With the exception of the self-determination services the increases requested for Indian program operations will not permit, due to inflationary factors, expansion of old programs nor development of new ones.

Other appropriations requested are $46.3 million-construction of irrigation systems-, buildings and utilities; $74 million for road construction; $30 million for Alaska Native Claims payments and $20 million for the Loan Guaranty and Insurance Funds authorized by the Indian Financing Act of 1974.

Of the construction funds requested, $20.5 million will be used to keep the Navajo Irrigation Project on schedule for the opening of Block III in calendar 1978. Apart from this, construction funds were requested only to meet emergency needs. Funds previously appropriated for public school construction assistance near reservations have been scheduled for deferral until fiscal year 1978.

Plans for the use of funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to the Barnish and Swinomish tribes of Indians are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Samish Indians were awarded $5,754 and the Swinomish $29,000 as additional compensation for land taken as a result of the Point Elliot Treaty ratified in 1859. Both tribes were located in the Western Washington area.

The plans, approved by Congress and made effective December 10, 1975, call for per capita distributions of the funds to the lineal descendants of members of the tribes as they existed in 1859.

Regulations governing the preparation of the rolls of descendants will be published in the Federal Register.

Alaska natives have been given a second opportunity to be enrolled under the Alaska Native ·claims Settlement Act, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson said today.

Commissioner Thompson said that legislation (P.L. 94-204) enacted January 2, 1976, re-opens the rolls for one year for those persons who missed the original enrollment deadline of March 30, 1973.

"Almost 2,000 persons submitted applications after enrollment had been closed," the Commissioner said. "This new legislation makes it possible for them and other Alaska natives to be enrolled and to receive benefits under the Act."

The Settlement Act which was signed into law by President Nixon on December 18, 1971, granted Alaska natives 40 million acres of land and close to a billion dollars.

Persons enrolled under the new legislation will receive stock under the Settlement Act and a pro rata share of all future distributions.

Eligibility for enrollment now is the same as it was for the first enrollment. In general, this means that a person should be at least one quarter degree or more of Alaska Indian, Eskimo or

Aleut blood -- or a combination thereof -- and living on December 18, 1971. Alaska native children born after December 18, 1971 are not eligible for enrollment under the Act.

Persons seeking to enroll should write to Enrollment Coordinator, Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Application forms and instructions will be provided as soon as they are available.

Information or assistance can also be obtained by contacting any Bureau of Indian Affairs office or any of the Alaska Regional Corporations.

Regulations governing the enrollment of Cherokee Indians who will share in the per capita distribution of $1 million are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The fund to be distributed is part of an award made by the Indian Claims Commission to the Cherokee Nation as additional compensation for lands taken between 1872 and 1893.

According to the regulations, only those Cherokees who were alive on November 5, 1975 and whose names appear on one of eight final rolls of the tribe are eligible for enrollment.

The eight final rolls are listed as follows: 1) Cherokees by Blood, approved March 4, 1907; 2) Cherokees by Blood, approved August 1, 1914; 3) Cherokees by Blood, minor children (1907); 4) Delaware Cherokees (1907); 5) Cherokees by Intermarriage (1907); Cherokee Freedmen, approved March 4, 1907; 7) Cherokee Freedmen; approved August 1, 1914; or 8) Cherokee Freedmen, minor children (1907).

Carl M. Dupuis, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has been appointed Chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Division of Facilities Engineering, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

He is the first Indian to hold this position in the Bureau.

''We are very pleased about this appointment," Commissioner Thompson said. "Carl is highly qualified and will do an excellent job in a field where there are now too few Indians. The Indian community needs to have more of its students move into engineering work."

Dupuis, 38, is a 1963 graduate of Montana State University. Since 1971 he has been President of the Enplan Corporation in Kirkland, Washington. He has worked with other firms in Seattle, Bellevue, and Wenatchee -- all in Washington.

In his new position, Dupuis will be stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico and will be responsible for all BIA construction of buildings and utilities.

Dupuis is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers, American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency Technical Advisory Groups for Municipal Waste Water Systems, American Institute of Architecture-Community Services Advisory Council, Society of Military Engineers, Puget Sound Indian Employment and Training Consortium.

He was born and grew up on the Flathead Reservation at Dixon, Montana. He is married and has two children.

Hiram E Olney, an enrolled member of the Yakima Indian Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Yakima Agency, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Olney, whose appointment was effective February 15, has been superintendent of the Fort Hall Agency in Idaho. The Yakima Agency is at Toppenish, Washington.

A graduate of the Haskell Indian School at Lawrence, Kansas, Olney began his career with BIA in 1951 as an Accounting Clerk in the Phoenix Area Office. He has worked at several BIA agency offices in jobs of increasing responsibility. He was the Administrative Manager at the Prime Ridge Agency in South Dakota before moving to Fort Hall in 1972

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has assigned Curtis Geiogamah as the BIA Acting Director on the Navajo Reservation, pending the recruitment of a permanent appointee for the position.

Thompson said that the position has been advertised and that applications would be received through March 12. ''We expect to have many excellent applicants for this important position," the commissioner said. We will, of course, consult with the governing body before making a selection, but we hope to fill the vacancy promptly."

The former Area Director, Anthony Lincoln, was recently transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Southwest Regional Field Coordinator for the Bureau.

Geiogamah was Assistant Director for Administration in the Navajo Area Office from 1966 to 1972. He now holds that position in the Phoenix Area Office. A member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, he began working for the Bureau in 1949.

The Navajo Tribe is by far the largest United States Tribe embracing about 15 percent of the total Indian population. The reservation covers about 125,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that Indian communities and individuals would have an extended period of time to submit comments on proposed law enforcement standards for Indian reservations.

The proposed rules, which were published in the Federal Register February 18, with a deadline for comments of February 28, are being re­published with a new deadline of April 18.

Commissioner Thompson said he wanted to encourage Indian people to express their views on these rules which will govern a basic service program in their communities."

The proposed rules establish personnel standards, guidelines concerning the use of firearms and requirements for training of police. Standards for detention or jail programs, including health and safety requirements, are also part of the rules.

The proposed rules would apply to law enforcement programs run directly by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and those conducted under contract with the Bureau. This would include programs contracted under the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act.

The Potawatomi Indians of Kansas now have a tribal constitution. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson gave formal approval February 19 to the document ratified in an election by the tribe on February 2.

The tribe has been without any form of tribal government since 1972 - and without an effective government for even longer. The new constitution provides for the prompt election of a tribal council and officers and is expected to meet the needs of the tribe for a sound governmental system.

In a brief ceremony in his office, Commissioner Thompson congratulated members of the tribe who worked to draft the constitution. He described the approval of the constitution is an "historic step for the tribe."

In October, 1972, the Federal Government withdrew its recognition of the tribe's governing body which had been crippled by a paralyzing factionalism. Recognition of the old tribal constitution, which provided no way for tribal members to resolve the deadlock, was also withdrawn. A constitutional drafting committee was elected in 1974 to draft a more modern document. The committee has been meeting regularly since that time. The ratification pf the new constitution culminates their work.

The tribe, which has its headquarters at Horton, Kansas, has an estimated membership of about 3,500.