OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that he has called a special meeting of the Cherokee Delaware Tribe's general council to convene at 10:00 a.m., September 11, in the old high school gymnasium in Dewey, Oklahoma to consider removal of certain of its officers.

The general council will consider charges presented by the grievance committee against the chairman of the business committee, the vice-chairman and the secretary. After hearing a response to the charges, the general council will vote either to clear the individuals of the charges or to remove them from office.

The Commissioner emphasized that his action in no way should be construed as modifying his policy of refraining from becoming involved in internal tribal matters, and he added that his role in this case was mandated because of the specific language in the tribal by-laws.

The tribe has approximately 8,000 adult members.

The Navajo Indian Tribe will receive more than $7.3 million, under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be used in public schools
serving Navajo students, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The contract, awarded August 11, gives the tribe administrative responsibility for the Johnson-O'Malley (JOM) programs serving the reservation.

The JOM funds are generally used to provide special programs to meet the needs of the Indian students in public school. Indian education committees at the local school level have authority under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to approve the programs for which the funds are used.

The tribe subcontracts with the local schools or school districts for the service and programs to be provided the students.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson will present the Indian Leadership Award of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to Mrs. James M. (Marie) Cox, Comanche Indian of Oklahoma, and to the Cherokee Action Committee for Foster Children of North Carolina April 2 at 2 p.m. in the Department of the Interior Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

"These awards represent unique contributions in the realm of foster care by American Indians and are a part of National Action for Foster Children Week," Thompson said. National Action for Foster Children Week is March 31-Apri1 6, 1974.

Mrs. Cox has been chairman of the National Action for Foster Children Committee Which developed' a bill of rights for foster children. She has also been volunteer director of the first Bureau-wide study by Indian volunteers of the Bureau's programs for the care of children away from their parents that have resulted in recommendations for the improvement of these programs.

The Cherokee Action for Foster Children Committee --a part of the Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina --has a record of accomplishments in terms of volunteer efforts in behalf of Indian children who are in need of foster care. It is one of the first six demonstration sites in the Nation for this kind of volunteer effort. The committee has produced the film "Foster Care Among the Cherokees."

The program will include American Indian dancing by the Youth Club -dance troop of the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C., and appreciations by two foster children: Ruth Sequoyah, 11, a Cherokee Indian and a direct descendant of Sequoyah, the Cherokee Indian who made the language a written one; and Ethel Wermy, 17, a Comanche Indian who is in her last year at Fort Sill Indian School, Lawton, Okla. She maintains a straight "A" scholastic average in her studies.

"The purpose of the Indian Leadership Award is to give official recognition to Indian leaders who, by their examples, have provided outstanding leadership in pioneering or initiating new approaches to Indian development and have distinguished themselves in their community or state in an outstanding manner," Thompson said.

Cam1issioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the awarding of two contracts accounting to nearly $9 million in Federal money for Bureau of Indian Affairs day schools at Acomita, New Mexico, and Wanblee, South Dakota.

"These two schools, when completed, will serve a need that has existed for many years," Thompson said.

About 500 children of kindergarten through high school age in Wanblee have been attending class in rented buildings within the town in mobile units, and in old rammed-earth buildings. They are now slated to get a $5,121,600 building that will be of frame construction with brick veneer and have 95,518 square feet of floor area.

Acoma Pueblo has had an elementary school serving about 200 children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Its new $3,563,869 school is expected to enroll about 400 children and serve as a center of Community life as well as a modern educational facility. The building will be of concrete block construction and have 87,945 feet of floor space. It will have a flat roof and blend architecturally with the traditional Pueblo.

“American Indian children have unique learning needs,” Commissioner Thompson said. “They need school facilities that take this into account and that enable Indian children to bridge tile Indian and non-Indian worlds.”

In each instance, a planning committee made up of local citizens and education specialists from the bureau of Indian Affairs was formed. It developed a pr

Each school will include a new gymnasium and the school at Wanblee will have a swimming pool.

Successful bidder for the Wanblee School is R&S Construction Co., Rapid City, South Dakota. Successful bidder for the Acoma School is Lembke Construction Co., Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson praised volunteer activity in behalf of Indian foster children April 2, as he bestowed the Indian Leadership Award of the Bureau of Indian Affairs upon an individual and a committee as part of National Action for Foster Children Week March 31 -April 6. The ceremony was held in the Department of the Interior Auditorium Washington, D.C.

"Indian Children --like all children --are the hope of their own communities,” Thompson said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs provides for the care of many Indian children in foster homes, in specialized institutions, and in its own boarding schools. This gives us a special interest in enlightened work with the special problems of children who are away from their own families over long periods of time."

The awards went to the Cherokee Action for Foster Children Committee, of the Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina, and to Mrs. James M. (Marie) Cox of the Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma.

The Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina is one of six demonstration sites in the Nation for volunteer effort concerning foster children. The committee financed, produced, wrote, and acted in the film “Foster Care Among the Cherokees.”

Mrs. Cox is chairman of the National Action for Foster Children Committee which developed a bill of rights for foster children. She was also volunteer director of the first Bureau-wide study by Indian volunteers of the Bureau's programs for the care of children away from their parents that have resulted in recommendations for the improvement of these programs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of George A. Laverdure, 58, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indian Tribe, to the post of Superintendent of the Crow Agency, Mont., of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has been serving in that post in an acting capacity since June 1973. His appointment was effective March 31.

Anson Baker, former Crow Agency Superintendent, has been transferred to the Fort Berthold Agency, New Town, N. Dak., as Superintendent.

Laverdure was graduated from Haskell Institute, now Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas in 1939.

He received a superior performance award from the Department of the Interior in 1957 and again in 1964. The 1957 award was for his work in furthering the Aberdeen Area (S.Dak.) credit program. The 1964 award was for administrative and coordinative efforts in implementation of the BIA housing program in the Billings, Mont., Area.

Laverdure began his BIA service in 1939 with the Winnebago Agency in Nebraska. He remained there until 1951 when he became a farm agent --first with the Standing Rock Agency, S. Dak., and then with the Cheyenne River Agency, S. Dak. He became Assistant Area Credit Officer in the Aberdeen Area Office in 1954 and the Area Credit Officer of the Billings Area Office in 1959.

He was acting Superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Agency, Lame Deer, Mont., from June 1971 to August 1971 and has been acting Superintendent of the Crow Agency since June 1973.

He served in the U.S Navy 3 years --completed training at the Armed Forces Institute in 1944.

Laverdure's wife, Lillian, is a Winnebago. They have one son, Doyle, Field Representative in the Indian program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Minneapolis, Minn.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Loren J, Farmer, 35, Blackfeet Indian, to be Superintendent of the Yankton Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs office that serves the Yankton Sioux Indian Tribe of South Dakota. His appointment was effective March 31.

Farmer replaces Charles James who transferred to the Aberdeen, South Dakota, Area Office of the Bureau.

Farmer assumes the new post after having served as Administrative Manager of the Cheyenne River Agency, which serves the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Farmer was graduated from Bremerton, Washington, High School in 1956 and from Haskell Institute, now Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas, in 1959. He began his Bureau of Indian Affairs career at Western Washington Agency, Everett, Washington, the following year.

He became an Administrative Assistant and a management trainee with the Bureau in 1961, working in the Portland, Oregon, Area Office. He moved, then, into a job as Plant Management Assistant and became an Administrative Officer with the Neah Bay Job Corps Center, Neah Bay, Washington. He has also been an accounting technician and a supervisory accounting technician. He became Administrative Manager at Cheyenne River Agency, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, in 1971.

Farmer has been vice president and president of the Portland American Indian Center, Portland, Ore. He has also been sports chairman of the Interior Associates of the Northwest (Portland).

Farmer's wife, Rochelle, is a Cheyenne River Sioux Indian. They have six children.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Elmer F. Compton, 53, Rosebud Sioux tribal member and former officer and economic development officer of the Rosebud Agency, Bureau of He has been acting in that Indian Affairs, to the post of Superintendent. He has been acting in that capacity since October 1972.

Compton studied political science for two years at the University of South Dakota and completed a third year at the University of Wyoming before going into military service. He served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946, and completed the Army Specialized Training Program, language and foreign area, which enable him to speak, write and read the Sioux language.

From 1946 to 1954 he held various posts in the town of St. Francis, South Dakota, such as town clerk and member of the board of trustees. He was secretary of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council and member of the council from 1950 to 1952.

In 1956 he became fiscal clerk, Rosebud Sioux Tribal Land Enterprise and the following year joined the Bureau as Real Property clerk.

He then became law clerk and real property assistant, next realty specialist and realty officer, in 1972, economic development officer.

Compton is a licensed real estate broker of the State of South Dakota and has been since 1963. He is also a member of the Central South Dakota Board of Realtors, South Dakota Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors; National Association of Real Estate Boards, and the South Dakota Chapter, National Institute of Farm and Land Brokers.

He is married to Vera, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe also, and they have five children.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Daniel D. McDonald, 46, to be Director of Tribal Resources Development, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. His post is the first of an anticipated five top jobs within the Bureau to be filled.

"As Director of Tribal Resources, Mr. McDonald will head the Central Office functions related to the Bureau's programs in assisting Indians in business entrepreneurship, in creating job opportunities on reservations, in conducting manpower training programs, in finding employment on or off reservations, in obtaining credit and financing (including assistance in establishing and operating credit and financing institutions), and in providing technical assistance to tribes in road construction and maintenance," Thompson said.

McDonald, is a Nez Perce/Flathead Indian who grew up on the Flathead Reservation, Mont. and is the 9th of 13 children. Following service in the U.S. Marine Corps, during World War II, he graduated from the University of Montana and later did graduate work at George Washington University.

"McDonald brings to the job a unique background of first hand knowledge of the Indian people he will serve, their resources and their potential. He also has the experience and the education to help these people make maximum use of their resources," said Thompson.

McDonald will move to the post from his present job as Director of Inter-governmental Relations, National Council on Indian Opportunity, in the Office of the Vice President, where he has worked since May, 1970.

In his National Council on Indian Opportunity position, McDonald encouraged full use of all Federal programs to benefit the Indian population. He also appraised their impact and progress and helped to develop ways to improve such programs.

Earlier, as an Industrial Development Specialist for BIA at the Navajo Area Office (1967-1970) McDonald received a superior performance award for his assistance in the establishment of 11 new industries on the Navajo Reservation; promoting the expansion of the embryonic Fairchild Semi-conductor Division into a giant operation employing more than 1,000 Navajo tribal members -- the largest single employer of Indians in the United States; establishment of the General Dynamics plant at Fort Defiance, Ariz. , and establishment of the Fed-Mart Store, first supermarket on the Navajo Reservation, and the Window Rock Motor Inn, both at Window Rock. He was an Industrial Development Specialist for BIA’s Gallup, N.M. Area Office from 1963 to 1967.

He began his Bureau of Indian Affairs career in 1956 as relocation assistant on the Fort Belknap Reservation at Harlem, Mont.

He is married to the former Gloria Gardipe of the Flathead Reservation and resides with his family in Rockville, Maryland. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today called passage of the Indian Financing Act of 1974 "a giant step toward viable Indian reservation communities that will be a credit to this Nation." The law, signed by President Richard M. Nixon April 12:

1. Consolidates existing Indian revolving loan funds already administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and authorizes the appropriation of an additional $50,000,000 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 benefiting 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.

5. Provides for management and technical assistance to be given to each loan or grant applicant in the development of their economic enterprise.

Said Thompson, as he explained the benefits of this new legislation: "Indian credit and capital resources needed in order that Indians can develop their own resources and begin and operate their own small businesses has been completely inadequate. As a result, Indians have been dependent upon private. non-Indian lenders. However. these sources of credit often have categorized Indians as poor credit risks for reasons often beyond the Indians control. When private credit has been available to Indians, it was often at interest rates so high as to make the loan prohibitive.

"The Indian Loan Guaranty and Insurance Fund alone could generate approximately $200,000,000 in new credit for Indians and Indian tribes. Other aspects of the law will multiply available credit in a similar way. I am confident this will do a great deal to break the poverty syndrome prevalent to many American Indian communities."

Thompson pointed out that President Nixon, in his Message to the Congress on Indians delivered early in his Administration, said:

“The first Americans – the Indians – are the most deprived and isolated minority group in our Nation. On virtually every scale of measurement – employment, income, education, health – the condition of the Indian people ranks at the bottom.”