OPA

Paul W. Hand, Special Assistant at Palm Springs, Calif., to the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Director for the Sacramento Area, has been appointed superintendent of the BIA agency at Chinle, Ariz., on the Navajo Indian Reservation. He fills the position vacated by Paul A. Krause, who transferred to the superintendency of the Bureau's Bemidji, Minn., agency last July. The new assignment became effective September 11, 1966.

Hand, a native of Spokane, Wash., has served the Bureau of Indian Affairs at various posts since 1952. His assignments include the Washington, D. C., headquarters office; the Colorado River and Navajo Reservations in Arizona; and since July 1963, the office at Palm Springs. He holds a degree in engineering from the State College of Washington, at Pullman, and the degree of doctor of laws from Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash.

In a second recent personnel action Raymond J. de Kay, coordinator for OEO Programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Minneapolis, Minn., area since 1964, was named Superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Indian Agency at Ignacio, Colo., effective August 28, 1966. He succeeds Jose A. Zuni, who transferred last June to become superintendent of the Nevada Agency, Carson City, Nev.

de Kay, a native of Greenwich, Connecticut, has since 1958 held various Bureau positions--at the Bethel Agency, Bethel, Alaska, and at the Juneau Area Office, Alaska, prior to his assignment in Minneapolis, Minn. He holds a master's degree in Social Sciences from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri.

Federal supervision over the Indians of Blue Lake Rancheria in Humboldt County, Calif., has been terminated with their consent, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notice is being published in the Federal Register.

Blue Lake is the 30th rancheria in California to be removed from Federal trust supervision, in accordance with legislation enacted in 1958 and amended two years ago. More than 100 small Indian rancherias are affected by the law.

Consisting of approximately 26 acres, Blue Lake Rancheria has been occupied by 26 Indians. Termination precludes their receiving further services from the United States Government by virtue of their status as Indians.

The Rancheria Act provides that a plan for disposition of assets be completed before termination. The Blue Lake plan provided for completion of road construction by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and conveyance of the road to Humboldt County; a survey of the land, recorded in Humboldt County; distribution among the Blue Lake group of funds held in trust; and conveyance to the distributees of unrestricted title to the land.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has prepared a 13-booklet series suitable for use by classroom teachers, youth groups and others interested in the story of the American Indian.

The illustrated publications describe the culture and eventful history of tribes whose past is linked with various States or regions of the country. The reader is brought up to date with facts about Indian life today and the Federal programs that serve reservation dwellers.

Ten booklets now available deal with the Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska; the Indians of Arizona; California; the Dakotas; the Gulf Coast States; Montana and Wyoming; New Mexico; North Carolina; the Northwest; and Oklahoma.

Three remaining booklets, soon to come off the press, will discuss Indian tribes of the Central Plains; the Great Lakes; and the Lower Plateau areas of the United States.

Publications may be purchased at 15 cents a copy from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402. A discount of 25 percent is allowed on quantity orders of 100 or more, if mailed to one address.

Forrest J. Gerard, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, has been appointed Legislative Liaison Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Robert L. Bennett, BIA Commissioner, announced today.

Gerard had been chief of the Tribal Affairs Division of the Public Health Service's Indian Health Division. In his new position he will be an advisor to the Commissioner and Bureau officials on legislative matters and will analyze pending legislation which would affect Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A graduate of Montana State University, Gerard is an Air Force veteran and served with the Montana and Wyoming Tuberculosis and Health Associations before joining the Public Health Service in 1957.

Gerard received the Indian Achievement Award of 1966 from the Indian Council Fire, a Chicago based Indian interest organization, for his work in improving Indian health.

Last year he won a Fellowship in Congressional Operations sponsored by the American Political Science Association and the Civil Service Commission. Gerard, 41, lives with his wife and five children in Bowie, Md.

Assisting Gerard will be Larry M. Wheeler, recently appointed to the post of Deputy Legislative Liaison Officer. Wheeler had been the Executive Clerk of the United States Senate.

A Marine Corps veteran, Wheeler is a native of Georgia and a graduate of the University of Georgia. He came to Washington in 1957 as an administrative clerk for Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia.

Wheeler, 33, lives with his wife and daughter in Alexandria, Va.

Federal supervision over the Ponca Indian Tribe of Nebraska has ended, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notification of the action is being published in the Federal Register.

A tribal decision by the Nebraska Poncas in 1956 set the stage for the termination action. Petitions to Congress for appropriate legislation to end Federal supervision led to the 1962 termination law (P.L. 87-629) calling for establishment of a tribal roll and division of tribal assets, if division met with the approval of the majority of' adult tribal members.

The reservation lands of the Nebraska Poncas comprised 847 acres in the northeastern part of the State. Most of the 442 tribal members are off-reservation Indians, residing in Omaha and other urban communities. The tribal vote, following the provisions of the 1962 Congressional act, was overwhelmingly in favor of distribution of assets. The holdings were subsequently liquidated.

Termination of Federal supervision over the Nebraska Poncas brings a halt to special services hitherto provided them by the Federal Government because of their status as Indians. State services and laws, including tax laws, are now applicable to Ponca Indians as well as to other citizens under Nebraska's jurisdiction.

A related group of Poncas -- those residing in Oklahoma--are not affected by termination under Public Law 87-629. The Ponca Tribe of Native Americans of Nebraska organized in 1936 when a constitution and charter were adopted. The Oklahoma Poncas organized separately in 1950. Individuals formerly entitled to be enrolled in both tribes were permitted to retain membership in only one tribe when the Nebraska Ponca Tribal roll was prepared preliminary to termination.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Poncas are petitioners in a case pending before the Indian Claims Commission in which they are seeking fair payment for Ponca lands in Nebraska and South Dakota given to the Sioux under a treaty in 1859 between the United States and the Sioux, to which the Poncas were not party. Both the Oklahoma and the Nebraska Poncas may be recipients of an award, after a determination has been made by the Claims Commission of the amount of compensation due, if any.

An exhibit of Eskimo Graphic Arts and Sculpture will be on display in Washington's Department of the Interior Art Galleries beginning Tuesday, November 8 through December 31. Featured will be the work of Canadian Eskimos from the famed Cape Dorset area, located at the southern tip of Baffin Island. Stone-cut prints and a variety of small sculptures will be shown. Hours for the exhibit, sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America, will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4: 00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

According to the Center's president, Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, wife of the Interior Secretary, the showing will be the largest of its kind ever displayed in the Nation’s capitol. Over 300 individual pieces will be exhibited, one-of-a-kind designs that quickly become collector’s items. All items will be available for purchase, in prices ranging from $5 to $500. To satisfy the anticipated demand. for the art pieces as Christmas gifts, the Center will replace sold pieces at once with comparable ones direct from the Eskimo Fine Arts Association in Ottawa.

Included among the outstanding artists represented in the exhibit will be the works of Kanangenak, former president of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative; Parr, a producer of drawings of birds, animals and people in a style that is so completely his own that critics have marveled at his source of inspiration; Kiahshuk, whose vivid memory is stored with pictures of the old days and the great hunts, and a young Eskimo mother, Kenojuak, noted for her poetic bird studies.

“Eskimo carvings have a great impact that draws attention, no matter who looks at them," says Edna Massey, Secretary of the Center, who has arranged the display. "A hunter’s arm is half-raised in greeting and the archer reveals more tension by his stance than his drawn bow; a mother-and-child piece establishes in the mind of the beholder a feeling of unity that is universal in its appeal; a carving of Nuliajuk, goddess of the seals, bespeaks benignantly to both man and animal, alike."

Mrs. Massey, who purchases American Indian Art for government buildings here and abroad, remarks that the same impact in fact holds true of the Cape Dorset prints, each a limited edition. To create them, the Eskimo first flattens and polishes a large slab of soapstone, upon which the design is transferred in a strong, simple statement quite similar to the carving technique. The stone is deeply inked with the design and then a sheet of fine paper is placed on the surface, and the image is transferred from the stone engraving to the paper by using a small tampon or with the fingers.

"Perhaps the most surprising thing about Eskimo Art,” says Edna Massey, “is that most all Eskimo adults who become interested in it take an active part in creating pleasing and highly salable work. The fat, bulging weight of walrus, the sleek strength of bears, and the primitive, honest directness of all Eskimo forms have charmed the museums, the art galleries and the public."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today gave $1,500 to Sidney M. Carney, Bureau of Indian Affairs, for sustained superior performance as a Federal employee.

Carney, a Choctaw Indian, is a special liaison representative with the Seneca Indian Nation at Salamanca, N.Y.

Carney was sent to help the Senecas in 1962 following the decision to take 10,000 acres of their land for a reservoir behind Kinzua Dam. Nationwide attention was focused on the tribe as it fought unsuccessfully through the courts to retain its lands. President Kennedy directed all Federal agencies to "take every action within their authority to assist the Seneca Nation and its members who must be relocated in adjusting to the new situation."

Carney helped the tribe plan a relocation program for the 133 displaced families and aided in developing a large-scale industrial plan and community housing program. Funds appropriated by Congress as compensation for the loss of reservation land helped finance these ventures.

Secretary Udall said much of Carney's effectiveness stemmed from his ability to "overcome long-standing prejudices" and to promote close cooperation between Indians and non-Indians and between the tribe and the many Federal, State, and local agencies involved in the rehabilitation program.

With Carney's assistance the Senecas have helped the city of Salamanca build a new high school for Indians and non-Indians, have constructed almost 200 new homes, have begun building the first factory in a new industrial park, have established an education foundation for tribal youth and adults alike, and have constructed modern community buildings on their Allegany and Cattaraugus Reservations in New York.

"As a Choctaw, endowed with a deep appreciation for self-government, your work with the Seneca Nation reflects the highest qualities of public service, I. Udall told Carney, and “has been of immeasurable assistance to the proud Seneca Nation now embarking on a new and challenging life."

Carney joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in August 1957 as an administrative officer at Fort Defiance, Ariz. A native of Quinton, Okla., he was graduated from the Haskell Institute and has bachelor's and master's degrees from Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Emma, have four children.

This is an important time in the history of Indian affairs, and this organization, the National Congress of American Indians, is in a good position to affect the future course of events.

Because this organization is comprised of Indian membership -- both tribal and individual -- it can and needs to become a source of great strength in the shaping of policies, programs and laws.

The Indian people of this continent have traditionally followed their own instincts and clung to their own convictions through trial and strife. It is for organizations such as this, made up of Indians, to foster the Indian spirit of independent thought. There is no need to fall into the pattern of racial agitation in order to attract attention. You already have the attention of this country. There is need, however, for some clear statements of principle, and for some constructive suggestions relating to Federal-Indian relations in the months and years immediately ahead.

First, there is the fact that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is no longer the one agency in Indian affairs. Congress has passed numerous laws in recent years providing a wide range of programs and services for all citizens, including Indians. These programs are geared to relieving adverse social and economic conditions among the poverty groups in our Nation. Indian people are now in a position where it becomes increasingly necessary to broaden their contacts and relations with other Federal agencies in order to take advantage of the new Federal aids.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and other active organizations in the Indian field have found themselves in a position where traditional roles have become obsolete and new ones must be created to enable them to serve Indian people most effectively.

The Bureau, in the past, has been both protagonist and antagonist in the eyes of Indian tribal groups. Now, with all the other sources of aid available, it should decrease its day-to-day involvement in tribal affairs. It should give way to a new role by tribal governments themselves a role in which the tribal governments Hill be the negotiators with Federal aid programs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, then, could become more of an advisory and coordinating agency for Federal assistance, rather than an administrating agency.

Recognition must be given to the fact that new authorities are needed in order to broaden opportunities for Indian people to improve their social and economic status.

Nothing is more important, in my estimation, than to accomplish a change in the policies and laws that are inhibiting the fullest development of Indian economic opportunity. This can be accomplished without jeopardy to existing protections now enjoyed by Indian people. I consider it my first obligation to the Indian people that such new legislation be formulated.

The major problems and needs thus far discussed in meetings with tribal representatives tend to fall into these general categories: low educational levels of reservation Indians, and need for expanded opportunities for children and adults to acquire education and training that will enable them to take their rightful place in the total national picture; sub-standard housing, and the need for more assistance in community planning and development; substandard living conditions, stemming from poverty, that need attention from health and sanitation workers; chronic unemployment and the need for greater business development on the reservations; and problems of heirship that create a stranglehold on land development.

The role of the National Congress of American Indians could become larger than it has been. It should become an organization respected throughout the Indian community and throughout the non-Indian community as the unified voice of the Indian people. Its great strength is yet to be reached and yet to be felt. It does not need to mimic anyone in order to attract attention. It needs, above all, to reflect the dignity, wisdom, and endurance that traditionally characterize the Indian people.

This is the time -- later may be too late -- to take a close look at NCAI's present role in Indian affairs and to make whatever changes in policy and procedure are necessary to ensure that its activities will accrue to the maximum benefit of the Indian people. As the voice of the Indian people, together, its force can be mighty. Let it be, then, an organization unified in its purposes, and let its purposes be toward constructive participation in Federal-Indian affairs.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $2,237,520 contract to construct new facilities at its Concho, Okla., elementary school. The school, originally established as the Cheyenne-Arapaho Boarding School in the late 1800's to serve two area tribes, now enrolls Indian students from a number of other tribes. Last year 162 students in grades 1-8 were enrolled.

The contract calls for replacement of several antiquated existing structures which have been abandoned for struct11ral or safety reasons. The academic building will include: 11-classrooms, a multipurpose room, an instructional materials center, classrooms for home economics, general science, and practical arts, plus administrative offices. Also included in the contract are a kitchen-dining hall, two 128-pupil dormitories, quarters for school employees, paving and site grading, water and sewerage extensions and related site work. The basement of the dining hall will be reinforced to serve as a tornado shelter.

Successful bidder was the Atlas Organization, Inc., and Barton Theater Co., a joint venture, of Oklahoma City, Okla. Seven higher bids were received, ranging upward to $2,338,000.

Dr. William J. Benham, a Creek Indian, has been named to head up the Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs on the Navajo Reservation. In this capacity, he will serve as one of three Assistant Area Directors for the Bureau's operations in the Navajo area.

Dr. Benham, a native of Holdenville, Okla., is a veteran of the Navajo education program. He joined the Bureau in 1950 and has served as both teacher and principal in various BIA schools for Navajo children. From 1963 until his recent reassignment he was Director of Schools for the Gallup Area Office.

A graduate of East Central State College in Oklahoma, Dr. Benham holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma.

Increased activity in almost every phase of Bureau operations on the Navajo Reservation brought about the establishment last December of a separate Navajo Area office at Window Rock, Ariz. Following are some recent developments in education on the reservation:

-- The Bureau of Indian Affairs awarded two contracts totaling more than $6.6 million to expand Sanostee School, which will serve 720 Navajo children, and to construction a new school to accommodate more than 500 in the eastern section of the reservation. At Kaibeto a new $5 million Bureau boarding school was dedicated.

-- New methods are being found to meet the unique educational needs of Indian students. Teaching English as a second language to Navajo-speaking youngsters is now a reservation-wide program.

-- The Navajo tribal council underscored the importance of education in tribal development with passage of a resolution reaffirming compulsory education for youths between the ages of 6 and 16. The council called upon parents, educators, and tribal courts to aid them in a campaign which has brought about a record enrollment of 19,827 children in reservation schools alone.