Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce today announced that Richard S. McDermott is Sacramento Area Field Representative for the Bureau of Indian Affairs with offices in Palm Springs, California. In this position he will work closely with the Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians. He has served in the acting capacity since the fall of 1971.
Commissioner Bruce said in announcing the appointment: "We feel particularly fortunate to have Richard McDermott in this post. ‘The Palm Springs office carries the burden of the negotiation of leases in concert with the Indian owners of Agua Caliente land, and the management and, investment of their assets. - McDermott is an attorney who has practiced law privately and has also been chief of the branch of real property management for the Crow Indian Agency, Montana. This is an unusually suitable background for the post he fills.
McDermott received his A.B. from Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado and his J.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
He was an attorney-at-law in Las Animas, Colorado and County Attorney for Bent County for seven years. He then was attorney adviser to the Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior, Gallup, New Mexico. He was a member of the law firm of Perry & McDermott, Gallup, New Mexico for six years and joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be chief of the branch of real property management, Crow Indian Agency, Montana in 1965.' He then became chief of the realty branch of the Bureau at Palm Springs.
He served in the United States Army, is married and the father of three children.
