Past News Items

Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus announced today that amended interim regulations governing off-reservation treaty fishing rights by Michigan tribes in the waters of Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron and connecting waters have been extended until May 11, 1981·

Secretary Andrus took the action after signing a memorandum of understanding with the involved tribes setting forth tribal-federal regulatory responsibilities for the 1981 and 1982 fishing seasons. The newly executed memorandum is substantially similar to a current memorandum of understanding which expires January 1, 1981.

President Kennedy today nominated Philleo Nash, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and simultaneously, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced appointment of John O. Crow, Cherokee Indian and 28-year veteran of the Indian Bureau, as Deputy Commissioner.

For the past six months Nash has been a member of the Indian Affairs Task Force, named by Secretary Udall, and has been a special assistant to Assistant Secretary John A. Carver, Jr., and Crow has been Acting Commissioner of the Bureau.

Proposed regulations governing the operation of special education programs for handicapped children enrolled or eligible for enrollment in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools were published September 29 in the Federal Register, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Thomas Fredericks said today.

The proposed regulations are meant to combine in a single document all of the Federal requirements directly addressed to the identification and provision of educational services to handicapped children.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has awarded the first negotiated contract for the supplying of equipment which had been earmarked for an area of substantial labor surplus, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

The contract is for three motor graders which will be used by the Bureau's Branch of Roads in the Aberdeen, South Dakota and Phoenix, Arizona areas. It was awarded to The Galion Iron Works and Mfg. Co., Galion, Ohio, for the sum of $36,033.

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a $693,122 contract for 16 miles of road construction on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

Upon completion, the project will provide an all-weather route from State primary road systems to Round Rock and Lukachukai which will serve the needs of the communities in the Chinle Valley area of the reservation.

The successful bidder was Daniels Construction Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Six other bids were submitted, ranging to a high of $1,057,960.20.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda spoke today of the courage and sacrifices of Indian Country’s fallen police officers during the 27th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service, which was held on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers campus in Artesia, N.M.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus today announced the Justice Department will not seek offsets against future monetary awards in Indian claims cases f or federal monies paid out under the Indian Self-Determination Act

"I was concerned that the tribes not be made reluctant to take over the responsibilities for many of the programs in operation on their land," said Andrus. "The provisions of the Indian Self-Determination Act easily could be frustrated if the trade-off for self-determination is a cloud over pending tribal claims."

A legal brief strongly supporting Navajo Indian voting rights was filed March 10 by Secretary Stewart L. Udall in the New Mexico election contest between Joseph A. Montoya and seated Lt. Governor Tom Bolack, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Secretary Udall’s brief relied heavily upon the words of his late father, Chief Justice Levi S. Udall of the Arizona Supreme Court, whose 1948 decision confirmed the Indians' right to vote in that State.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn, after more than three years of leadership, will conclude his service to the Department and will return to the faculty of the University of New Mexico School of Law in January. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lawrence “Larry” Roberts will lead Indian Affairs for the remainder of the Obama Administration.

The first 14, Indian athletes named to the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame at Lawrence, Kansas, will be formally inducted November 25, according to the Board, which includes representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Nine of the Athletes will be inducted posthumously.

Ceremonies marking the occasion will be held in the Student Union Building of Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas. A display room has been set aside to house the memorabilia on Indian sports heroes until the Hall of Fame Building can be erected on the famed Haskell campus.