Past News Items

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that a new outdoor furniture plant to employee up to 300 workers will be established on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona by Prest Wheel, Inc., of South Grafton, Mass.

Bennett said the firm will be located in an existing industrial building which the firm will purchase from the Economic Development Administration. Area Indians will be given on-the-job training to qualify for jobs in the new plant, he said.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his decision to acknowledge that the historical Eastern Pequot Tribe, of the Lantern Hill Reservation, North Stonington, Connecticut exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The historical Eastern Pequot Tribe meets all of the mandatory criteria under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

A new "exemplary" Indian school, set up to pioneer new teaching techniques; will open this fall at Concho, Okla., Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, has announced.

The 256 pupil boarding school, to be operated.in a new $2.5 million building complex, will be used to develop new educational method's' to overcome the cultural and linguistic differences which often handicap Indian children in a traditional learning experience, Bennett said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will celebrate its 175th Anniversary tomorrow, Friday, September 8, 2000, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) at the U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters, 1849 ‘C’ Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., in the Sydney R. Yates Auditorium with the theme “Reconciling the Past, Trusting the Future: A Renewed Commitment to Indian Tribes for the 21st Century.” The program will include a discussion on the BIA’s past, present, and future.

The internationally famous exhibition of American Indian arts and crafts which was shown in Europe at International Festivals of the Arts in both Edinburgh, Scotland and Berlin, West Germany, is to have a Latin-American tour, starting this spring.

The exhibit has also been shown in London, England; Ankara, Turkey; Santa Fe, N.M.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Alaska, during last year's centennial there.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announces that the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians of Dudley, Massachusetts does not exist as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. This notice is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), and 83.7(c) of 25 CFR Part 83 and therefore, does not meet the requirements for government-to-government relationship with the United States. Criterion Part 83.7(a) requires that the petitioner have been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900.

This report provides a portrait of the American Indian and Alaska Native population in the United States and discusses the largest specified tribal groupings, reservations, Alaska Native village statistical areas (ANVSAs), and areas outside reservations and ANVSAs (outside tribal areas) at the national level. It is part of the Census 2000 Special Reports series that presents demographic, social, and economic characteristics collected from Census 2000.

Will Rogers, Jr., son of the humorist and grandson of Cherokee leader Clem Vann Rogers, has been given a temporary appointment as Special Assistant to Indian Commissioner Robert L. Bennett, it was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. Rogers took the oath of office September 18.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Michael J. Anderson, on Monday will issue a new decision (technically described as a "reconsidered final determination," even though it is not a final determination) on the petition of the Golden Hill Paugussett for acknowledgment as an Indian tribe.

The reconsideration decision concludes that the earlier decision of Assistant Secretary Deer in 1996 rejecting the petition needs to be reconsidered.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett said today he is scheduled to discuss soon with H. H. Mobley, executive vice president of Quality Courts Motels, Inc., of Daytona Beach, Fla., .details of a program which could place swank tourist motel facilities on Indian reservations.