Past News Items

Richard T. Christman has been appointed superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Papago Agency at Sells, Ariz., Commissioner
of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Christman, 39, replaces Joe Lucero, who retired as agency superintendent earlier this year.

For the past six years Christman served as Education Program Administrator at the Papago Agency. He has been employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1963.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will ceremonially administer the oath of office to Carl Artman as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at a 3:30 p.m. event on Wednesday, April 18,2007 in the Sidney Yates Auditorium of the Main Interior Building.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson, today announced the appointment of Alton R. Nordwall, 47, a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, to be Assistant Area Director of the Minneapolis Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Nordwall has a BS degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University, a commercial certificate from Haskell Institute --now Haskell Indian Junior College --and has just completed the Department of the Interior Manager Development Training Course.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Eastern Regional Office in Nashville, Tenn., has approved under 25 CFR 151 a request by local officials of Madison County and Oneida County in the state of New York to extend the comment period for state and local governments on a land-into-trust application from the Oneida Indian Nation. The Bureau granted a 60-day extension of time to submit comments on the tribe’s application which is comprised of three groups of land parcels.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Robert P. St. Arnold, 42, an enrolled member of the L’Anse Band of Chippewa Indians, to head the New York Liaison Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syracuse, New York.

Although Indians on reservations in New York State are the responsibility of that State's government, the Indians' lands cannot be alienated and therefore BIA maintains a liaison office.

St. Arnold has already assumed the post.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W.

George E. Keller, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Rosebud Agency in South Dakota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Keller, who was born on the reservation, has been Community Services Office at the agency the past four years. He was formerly Education Program Administrator at the Lower Brule Agency, Principal of the Pierre School and Guidance Supervisor at the Flandreau Indian School.

ALBUQUERQUE – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson says the planned construction of the new National Indian Programs Training Center here is part of an ongoing effort to improve the delivery of federal services to Indian country. Assistant Secretary Anderson joined New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility and a separate dedication of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices on the Albuquerque site as the Pete V. Domenici Indian Affairs Building.

Historic strides have been taken in Federal Indian policy in the last five years.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will join Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and local inner-city youth as they participate in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 14th Annual Kids Fishing Day being held June 5 starting at 9:00 a.m. (CDT) at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington, Minn. The event at Minnesota Valley NWR, which has been extremely popular for 13 years, kicks off National Fishing Week and promotes outdoor recreation, national wildlife refuges and the sport of fishing.