Past News Items

I am sad to announce that Mr. Thomas Richard Tippeconnic passed away on April 7, 1997 at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona. He was an Assistant Area Director for the Navajo Area Office, before retiring from the Bureau of Indian Affairs after 35 years of service. He spent most of his adult life working on the Navajo reservation.

He was born on February 10, 1937 in Phoenix, Arizona and was a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma. Mr. Tippeconnic earned a bachelors degree in Range Management from Oklahoma State University.

A plan for the use of $450,000 awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to the Creek Nation of Oklahoma was published in the Federal Register December 23, 1975, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award represents payment for land in Oklahoma taken without payment by the United States between 1881 and 1924 and additional payment for land sold under the Creek Agreement of March 8, 1900.

The proposed $31-million decrease in education funds in the FY 1996 Senate Appropriations Bill will result in school closures and will severely curtail school operations in the remaining Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary and secondary schools. Currently the Bureau is responsible for providing educational and residential services to approximately 49,000 Indian students in 187 schools in 23 states.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that proposed regulations governing the administration and use of more million for education or socio-economic programs benefitting the Osage Indian Tribe of Oklahoma have been published in the Federal Register.

The funds are part of a $13,250,000 award made to the tribe by the Indian Claims Commission for lands ceded by the tribe under treaties made more than 150 years ago. The balance of the award was distributed, as directed by Congress, on a per capita basis to tribal members.

"My meeting with the Governors today was a positive one, and I greatly appreciate their input. The Governors were clear in stating their positions, and I was equally clear in stating that I need to hear from other interests before deciding what, if any, policy changes are needed. I also made clear my belief that most ot these issues are best resolved by bilateral negotiations between states and tribes, as intended under the Indian Gaming Regulation Act, and that there is room for compromise. Our discussion was very helpful, but no commitments were made."

Edward McCabe, Jr., a member of the Navajo Tribe, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Shiprock Agency in northwestern New Mexico. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced that the appointment is effective immediately.

McCabe, 54, has been Senior Program Director for the School of Business at the University of New Mexico. He has in the past served as Treasurer, Acting General Manager of the Utility Division and Director of Administration for the Navajo Tribe.

The President's 1986 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to stress the basic goals of strengthening tribal government, encouraging economic development and providing essential program services on the reservations.

Stanley K. Hathaway, former two-term Governor of Wyoming, was sworn into office today as the 40th Secretary of the Interior.

Hathaway, 50, was confirmed by the United States Senate as Secretary of the Interior June 11, 1975.

Hathaway was born in Osceola, Nebraska, July 19, 1924, and moved with his family in 1928 to Goshen County, Wyoming. The family homesteaded near Huntley, Wyoming, and he graduated from Huntley High School in 1941.

The Assistant Secretary— Indian Affairs has made a final determination to acquire 44.10 acres, more or less, into trust for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. The Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs made the final determination on September 1, 2020.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet November 19-21 in San Diego, California, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.