Past News Items

W. Wade Head, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Gallup, New Mexico since 1954, and Fredrick M. Haverland, who has occupied the comparable position at Phoenix, Ariz., since 1955, will exchange positions in the near future, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The appointment of Ronald L. Esquerra as his executive assistant was announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson. Esquerra 29, is an enrolled member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe.

"Ron has an impressive record of achievement," the Commissioner said. "He will be working very closely with me and will be a valuable asset for the Bureau and for Indian people."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will be joined by Kindergarten – 3rd graders and faculty from 20 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funded schools on Wednesday, November 7, to kick off the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education’s ‘BIE READS’ plan to improve BIE students’ literacy. The Secretary will read with the students, who are from high performing BIE-funded schools from across the country, after which he will announce the schools selected to participate in the initial phase of the plan.

The Department of the Interior today released $1,871,000 in Accelerated Public Works funds to stimulate employment through 28 projects. The allocation increases funds already approved for 14 of the projects. The new allocation will be invested in 12 States on a variety of forestry improvements. Most of the work will begin within 30 days, the Department said.

Approximately 2,100 man-months of on-site employment will be created by the newly approved projects. An equivalent amount is expected to be generated elsewhere in supplying materials and equipment.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Charles W. James, 53, Choctaw Indian born in the Indian community of Kanima, Okla., to the post of Area Director, Anadarko Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON--Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett today honored twenty-eight departmental executives at a ceremony in the nation's capital.

Presidential Rank Awards honoring exceptional long-term accomplishments went to seven employees, while 21 received the Secretary's Executive Leadership Award honoring them for their superior performance and excellence in leadership.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash today announced the completion of an agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, and a Pelham, N.Y., electronics company which will lead to the establishment of I a new branch plant providing jobs for at least 200 workers on the Laguna Indian Pueblo west of Albuquerque, N. Mex.

The firm involved is Burnell & Co., Inc., which manufactures electronic filters and related components.

A contract amounting to nearly $1.4 million has been awarded to Burgraff Construction Company of Idaho Falls, Idaho, to pave, drain, and surface slightly more than 16 miles of road and build two reinforced concrete bridges on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in the village of Owyhee, Nevada Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today issued a Final Determination to acknowledge the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc., (Mashpee) as an Indian tribe. The Mashpee is a group of 1,453 members located on Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Mass.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the appointment of E. B. Maytubby, Muskogee, Okla., to fill out the unexpired term of his late nephew, Floyd Maytubby, as Governor of the Chickasaw Indian Nation and the designation of Overton James, Oklahoma City, to serve a two-year term as Governor starting with expiration of the Maytubby term on October 18, 1963.