Past News Items

Appointment of Robert J. Trier as chief of the branch of roads, Bureau of Indian Affairs succeeding J. Maughs Brown, who retires August 31, was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Ralph A. Tudor.

Distribution of tribal funds to individual members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin under Public Law 399, approved June 17, is going forward smoothly and satisfactorily, Acting Secretary of the Interior Ralph A. Tudor announced today.

The enactment which establishes a program for terminating Federal supervision over Menominee affairs before the end of 1958, also provides for an immediate payment of $1,500 to each tribal member from Menominee funds on deposit in the United states Treasury.

Three separate actions affecting the office of principal chief of the Choctaw, Seminole and Cherokee Indian Tribes of Oklahoma, were announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Ralph A. Tudor.

A run-off election will be held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs between September 20 and October 10 so that members of the Choctaw Tribe many express their preferences between Harry J. W. Belvin and Hampton w. Anderson, who received the highest number of votes in the balloting held last June. Mr. Belvin has been principal chief of the tribe for the past several years.

Action by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to clear up a 49-year-old injustice against a full blood Idaho Indian was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

The Indian is James J. Miles, a 70-year-old member of the Nez Perce Tribe and

Deacon of the Presbyterian Church, The Bureau's action, taken by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons on July 29, was approval of an application filed by Miles about a year ago for a patent-in-fee or unrestricted title to a 114-acre tract near Orofino,

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced four personnel changes, effective September 1, in agency superintendent positions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Guy Robertson, superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., will be transferred to the superintendency at Rosebud, S. Dak., replacing Will J. Pitner, recently assigned as Bureau area director at Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Charles S. Spencer, superintendent at Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak., succeeds Robertson.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the Bureau of Indian Affairs has contracted with Cornell University Medical College, New York City, for the services of a physician specializing in diseases of the chest as a full-time staff member at the Navajo Medical Center, Fort Defiance, Arizona.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the appointment of Harwood Keaton, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, effective July 18, as assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

National headquarters for the Indian Bureau's relocation program, involving guidance and help for Indian workers and their families seeking to establish new homes away from the reservations, will be moved on August 1 from Washington, D. c., to Denver, Colo. Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Charles F. Miller, Chief of the Bureau’s Branch of Relocation for the past two years, will continue to direct the program from Denver. However, Charles B. Rovin, Assistant Chief of the Branch, will remain in Washington as a liaison with the Bureau's Central Office.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the opening of a new national headquarters for the Buildings and Utilities Branch of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque, N. Mex.

The new office, which will supervise all construction activities of the Bureau) is being staffed with construction personnel drawn from the Bureau's central office in Washington, D. C. and from area offices throughout the country. When fully staffed, it will consist of 37 technical and 15 clerical or administrative employees.

Arthur N. Arntson, finance officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, S. Dak,., has been appointed superintendent of the Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyo., Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today. The transfer is effective July 18. He replaces W. Wendell Palmer who was transferred on June 13 to the superintendency at Klamath Agency, Oreg. Glenn R. Landbloom, previously announced as the new Wind River superintendent, will remain in the Aberdeen area office as assistant area director in charge of resources.