Past News Items

Benefits accruing to the Navajos go beyond. the physical rehabilitation features of the long range program and reach many people through employment opportunities, Allan G, Harper, Navajo Area director reported.

Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman today announced the appointment of Mr. Marcy Cully, Bowlegs, Oklahoma, as Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma for the period beginning December 10, 1952 through December 31, 1953.

Mr. Cully, who was elected Assistant Chief at a tribal election held June 3, 1952, fills the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. George Harjo, Sasakwa, Oklahoma, principal chief, on December 9, 1952.

Authority for the appointment of a principal chief of the Seminoles is contained in the Act of April 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 137).

Promotion of Elmo F. Miller on January 16 from the position of agricultural extension agent at the Colville Indian Agency, Nespelem, Wash., to the job of superintendent of the Northern Idaho Agency, Lapwai, Idaho, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Three career employees have been selected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for management training under the executive development agreement recently negotiated between the Department of the Interior and the Civil Service Commission, Secretary Douglas McKay announced today. They are: Carl J. Cornelius, relocation officer, Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn.; Grover C. Gardner, supervising loan examiner, Anadarko Area Office, Anadarko, Okla.; and Richard D. Butts, superintendent, Red Lake Agency, Red Lake, Minn.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, located in southeastern California, just north of Yuma, Arizona, will be transferred on January 1 from the jurisdiction of the Indian Bureau office at Sacramento, California, to the area office at Phoenix, Ariz.

The move is being made primarily because of specialties which the Fort Yuma Indians have with other Indian groups on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Indian Bureau's School of Practical Nursing now located at Lawton, Okla., will be transferred in early February to Albuquerque, N. Mex., where much more extensive training facilities are available.

In a resolution commending the Eisenhower Administration's program to provide school facilities for reservation children, the Navajo Tribal Council declared that for the "first time in American history since the Treaty of 1868 the Congress of the United States has taken effective action to provide adequate schools for Navajos."

The Navajo emergency education program, which is designed to put every Navajo child of school age in school within two years, has had the personal support of President Eisenhower and Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

The first step in a "pilot" operation to test the feasibility of contracting for food service in Indian Bureau schools will begin at Cherokee Agency, Cherokee, N. C., on January 17 when Cleaves Food Service, Washington, D. C., takes over the job of providing noonday lunches at the five schools under the agency, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today made public an exchange of letters between Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons and Mr. Reuben Olson, director of public relations, Anselm Forum, Inc., Gary, Indiana.

The correspondence deals with basic questions of Indian affairs policy on which there has been widespread public misunderstanding. The text of the two letters follows:

ANSELM FORUM INC. Gary, Indiana

Bureau of Indian Affairs November 1, 1954

Washington, D. C.

Transfer of Frell M. Owl on January 26 from the position of superintendent of the Northern Idaho Indian Agency, Lapwai, Idaho, to the same position at the Fort Hall Agency near Pocatello was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.