Past News Items

An application for 160 acres of grazing land near Craig, Colo., filed by Kiowa Indian Amos A. Hopkins-Dukes, has been rejected by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall on the grounds that the land cannot qualify for allotment under an 1887 act providing l60-acre allotments for Indians.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson, in a long afternoon meeting January 9 and all day January 10 in Washington, D.C. with elected executive boards of the two major national Indian organizations --the National Tribal Chairmen's Association and the National Congress of American Indians --solicited their views and recommendations on the organization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, recruitment techniques for staff positions, and budgeting goals and objectives of the 141 year-old Agency.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced he has appointed Montana attorney Majel Russell, an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe of Montana, as his new Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Russell succeeds George T. Skibine, the acting principle deputy assistant secretary since April 2, 2007, who will continue in his current position as director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Gaming Management. Russell’s appointment became effective on August 20, 2007.

The Department of the Interior has asked Congress for legislation to authorize disposition of funds arising from a $567,000 judgment in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians (in this case, the names are synonymous) of the former Malheur Reservation in Oregon.

Dennis L. Petersen, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Tribal Government Services Officer for the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Petersen has been Superintendent of the BIA Sisseton Agency in South Dakota since January, 1972.

An Army veteran of both World War II and the Korean conflict, Petersen has worked with Indian communities since 1952 in resource and economic development.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today formally swore in Carl Artman as the department's new Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

"Carl's extensive work with tribal governments, his work in the private sector, his legal training, his passion for Indian Country, his intensity as well as his experience in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S Government prepare him well for this new responsibility," Kempthorne said at a headquarters' ceremony attended by tribal leaders and Artman's family and friends.

Appointment of James P. Howell, assistant personnel officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, South Dakota, as superintendent at the Fort Berthold Indian Agency in New Town, effective July 14, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Howell succeeds Homer M. Gilliland, who has been appointed head of the Colorado River Agency, Parker, and Arizona.

Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc., has been awarded a contract by the Department of the Interior to head up a team of independent consulting groups which will prepare a study and report on various characteristics of the Alaska Native community and on selected Federal programs, it was announced today.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason will appear November 1 at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 62nd Annual Convention in Tulsa, Okla. The NCAI convention is the oldest and largest annual meeting of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal leaders held in the United States.

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It was almost a year ago, in the spring of 1962, that your director, Mrs. Mary Jeffries Burt, asked me to be one of the speakers at the Sunday Evening Forum for the current season. When I look over your roster of speakers for the 1961-62 season I realize why some of my good friends have called this the outstanding community forum in the Nation. I am honored to join such distinguished company.