Past News Items

Indians of North Carolina, II a new 24-page booklet describing the life or the 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living today in the Tarheel state, has just been published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Richard S. Bodman announced today. Bodman has administrative control of all Indian operations for Interior.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded the Senate’s confirmation of Kevin K. Washburn, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The Senate confirmed Washburn’s nomination, which President Obama announced in early August, by unanimous consent last night.

In moving to take over the management of Alaska Native Industries Cooperative Association, Seattle, Wash., during recent weeks, the Department of the Interior has acted to protect the financial interests of the United States and the operating interests of stores of the native villages of Alaska, Secretary Douglas McKay said today.

Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today the award of a $2.4 million contract with Burgess Construction Company of Phoenix, Ariz., for the bituminous surfacing of 12.768 miles of Navajo India n Reservation road extending from Ganado, Ariz.; to the Nazlini - Sawmill Road Junction. Included in the contract is a 200-foot bridge to be built over Ganado Wash near Ganado Lake.

Sacramento, CA — The third consultation on the Buy Indian Act will begin Tuesday, August 21, 2012. The Buy Indian Act provides Indian Affairs with the authority to set-aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. This proposed rule describes uniform administrative procedures that Indian Affairs will use in all of its locations to encourage procurement of goods and services from eligible Indian economic enterprises, as authorized by the Buy Indian Act.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that five of the Indian Bureau's key personnel will move to new assignments on November 1.

James W. Kauffman, superintendent of the Minnesota Agency, Bemidji, Minn., will take over the comparable position at Pine Ridge, S. Dak. This job has been vacant since last August when former Pine Ridge Superintendent Benjamin Reifel was promoted to Area Director for the Bureau at Aberdeen, S. Dak.

Wendell W. Palmer, superintendent at Klamath Agency, Oregon, will move to Bemidji replacing Kauffman.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced that on the basis of a vote count made on November 6, a Thirteenth Regional Corporation will not be established for Non-Resident Alaska Natives.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act provides that if a majority of all eligible non-resident Alaska Natives, 18 years of age or older, voted for the establishment of a Thirteenth Regional Corporation the Secretary would establish that corporation. The necessary majority was not obtained.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure today announced that he has named Thomas D. Thompson as director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Thompson, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, comes to the Interior Department from the Indian Health Service (IHS) in Phoenix, Ariz., where he had been serving as senior advisor to the area director since June 2010.

Transfer of Melvin L. Robertson, superintendent of the Western Washington Indian Agency, Everett, Wash., on July 14 to the comparable position at the Menominee Agency, Keshena, Wis., was announced today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood.

Robertson replaces Raymond H. Bitney who moves to the position of assistant director in the Bureau's area office at Anadarko, Okla.

To THE AMERICAN PEOPLE:

There has been and is being much written about the American Indians. Much of the editorializing is out of focus. The reader ls often left with the impression that the Federal Government is some kind of a monster on the war path trying to destroy the American natives. Nothing could be farther from the troth. I am not trying to de­fend the past. I am the first to admit that the formulae of the past fell short of the mark and resulted in a rela­tive holding action in the struggle for existence faced by the Indian tribes. ­­­