Past News Items

Louis C. Peters, former manager of the Alaska Native Industries Cooperative Association, against whom removal action was initiated by the Department of Justice, has offered to settle his dispute with the Government for $2,500, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay disclosed today.

Under the terms of the settlement, Peters would surrender his office and deliver all properties of ANICA and its premises to an authorized representative of the Department of the Interior. Peters would also relinquish all claims against either the United States or ANICA.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay has instructed three Department of the Interior officials to meet in Portland, March 10, to ascertain the facts in a complaint raised by Indians of the Warm Springs Reservation they are not getting fair prices for the timber sold from their lands.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced several major personnel shifts in the Bureau of Indian Affairs as part of the administrative reorganization of the Bureau recently recommended by a survey team and now actively under way.

Allan G. Harper, area director at Window Hock, Arizona, is being transferred to Washington as a member of the Commissioner's coordinating staff, where his broad background of experience in Indian Affairs and intimate knowledge of Navajo administration will be directly available to Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced organizational changes in the New Mexico offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs based on recommendations by the survey team which recently completed a study of the Bureau as well as information and advice received from the Indians, individuals and organizations of the communities affected.

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.

Selection of Hans Mork Jensen, a fish biologist with 13 years' experience in the Washington State Department of Fisheries, to fill the newly established position of fisheries management specialist in the Portland area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Transfer of 603.2 acres of land in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, together with the buildings, from jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Appointment of William H. Olsen, Anchorage, Alaska, as director of the Juneau Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, sometimes known as the Alaska Native Service, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay. Mr. Olsen succeeds Hugh J. Wade who was relieved of responsibilities as Area Director last November.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today said the Department has submitted for congressional consideration a series of bills providing for orderly termination of Federal administration of Indian Affairs in eight tribal jurisdictions.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith has approved an economic development grant of $358,666 to a Navajo tribal enterprise for the expansion of a potato production and processing business.

The grant is part of a Bureau of Indian Affairs program to provide "seed money" for the development of profit-making enterprises on Indian reservations. At least 75 percent of the project funds must come from non-federal sources.