Past News Items

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has announced the appointment of new superintendents for three field Agencies.

Jose A. Zuni, a Pueblo Indian from Isleta, N. Mex., and former superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colo., will move to the position of superintendent of the Nevada Agency (mainly Paiute, Shoshone and Washo Indians) at Stewart, Nev. His appointment becomes effective June 26, 1966.

Zuni will fill the vacancy created by the transfer of Dale M. Baldwin to post of Director for the Portland, Oreg., Area last March.

Alaska is home to three native peoples. The Eskimos, although best known, share the vast land with their island relatives, the Aleuts, and with a large number of Indians.

The story of these native residents of the great northern peninsula that became a State in 1959 is told in a booklet just published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs--Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts of Alaska.

Here is a sampling of some little known facts revealed in the new publication:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $238,895 contract for improving the road that serves Kahneeta Hot Springs, a popular resort on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon.

The Department of the Interior has amended existing Federal Regulations governing preparation of tribal rolls and enrollment appeals, to implement preparation of rolls for the Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, a current activity of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The amendments to Title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 41 and 42, became effective upon publication in the Federal Register June 1, 1966. They establish qualifications for enrollment in the Tlingit and Haida Tribes and set a June 30, 1967 deadline for filing applications.

LOWER BRULE INDIANS TO BE TRAINED--The CalDak Electronics Corporation of Pierre, S. D., recently negotiated a $6,950 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide on-the-job training for a group of South Dakota Indians. The trainees, 16 Sioux from the Lower Brule Reservation, will learn to assemble electronics components while employed in the company's plant on their reservation. The opportunity to learn while earning is a part of the Bureau's employment assistance program aimed at expanding job opportunities for reservation Indians.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, will be honored as “Indian of the Year" during special ceremonies July 16 at the annual Indian Exposition at Anadarko, Okla.

The first Indian to head the Bureau in 97 years, Bennett is a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin. He was a career employee of the Bureau, with 29 years of service, before being appointed Commissioner by President Johnson on March 18, 1966.

An old Indian saying goes, "Give us good roads and we'll take care of our other problems."

While more than roads are needed to meet the many problems of the Indian people, a vigorous road-building program is doing much to improve the living conditions on the Navajo Reservation, largest and most heavily populated in the country, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Before 1950, the vast interior of the Navajo Reservation, which is roughly equivalent to the size of West Virginia, was virtually devoid of roads.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced three appointments to high-level positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and said the appointments were "key steps in making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the Indian people."

Named to the top-level posts under Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert LaFollette Bennett were:

-- Theodore W. Taylor, a career civil servant, to be Deputy Commissioner. Taylor has been Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since 1959, and is a veteran of Interior and BIA service.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $737,093 contract for construction of a new school at Tyonek, Alaska, a native community on Cook Inlet.

The new building replaces a dilapidated structure that was built in 1930. Contract specifications call for: three classrooms; a kitchen; multi-purpose room; library; offices; a gymnasium with a stage; a storage area and janitor facilities. Also included will be a sewerage system; utilities; concrete sidewalks; play areas and site grading. There are now approximately 60 Indian children enrolled at the Tyonek School.

"Hoss" Cartwright of "Bonanza" and Sergeant O'Rourke of "F Troop" are in there pitching for the American Indians.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced that the two television personalities--Dan Blocker and Forrest Tucker--are making radio and TV spot announcements for the Bureau-sponsored campaign: "See America first with the first Americans."