Past News Items

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (the Service) within the Department of the Interior, carried out Federal search and arrest warrants in the four corners area (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah) today. This federal action is a culmination of a two-year undercover investigation which has been conducted by the Service, into the killing and selling of eagles and other protected migratory birds.

Award of four contracts aggregating $474,881.48 for road improvement work on Indian reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Two of the jobs are on the Pine Ridge Reservation, one at Rosebud and one at Crow Creek.

Calling it "a tremendous step forward in addressing the needs of technologically needy students on remote Indian reservations," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced today that Microsoft Corporation has contributed over $350,000 in software, computers and cash to Four Directions, a project of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that will electronically link Indian schools using the Internet and provide new technology opportunities to Native American students in eight states.

Under Secretary Hatfield Chilson today announced cancellation of the development lease on 67,000 acres of Indian lands on the Colorado River Reservation near Parker, Arizona. The lease was executed by the Department on August 13, 1957 with the Colorado River Enterprises, an Arizona Corporation.

On April 8 Under Secretary Chilson gave notice to the Corporation requiring it to show cause, on or before May 7, why the lease should not be cancelled for failure of the Corporation to post the performance bond in the amount of $5 million required under the terms of the lease.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today announced the appointment of Faith Roessel, a licensed attorney and enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

Appointment of Dinsmore Taylor, an Olympia, Wash., attorney and former member of the Washington Tax Commission, as a management specialist to administer the program for termination of Federal trusteeship over the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that an agreement in principal has been reached with Barron Collier Company on the terms and conditions for closing on the Phoenix Indian School land exchange. In exchange for approximately 88 acres of the former Phoenix Indian School site in Phoenix, Arizona, the Federal Government acquire about 108,000 acres of Florida wetlands important to protection of the Everglades and fish and wildlife resources in that area.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will make a payment at the earliest possible date to persons who are entitled to share in the western Creg0n Judgment Fund. The checks should be in the mail during the next few weeks.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced his intention to appoint Joel Matthew Frank, Sr., a Seminole from Hollywood, Florida, to serve on the newly-created National Indian Gaming Commission.

"Joel Frank is extremely well-qualified for the demanding tasks involved in establishing the National Indian Gaming Commission," Lujan said. "His experience as Vice Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association will be an especially important asset in helping build a framework for successful operation of the Commission."

Reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby as Governor of the Chickasaw Indians of Oklahoma for a two-year term beginning October 18, was announced today by Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst.

Mr. Maytubby has served in the office continuously since 1939.

Under terms of the appointment he will receive $250 a month from tribal funds for expenses.

The appointment was made under authority of a 1906 act of Congress o