Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today appealed to the increasing millions of visitors to Interior-administered recreation areas throughout the United States to "arrive safely, play safely, and return home safely."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today petitioned the Federal Power Commission seeking to intervene on behalf of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana in their application for increased payments from the Montana Power Company for use of tribal lands at Kerr Dam.

The Secretary is trustee for lands owned by the Confederated Tribes. The Kerr license specifically provides that any change in terms of the license that may affect the Indians' interest shall be subject to his approval.

The sound of drums and the chant of Indian song will introduce the American Indian Performing Arts Festival April 22-27 in the Department of the Interior Auditorium, 18th and “C” Streets, NW., in Washington, D. C.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has named Francis E. Briscoe, 56, an enrolled member of the Caddo Indian Tribe from Anadarko, Okla., Area Director, Portland Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs Briscoe has served in an acting capacity since Dale M. Baldwin retired last year.

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.

Richard T. Christman has been appointed superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Papago Agency at Sells, Ariz., Commissioner
of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Christman, 39, replaces Joe Lucero, who retired as agency superintendent earlier this year.

For the past six years Christman served as Education Program Administrator at the Papago Agency. He has been employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1963.

A meeting of the general council of the Cherokee Delaware Tribe, scheduled to be held September 11 in Dewey, Okla., has been cancelled, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of James J. Thomas, 29, a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, to head the Field Employment Assistance Office, at Cleveland, Ohio. He has been acting in that capacity since July of this year.

Thomas, born and reared on the Winnebago Indian Reservation, in Nebraska, recently completed the Indian Administrator Development Program of the Bureau.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Frankie E. Paul, 40, full blood Navajo, to be superintendent Tuba City Agency, Arizona. He has been acting in that capacity since April of this year.

Paul, born and raised in Ramah, New Mexico, is a graduate of Los Angeles State College with a B.A. degree in Education Administration.

New regulations for a program affecting 100,000 Indian children in 435 public school districts and 23 states were published in the Federal Register August 21, 1974. "These regulations reflect the vast changes and development in the Indian community of the past several years," said Commissioner Morris Thompson of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.