Past News Items

Billie D. Ott has been appointed Assistant Director for Management Services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Administration,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Ott, a member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma, has been Assistant Director for Support Services in the Administration office. In his new position he replaces Sidney Mills who is now Executive Assistant to the Commissioner.

Anthony Whirlwind Horse, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs agency
on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Whirlwind Horse has been the Education Program Administrator at the agency. He succeeds Albert Trimble who is now Tribal Chairman of
the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior, was honored as an "advocate or the American Indian" in an award given him by the Crow Indian Tribe of Montana. The presentation ceremony was held October 16 in the Secretary's office.

The framed document presented to Morton by the Crow Chairman, Pat Stands, cited his leadership in promoting Indian self-determination and his role in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement. The restoration of Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo and Mount Adams to the Yakima Tribe were also mentioned.

A new director of Bureau of Indian Affairs activities in Eastern Oklahoma was named today. Commissioner, Morris Thompson announced the appointment of Thomas J. Ellison as Muskogee Area Director. Ellison, an Oklahoma Choctaw has been the Acting Area Director since the retirement of Virgil Harrington.

Richard C. Whitesell, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Assistant Area Director, Community Services, in the BIA's Phoenix Area Office, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Whitesell has been Superintendent of the Flandreau Indian School at Flandreau, South Dakota.

A former marine, Whitesell was Education Program Administrator at Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma before going to Flandreau. He began
his career as an educator in the Brockton, Montana schools in 1961.

Charles M. Soller, Department of Interior assistant solicitor for Indian Affairs, died of cancer October 25 in Washington, D.C. He had been a key legal adviser to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 20 years.

Seller received in September of this year the Interior Department's Superior Service Award for his work on behalf of Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act. His compassion and sensitive response to need were cited in the award.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson, in a long afternoon meeting January 9 and all day January 10 in Washington, D.C. with elected executive boards of the two major national Indian organizations --the National Tribal Chairmen's Association and the National Congress of American Indians --solicited their views and recommendations on the organization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, recruitment techniques for staff positions, and budgeting goals and objectives of the 141 year-old Agency.

Theodore C. Krenzke, 44, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Cherokee Agency, North Carolina, for eight years, has been named Director of Indian Services of the entire Bureau, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. He will assume his duties in early June.

Krenzke's post is the third of five directorships - top jobs within the Bureau of Indian Affairs - to be filled.

Approximately 20 percent of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) agricultural water supply available under Arizona's basic entitlement to water from the Colorado River has been allocated to five Indian tribes by Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe.

Casimir L. LeBeau, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has been named Assistant Area Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Minneapolis Area, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

LeBeau has been the Tribal Operations Officer in the Minneapolis Area since 1967. The office serves Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan.