Past News Items

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that John J. Pereau, a Sioux Indian from the Fort Peck Reservation, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Crow Creek Agency in South Dakota. Pereau, Economic Development Officer at the agency, has been functioning as the Acting Superintendent since April of this year.

George E. Keller, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Rosebud, South Dakota Agency.

Keller has been the Community Services Officer at the agency the past four years.

Keller is a graduate of the Chadron State Teachers College, Chadron, Nebraska and has a Masters degree in education from South Dakota State University.

Eddie V. Edwards, a Choctaw Indian, has been appointed Assistant Area Director (Resources Management) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Sacramento, California office, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the first in a series of steps that must be undertaken by the nearly 3,000 Menominee Indians of Wisconsin to restore their tribal government which was terminated in 1961.

Tribal candidates for the Menominee Restoration Committee will be nominated January 19, with elections to be held no later than March 5.

Regulations for the preparation of plans for the use of distribution of judgments made to American Indian tribes or groups by the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims have been published in the Federal Register of January 15, 1974, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Charles W. James, 53, Choctaw Indian born in the Indian community of Kanima, Okla., to the post of Area Director, Anadarko Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Jeff. Muskrat, 52, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to be Superintendent of the Cherokee Agency of North Carolina, which serves the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The Cherokees were divided during the Indian Removal of the mid-1800’s. Muskrat will assume his new post October 14.

A "bill of rights" for students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools has become a part of the Code of Federal Regulations, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

"This new part of the Code," Commissioner Thompson said, "is like our Constitutional Bill of Rights in that it is simple, brief and to the point. It provides a sound base for local school communities --parents, students and staff -- to develop regulations and programs which accord with the law, are respectful of individual rights and promote a spirit of responsibility."

Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that four American Indian tribal councils in the Great Lakes Area have been awarded contracts totaling over $90,000 under the Tribal Government Development Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order that their governments can be made more effective.

The four tribal councils are Red Cliff Tribal Council, Bayfield, Wisc., $22, 000; Bad River Tribal Council, Ashland, Wisc., $24,850; Bay Mills Executive Council, Brimley, Mich., $25,000; and St. Croix Chippewa Council, Webster, Wisc., $18,850.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that proposed regulations for the implementation of the Indian Financing Act are being published in the Federal Register September 3, 1974.

Thompson said that full funding of $80 million is being sought for the Act, which was approved by President Nixon April 12, 1974.

The Indian Financing Act of 1974 itself: