Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced approval of a $58,281 contract between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Oregon State Department of Education for financial aid to school districts with Indian pupils.

Full independence from Federal supervision is being extended to an Indian Tribal group in the United States for the first time since 1909 under terms of a proclamation signed by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay, it, was announced today.

The affiliated Alabama and Coushatta Tribes of Polk County, Texas, under terms of the proclamation, will be removed effective July 1, from the scope of all Federal laws specially applicable to Indians.

Headquarters for the Menominee Indian Agency in Wisconsin will be transferred as soon as possible from Neopit to Keshena, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Primary reason for the move, which has been discussed with Menominee tribal representatives over the past several months, is to separate the Indian Bureau's governmental functions at the agency from the operations of the Menominee tribal lumber mill located at Neopit.

This joint meeting of officials of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Educations and Welfare will begin at 9:30 A.M., May 16, at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel. The conference was called for the purpose of advancing the orderly transfer of the Indian Health Program from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Public Health Service in accordance with Public Law 568, 83rd Congress. This transfer of responsibility becomes effective July 1, 1955.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a report recommending against enactment of S. 401, a bill that would require forced sale of all Indian tribal lands and complete liquidation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in three years, Secretary Douglas McKay said today. ''

Commenting on the departmental report, which was prepared under his supervision, Indian Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons expressed particular opposition to the requirement for mass liquidation of tribal land holdings in Federal trusteeship.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, following consultation with officers of the Klamath Tribe of Oregon and in line with their wishes, will take over preparation of a tribal membership roll under applicable provisions of the Klamath Termination Act - Public law 587 of the 83rd Congress.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that steps will be taken immediately at the Navajo Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Window Rock, Ariz., looking toward the establishment of five new subagencies covering the 15 1/2 million acre Navajo area in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Appointment of Richard D. Butts as superintendent of the Cherokee Indian Agency, Cherokee, N. C., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today cxmow.1ced the selection of three prominent Oregonians--Thomas B., Watters of Klamath Falls., William L. Phillips of Salem, and Eugene Favell of Lakeview - as management specialists for the Klamath Indian Tribe. They will supervise the program of property appraisal, subdivision and management under the tribal termination law enacted last August.

A proposed draft of legislation that would terminate Federal supervision over a two-year period in four Indian communities of southern Minnesota with a combined population of roughly 300 has been submitted to Congress for consideration, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay said today.

Groups covered by the proposal are the Lower Sioux Community in Redwood and Scott counties, the New Upper Sioux Community in Yellow Medicine County, the Prairie Island Community in Goodhue County, and about 15 individuals living on restricted tracts in Yellow Medicine County.