Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall reported. today that an agreement has been reached between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Harry Winston, Inc." of New York City, for the establishment early next year of a diamond processing plant at Chandler, Arizona, which will provide new job opportunities for the State's Indian population.

All title source documents and records pertaining to trust or restricted lands on 21 Indian reservations have now been transferred from Washington, D. C. , to area offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Aberdeen, S. Dak.; Billings, Mont. j Gallup, N. Mex.; and Portland, Oreg., the Department of the Interior announced today.

The transfer, Commissioner Philleo Nash emphasized, has involved only the land records formerly maintained in Washington and not those kept at the Bureau's agency offices.

Appointment of Robert L. Bennett, a veteran of nearly 25 years' service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as Area Director for the Bureau at Juneau, Alaska, was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

An Oneida Indian and native of Wisconsin, Bennett has been serving as Assistant Area Director at the Bureau's area office at Aberdeen, South Dakota, since 1958. At Juneau he succeeds James E. Hawkins who has been Area Director there for the past five years and who will be given another assignment in the Bureau.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that Paul Jones, Tribal Chairman of the Navajo Indians, has agreed to enter into negotiation looking toward the exchange of nearly 300,000 acres of tribal land surrounding Rainbow Bridge National Monument in Utah for public domain lands.

Secretary Udall said: “The acreage lying south and west of Navajo Mountain comprises one of the magnificent scenic areas outside the National Park System." Rainbow Bridge has long been the focal point of interest in this fantastically eroded red sandstone country.

Appointment of Lloyd New Kiva, Cherokee Indian artist and owner-manager of an Indian arts and crafts shop at Scottsdale, Ariz., as a member of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

A native of Fairland, Okla., Kiva was named to fill out the unexpired term of Willard W. Beatty, who died September 29 shortly after being elected chairman of the Board. The term expires July 6, 1964.

Award of a $868,653 contract for construction of school facilities to accommodate 188 Indian children not now in school at Dilcon, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for construction of a 7-classroom structure with a multipurpose room, a 128-pupil dormitory, a kitchen and dining room, employees' quarters, a bus garage, and a storage and utility building.

Promotion of Jose A. Zuni, an Indian career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to the position of superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colorado, was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

Appointment of Kenneth L. Payton as superintendent of the Mescalero Indian Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., effective November 12 was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

He succeeds Hobart Johnson who transferred from Mescalero in September to be superintendent of the Indian Bureau's Intermountain School at Brigham, Utah.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that from November 14 through 19 he will consult on outstanding Indian problems in Phoenix, Ariz., with five Indian leaders and eight prominent non-Indians interested in Indian affairs.

One of the consultants invited to the meeting is W. W. Keeler of Bartlesville, Okla., oil company executive and principal chief of Oklahoma's Cherokees, who served as chairman of Secretary Udall's Task Force on Indian Affairs earlier this year. The 12 other consultants are:

Barry DeRose, Globe, Ariz., attorney for Indian tribes;

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby, Oklahoma City, as Governor of the Chickasaw Indian Tribe and the appointment of Waldo E McIntosh of Tulsa as Principal Chief of the Oklahoma Creek Indian Tribe.

Under a 1906 law the President was empowered to appoint a Principal Chief periodically for each of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" of Oklahoma-- Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek. In 1951 this appointing authority was delegated to the Secretary of the Interior.