OPA

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is strengthening its Office of Indian Education Programs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Under a new organizational structure, approved July 13, the authority of the office will be extended and some major functions transferred from field units to the Washington headquarters.

Commissioner Thompson said, "We are determined to effect needed improvements and provide the best possible leadership in this most important area of Indian education. We made the first step w]hen we hired Bill Demmert to run the education programs. Now we are moving to give him the staff and organization he needs."

The appointment of Dr. William G. Demmert as Director of Indian Education Programs was announced by Thompson in March of this year. Demmert, who is Tlingit and Oglala Sioux, was the first Deputy Commissioner for Indian Education in the United States Office of Education.

Under the new structure, Demmert's staff is expected to be enlarged.

Functions that will now be centralized in the Washington office include the administration of the Johnson-O'Malley funds for public school programs, higher education assistance programs and the ESEA Title program. Funding, for these programs in 1976 was more than $80 million.

The Washington office will also have line authority over the Bureau's three post-secondary schools. They are the Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Office of Indian Education Programs will have in Washington a Management Support Staff, Planning and Program Development Staff, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and a Division of Post-Secondary Education.

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of persons of Cherokee Shawnee Indian ancestry are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The roll will be used for a per capita distribution of funds awarded to the Shawnees by the Indian Claims Commission.

A total amount of $300,000 was awarded by the Claims Commission to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma on behalf of the Shawnee Nation as additional compensation for 24,138 acres of land in Kansas. About 40 percent of this amount will go to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, with the balance going to descendants of the Cherokee Band of Shawnees.

Comments, suggestions, or objections to the proposed regulations should be sent within 30 days to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Services, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20245.

Regulations governing the enrollment of persons under the amended Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act were published today in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Settlement Act was amended by legislation enacted January 2, 1976, which reopened the rolls for a period of one year for those persons who missed the original enrollment deadline of March 30,1973.

Alaska Natives will receive 40 million acres of land and almost one billion dollars under the provisions of the Settlement Act, signed into law December 18,1971.

Eligibility for enrollment was not changed by the amending legislation. In general, the requirements are that a person be at least one quarter degree Alaska Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut blood - or a combination thereof - and living on December 18,1971.

Persons seeking to enroll should write to Enrollment Coordinator, Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Information or assistance can also be obtained by contacting any Bureau of Indian Affairs office or any of the Alaska Regional Corporations.

The enrollment regulations are now effective.

A plan for the use and distribution of more than $9 million awarded to the. Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award is compensation or reservation land taken by the united States in the early part of this century. The reservation is in North Dakota.

The plan, approved by Congress and made effective June 20,1976 calls for a per capita distribution of 80 percent of the fund to enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes (the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.)

The remaining 20 percent of the fund will be used for tribal programs, including a land purchase program, legal contingencies and the development of parks and recreation areas.

Sidney L. Mills, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has been named Executive Assistant to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson, it was announced today.

Mills, who has been Assistant Director for Management Services in the BIA's Office of Administration, succeeds Ronald L. Esguerra who was recently appointed Director of the BIA's Albuquerque Area.

In his new position, Mills' responsibilities will include coordination
df activities of the Commissioner's immediate staff, supervision of the Commissioner's appointment schedule and liaison with other agencies and offices.

A Navy veteran, Mills, 50, entered Federal service in 1973 in the
Aberdeen, South Dakota Area Office. He was the Supply and Contract Officer and, for almost a year, the Acting Deputy Area Director before transferring to Washington, D.C. in August 1975.

Mills had been Purchasing Manager for the Great Western Sugar Company; Merchandise Control Manager, Creative Merchandising Inc.; and Purchasing Manager for Sundstrand Aviation, all in Denver, Colo.

A native of Porcupine, South Dakota, Mills attended the Santa Fe
Indian High School and completed numerous courses in management, marketing and other subjects at Colorado, Arizona, Stanford, Denver and Harvard universities.

George E. Keller, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Rosebud Agency in South Dakota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Keller, who was born on the reservation, has been Community Services Office at the agency the past four years. He was formerly Education Program Administrator at the Lower Brule Agency, Principal of the Pierre School and Guidance Supervisor at the Flandreau Indian School.

A Navy veteran, Keller graduated from Chadron State Teachers College, Chadron, Nebraska and earned a Masters in Education at South Dakota State University.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe and officers of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation today approved an agreement paving the way for the first major conveyance of land to Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

"This agreement will remove legal obstacles to conveyance of about four million acres of land, about 10 percent of the 40 million acres due to the Alaska Natives under the Act," Secretary Kleppe said. "We expect when the actual conveyance is made, hopefully within a few months, it will constitute the first major conveyance
of land to an Alaskan Native Corporation under the historic legislation which was signed into Law in December 1971."

The agreement was signed by the Secretary and representatives of the Corporation at a ceremony in the Secretary's office today. Among the Corporation officers participating were Joseph Upicksoun, president; Jacob Adams, vice president for lands; Larry Dinneen, executive vice president; and Oliver Leavitt, treasurer.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act provided for a cash settlement totaling $962.5 million, to be paid over a period of years, plus selection by the Natives of about 40 million acres of Federally owned lands in Alaska.

The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation is one of the 12 regional corporations which were established under the Act which stipulated the State was to be divided into 12 geographic regions, each region composed of Native people with a common cultural heritage and common interests.

"Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the United States will be making the largest transfer of land to a group of Native Americans in the history of our country," Secretary Kleppe said. "About one-eighth of the State of Alaska
will eventually be turned over to the Alaska Native Corporations under the Act. The creation of Alaska Native Corporations to receive the land is in itself an administrative device unique in the annals of aboriginal land claims."

Secretary Kleppe hailed the signing of the agreement as an important land-mark. "It means that we are making significant progress in resolving the many difficult problems involved in the most far-reaching settlement of Native claims in the history of our own---and I believe---any Nation."

Secretary Kleppe said he expected the Department to have worked out before the end of this month a method which will allow the Department to convey lands to other Alaska Native Corporations despite certain pending litigation.

Regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of members of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma to be used for the distribution of funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission were published in the Federal Register, August 6, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Apache, Kiowa and Comanche Tribes were awarded more than $35 million as additional payment for land ceded to the United States by treaties concluded in 1865 and 1867.

According to the distribution plan approved by Congress June 6, 1975, the funds are to be apportioned among the three tribes on the basis of the respective membership rolls of the tribes.

The rolls of the Kiowa and Comanche Tribes are now being completed. Applications for enrollment as members of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma should be filed by September 10,1976 with the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Area Director, PO. Box 368, Anadarko, Oklahoma 73005.

Louis D. Bayhylle, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Tribe, has been appointed Chief Personnel Officer of th Bureau of Indian Affairs. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Bayhylle has been Chief of Personnel Services at the Veterans Administration Hopsital in New York City since 1963. He has been in personnel work with the Veterans Administration for more than 30 years.

A native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, Bayhylle is a graduate of the Central High School there. He has completed numerous training programs in management and personnel.

Bayhylle, 52, is a President of the New York City Chapter of the Society for Personnel Administrators.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of LaFollette Butler, a Cherokee, as Acting Director of the Commissioner's Indian Self-Determination Staff. Butler, a 23-year BIA veteran, directed the Bureau's task force which developed the regulations for implementing the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. He is the Special Assistant to the Phoenix Area Director.

"LaFollette's assignment is a vitally important one," Commissioner Thompson said. "He has the dual responsibility of guiding the Bureau's efforts in the critical early months of implementing the Act and of recruiting and training the permanent staff that will continue the work."

Thompson said that Butler "is recognized throughout the Bureau and the Indian community as an expert in tribal government, the trust relationship and the Indian Self-Determination Act. I consider him uniquely qualified for this role."

As head of the task force developing the regulations for the Act, Butler was responsible for establishing policy guidelines, training BIA employees and carrying out an extensive consultation program with. Indian leaders throughout the Nation.

Butler, 53, has been detailed from his Phoenix post to serve in various critical positions. He has been Acting Director of the Bureau's Office of Trust Responsibilities, Acting Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner.

A native of Hulbert, Okla. he graduated from Sequoyah Indian High School. He has studied law and government at the University of Oklahoma and at George Washington University. He began with the BIA as a law clerk (lands) in 1953 in Washington, D.C. He went to Phoenix as a Realty Specialist in 1966 and was made Special Assistant to the Area Director in 1969.