OPA

A report on current governmental problems on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota:., prepared at the request of Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills, has been distributed to members of the Tribal Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, Mills said today.

The report was done by Robert Bennett, a former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Graham Holmes, a retired BIA official. They were asked in January by Mills to meet with tribal officials and other members of the Band to assess "problems that plague the reservation during the current governmental crisis."

The reservation has suffered from violence and dissension since last spring when the tribal council voted Mrs. Stephanie Hanson from her elected role as tribal treasurer. Her supporters reacted by destroying tribal buildings and equipment, private homes and other property valued at an estimated $4 million. Although Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus determined that the tribal council lacked authority to remove Mrs. Hanson, the council has not allowed her to resume the ·Office. The lack of a treasurer has forced suspension of funding for several tribal contracts and grants.

The Bennett-Holmes report said that the "reservation is polarized into two groups: those supporting the Constitution Committee (backers of Mrs. Hanson) and those supporting the Tribal Council." The Constitution Committee group, according to the report, alleges that there have been "arrogant abuses of tribal powers, including failure to follow the (tribal) Constitution and applicable rules and regulations." On the other side, the Tribal Council charges that "failure of the Federal Government to support the Tribal Government and control lawlessness on the reservation is undermining the Tribe's sovereignty ·and ability to function."

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today that charges of financial abuses or mismanagement in the Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma appear to be unfounded.

Hallett said that the Inspector General's Office of the Interior Department this month completed a survey of the tribe's financial records, including "documentation" presented to support charges made by some members of the tribe. It determined that there was no substantiation of the charges and that the tribe's financial records were in good order.

"The IG' s office determined that no further audit was called for "Hallett said The Comanche Tribe has been embroiled in internal political problems since a February 2 meeting of the tribal council at which the tribal chairman, Kenneth Saupitty, was removed from office by a recall vote of 184 to 1 . Saupitty has also questioned the validity of this recall. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, however, has administratively upheld the validity of the recall.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today that Indian self-determination will be boosted by a recent decision by the President's Management Improvement Council, agreeing to sponsor the Tribal Manager Corps (TMC), a new initiative to strengthen and improve Indian tribal governments. The TMC project is designed to make professional managers/administrators from government agencies and private industry available to work with Indian tribe’s to help meet tribal management needs and, thereby, further Indian self-determination capabilities.

Hallett said that the endorsement of the TMC project by the President's council enhances recruitment of needed personnel within government agencies, further the commitment of the agencies to work together for the common goal and gives greater status within the Administration to tribal governments. ! Hallett said that the Tribal Manager Corps will be an inter-agency, inter-organization, effort to recruit a cadre of individuals with management expertise in various fields. Participating tribes would then select from this cadre a manager who would work with the tribe for a year or longer to institute agreed-upon management improvements.

"We hope to help 20 tribes in the first year," Hallett said. "We plan to develop a general profile of tribal management needs, identify specific assistance wanted by individual tribes and then recruit the kind ·of people who can respond to these needs." Hallett indicated that the assignment of the managers to the tribes could be handled under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act or through contracts under the Indian Self-Determination Act It is expected that state and local governments, as well as the Federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations will be involved in the project. An Interagency Task Force to direct the TMC is being formed, Hallett said. "It will include top-level representation from the government agencies, private industry and tribal organizations. We expect to announce further details on this in the near, future," he said

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett announced today that a new Bureau of Indian Affairs agency is being established to serve the Laguna Pueblo

The Commissioner has instructed the BIA Albuquerque Area Office to begin taking administrative actions necessary to make the new agency operational. These include renting office space, completing position descriptions, transferring property and other such matters. Laguna and nine other Pueblos have been served by the Southern Pueblos Agency, located in Albuquerque. Commissioner Hallett said that the creation of the new agency "should improve services to the other nine Pueblos, as well as to the Laguna Pueblo."

Laguna has a membership of about 6,000 and a land area of more than 400,000 acres, including the largest open-pit uranium mining operation in the world. The official document authorizing the new agency was signed by Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus on February 21.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' 1981 budget request has been reduced by ~40.2 million as a part of the President's anti-inflation program. The President's revised budget proposals, sent to Congress March 31, cut some $15 billion from the total U.S. budget he proposed to Congress on January 28. The proposed cuts for the Bureau call for the closing of two off-reservation boarding schools, Stewart Indian School in Nevada and Fort Sill Indian School at Lawton, Oklahoma. The largest reductions, however, will be brought about by delaying irrigation project funding ($22.3 million) and road construction ($10.8 million).

The new budget proposal would reduce funding for the operation of Indian programs by $7.1 million. This includes $1 million from the closing of the two schools; $4.1 million in personnel compensation; $1.7 million for supplies and equipment, and $300,000 from a program to recruit Indians into various starting-level professional positions in the Bureau. If the Stewart and Fort Sill schools are closed, the students can be accommodated in other Bureau schools, the Office of Indian Education Programs has indicated. A large proportion of the students now enrolled at the two schools are from out-of-state. Stewart has a current enrollment of 409 and Fort Sill has 160. Irrigation projects eliminated from the 1981 request are: Colorado River Reservation, $780,000; White Mountain Apache, $5 million; Rocky Boy's, $375,000; Omaha Reservation, $525,000; Standing Rock, $2 million; Cheyenne River, $500,000; Lower Brule, $5.2 million; and Yakima, $400,000. In addition funding requested for the project at Fallon, Nevada, was reduced from $3 million to $2 million and the Navajo Irrigation Project from $18 million to $11.48 million. The proposed reduction in road construction from $59.4 million to $48.6 million would require an 18 percent reduction Bureau-wide. These budget reductions are in the funding requested; the actual funding provided will be determined by legislation to be passed by the Congress and signed by the President. The 1981 fiscal year begins October 1, 1980.

Following President Carter's proclamation of April 22 as Earth Day '80, Commissioner Hallett today asked BIA Area Directors and Agency Superintendents to observe Earth Day by meeting with tribal officials to discuss environmental matters. The meetings are to be held the week of April 21-25 or soon after to "demonstrate the Bureau's recognition of our responsibilities for the protection and enhancement of environmental quality and our commitment to an ongoing dialogue with tribal officials regarding the environment," Hallett said.

A coalition of citizen and public interest groups is planning Earth Day '80 on the tenth anniversary of the original Earth Day in 1970. In his proclamation, President Carter urged the American people to "rededicate ourselves to the creation and maintenance of safe and healthy surroundings."

"I hope that, in the observance of Earth Day, each of you will make a personal commitment to the goal which the President has said we must achieve -- 'another decade of environmental progress,'" Hallett wrote to the BIA officials.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has published eligibility criteria and application procedures for Indian tribes interested in participating in the Tribal Managers Corps program, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

The Federal Register notice of June 16 also briefly describes the nature of the program, which offers tribes the opportunity to obtain the assistance of professional managers and administrators who will assist them in their management needs and help develop the tribes' capabilities for self-determination According to the notice, initial selections of tribes eligible for the program will be made by September 1 and the first placement of managers will be completed by October 15, 1980.

The eligibility criteria require that the tribe have an updated comprehensive reservation development plan, that the tribal council formally express its desire to participate in the program and that the tribe have a plan to continue the position/ program once the assignment of the tribal manager is completed.

The professional managers to be made available to the tribes for one year assignments will be volunteers from private industry and Federal, State and local government agencies. For further information contact Leroy Fair, Tribal Managers Corps, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 18th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D. C. 20245, (202/343-3163)

Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus today commended the nomination by President Carter of Thomas W. Fredericks to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

"We are pleased that Tom Fredericks will be returning to Interior, this time as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs," Andrus said. "This is an extremely important position to the Indian community and the Nation as a whole. He is among the Nation's most qualified Indians and will handle matters of great importance to Native Americans

Fredericks, 37, previously was Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior from July 1977 to November 1979, when he resigned to head his own law firm in Boulder, Colorado. At Interior he was the chief legal officer on all legal matters involving American Indians.

Born March 3, 1943, at Elbowoods, North Dakota, Fredericks is a member of the Mandan-Hidatsa Tribe. He graduated from North Dakota's Minot State College with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965 and from the University of Colorado Law School in 1972.

One of the original founders of the Native American Rights Fund, Fredericks was associated with the Fund from 1971 to 1977. During the period the Fund represented a number of Indian tribes on major issues. From June '1975 to July 1977 he was chief executive officer of the Fund, supervising a staff of 60 at Boulder, Colorado.

He was a management consultant: for several Indian tribes between 1970 and 1974. From 1966 to 1969 he was administrator of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at Fort Yates North Dakota, and taught high school at Bowbells, North Dakota, in 1965·66.

A member of the Colorado State Bar, North Dakota State Bar, and the American Indian Lawyers Association, Fredericks is married and has two children. He was president of the American Indian Lawyers Association in 1973.

Interior under Secretary James A. Joseph said today that the Institute of American Indian Art will continue its operations at its campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

However, Joseph said that responsibility for the Institute will be transferred from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

"This Institute is a unique and valuable cultural asset--not just to Native Americans but to all Americans,” said Joseph." It must not only survive; it must expand and grow. While there have been problems over the years--problems of management, guidance and attendant declining enrollment-- I believe these can be overcome and I have directed an intensive effort to that end." Meanwhile,

Joseph said, Grades 10, 11 and 12 from the Albuquerque Indian School will continue to use a portion of the Institute's campus until facilities at the Albuquerque school can be renovated and are again suitable for their use. The three grades were allowed to move to the Institute last fall because space was available there and some of the buildings in Albuquerque were considered unsafe for use. The joint use of the campus has caused considerable tension among the students, faculty and administrations of both schools. Founded as a high school level art school in 1962, the Institute now provides a two year post high school curriculum for. Indian students. The Albuquerque Indian School was founded as a Presbyterian sponsored school in 1881, taken over by the U.S. Government in 1886 and operated as an Indian boarding school for 90 years. It is-now managed by the All-Indian Pueblo Council under the provision of the Indian Self-Determination Act.

Joseph said he has directed the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to develop interim plans for the two schools to share the facilities in Santa Fe while developing plans and schedules -for the rehabilitation of the Albuquerque campus. "At the same time I have asked the Assistant Secretary to develop plans for the efficient .management of the Institute with substantial input from the Native American Council of Regents working toward the goal of eventually establishing Native American administration of the facility."

The BIA's Office of Indian Education Programs has appointed new chiefs for four of its six Central Office Divisions, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs Sidney Mills announced today.

Dr. Noah Allen has been named Chief of Elementary and Secondary Education; Leroy Falling, Chief of Post-Secondary Education; Carmen Taylor, Chief of Student Support Services; and Dr. Charles Cordova Chief of Exceptional Education. Student

Support Services and Exceptional Education are new divisions created in compliance with Title XI of PL 95-561, the Education Amendments of 1978.

Dr. Earl Barlow, Director of the Office of Indian Education Programs/, said “the filling of these key positions enable us to move ahead rapidly in implementing Public Law 95-561 and in providing a more relevant and quality education for Indian people.”

Allen, a member of the Euchee (Creek) tribe, now heads the division that Dr. Gabe Paxton, Acting Deputy Director of the Office, described as the heart of BIA education programs. The Division provides funding and direction for a Federal Indian school system of 224 schools that enrolls more than 43,000 Indian students. It also administers funds for special programs for more than Indian students attending public schools.

Allen has been an educator and a student of education for 28 years. The Haskell graduate received an M.A. in education from Kansas State College and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. From 1950 to 1957 he served as a teacher and a coach in public schools of Kansas and Oklahoma. He has been on staff of five universities as an athletic coach, professor, and from 1970 to 1974 he was coach, athletic director, and chairman of the Life Division at Haskell Indian Junior College at Lawrence, Kansas.

Leroy Falling, Cherokee, is in charge of the Bureau's grant assistance program for more than 20,000 Indian college students. His division administers the three Bureau post-secondary institutions and works with Indian tribally controlled community colleges.

Falling has worked in education programs of the BIA 24 years, striving to bring greater educational opportunities to Indians. His special concern is for those who have had little opportunity for education but really want to learn.

After receiving his B.A. from Anderson College in l950, Falling received an M.S. from Northern Arizona University as a prelude to doctoral studies. Warner Pacific College, where he received an A.A. in 1948, recently awarded falling an honorary doctorate of Human Letters for "contributions to the educational needs of Native Americans" through "energetic and responsible leadership within the BIA."

Carmen Taylor, a member of the Flathead Tribe, directs the new Division of Student Support Services created to improve student education outside of the classroom. This encompasses dormitory living, counseling and career guidance, testing, and activities and recreation. Taylor will be working to implement dormitory living standards and students rights regulations mandated in PL 95-561

Taylor received a B.A. from the University of Montana in 1971 and an M.E. from Montana State University in 1979. From 1971 to 1974 she was a counselor, assistant director, and director for the University of Montana's Upward Bound and Special Services Program for disadvantaged students. She has also been an education consultant for Montana's Department of Education in equal learning and opportunities.

Dr. Charles Cordova's new Division of Exceptional Education is assisting handicapped Indian students between the ages of three and21 enrolled in BIA operated or funded schools. The division is in the initial phase of implementing comprehensive special education programs in compliance with PL 95-561 and PL 94-142, the Education for all Handicapped Children Act. After receiving a B.S. in biology and chemistry and an M.S. in learning disabilities, Cordova earned a Ph.D. from the University of Northern Colorado. Cordova was assistant professor of special education at Northern Colorado University in 1973 and director of public education for the public schools in Pueblo, Colorado from 1974 to 1976. Since then he has been a state planning officer in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The other Central Office Divisions in the Office of Indian Education Programs are the Division of Planning and Program Development, headed by Jerry Waddell, and the Division of Management Support, with Edward Marich serving as Acting Chief.