OPA

Lauding the action of the Senate today in confirming President Nixon's nomination of Morris Thompson as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said he was confident Thompson would provide the leadership to begin "a new era for American Indians."

“We want to work together with the Indian people in accord with the President's historic message to the Congress in July 1970," Secretary Morton said. "The policy of this Administration will continue to be one of advancing the opportunities of our Indian citizens for self-determination, without termination of the special federal relationship with recognized Indian tribes.

"As an Indian himself and as an experienced administrator both on the regional level and at top policy levels, Morris Thompson will, I am confident, bring to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to the Indian people the leadership so urgently needed to carry this program forward."

Secretary Morton said that Thompson would report directly to him and function as if he were an assistant secretary on a comparable level of responsibility and authority with the current assistant secretaries in the Interior Department. Legislation is now pending before the Congress to establish the position of Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

Thompson, who was nominated for the post by President Nixon on October 30, will be the youngest man, at 34, to serve as Commissioner. Thompson is an Athabascan Indian born in Tanana, Alaska. Since March 1971 he served as Alaska Area Director of the Bureau. Prior to his Alaska assignment, he had been a special assistant for Indian Affairs to former Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel.

Thompson succeeds Louis R. Bruce, whose resignation as Commissioner became effective in January 1973. Marvin L. Franklin was named to the position of Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs on February 7, 1973, and had been responsible since that time for the Department's Indian programs which will now be directed by Thompson.

This press release is being issued to clarify a release of May 2 pertaining to the lowering of the voting age for tribal elections.

The recent amendment to Part 52 of Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, did in no way affect the voting age provided in tribal governing documents for voting in tribal elections to elect tribal representatives. Instead, the lowered voting age is applicable only to those elections authorized by the Secretary and conducted pursuant to his regulations under the authorities given him by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Such elections are, therefore, Federal elections and are limited to those pertaining to the adoption or amendment of the governing documents of those tribes that have chosen to organize under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act.

The regulations now conform with the 26th amendment to the U. S. Constitution which hold, in effect, that no person 18 years of age or more shall be denied the right to vote in federally authorized elections.

Four sections were changed to reflect the lower voting age.

The regulations were also amended to eliminate the requirement that the Election Board require a return receipt when notifying each adult tribal member not living on the reservation that he must register to participate in elections called by the Secretary of the Interior. It is no longer necessary to establish proof of delivery of the notice since the U.S. Postal Service has its system for recording the delivery of certified mail, and such information is available from its records.

The award of a $985,056 contract to construct municipal facilities at Red Lake, Minn., was announced today by Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs.

The contract with Peterson Construction Co., Inc., of Grand Forks, N.D., will provide for construction of a municipal center with court complex, police department, detention facilities, adult rehabilitation center, fire station and other related facilities. Existing detention facilities at Red Lake have been overcrowded and .have needed replacing for the past 35 years, but it wasn't until two years ago that the project was activated.

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians took the lead in preparing a comprehensive study with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to determine the needs and best solution for the problems that exist on the reservation.

"Once again we see what individual and tribal initiative can achieve in getting a job done the way the Indians want it done," said Franklin. Along with the proposed center will go a new correctional approach of limited detention facilities while focusing on prevention of delinquency, crime and alcoholism through rehabilitation activities. The need for a fire equipment building is vital to the Red Lake community, Franklin said, and will be included in the total proposed project. Construction of the municipal facilities will begin soon with completion expected next September. The center at Red Lake will be the second Bureau funded rehabilitation and treatment centers for Indians. The other center is located at Colorado River, Arizona., and will be included in the total proposed project.

Construction of the municipal facilities will begin soon with completion expected next September. The center at Red Lake will be the second Bureau funded rehabilitation and treatment centers for Indians. The other center is located at Colorado River, Arizona.

Plans for the use of funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to the Barnish and Swinomish tribes of Indians are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Samish Indians were awarded $5,754 and the Swinomish $29,000 as additional compensation for land taken as a result of the Point Elliot Treaty ratified in 1859. Both tribes were located in the Western Washington area.

The plans, approved by Congress and made effective December 10, 1975, call for per capita distributions of the funds to the lineal descendants of members of the tribes as they existed in 1859.

Regulations governing the preparation of the rolls of descendants will be published in the Federal Register.

In remarks at the dedication of Block I of the Navajo Irrigation Project in Farmington, New Mexico, today Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe hailed the opportunities the project will provide for the Indian people.

"In the past," Secretary Kleppe said, "too many Navajos have been faced with what to them have been unsatisfactory alternatives. They could stay on the tribal land with little hope for more than an economically marginal existence. Or they could seek employment in the urban areas where the style of living too often was incompatible with the values they learned here.

"This project will make it possible for many thousands of Navajos to have the best of both worlds: they can live on the land they love and have the oppor­tunity to work on jobs which are economically rewarding to them and productive for the tribe and for our Nation."

The project was described by the Secretary as the largest Indian reclamation project since the Hohokams - the ancient Indians who more than 2,000 years ago developed an extensive irrigation system in central Arizona.

"This project is a monument to a richer, better life for the Navajo people," he said. "For hundreds of years to come, the work of all the people who labored here will stand as evidence of your ability and your dedication to a better life for your people."

With cooperative efforts such as the Navajo Project, Secretary Kleppe said, the Indian community is going to experience unparalleled progress and achieve­ment. "There will be great accomplishments," he emphasized, "because competent effective Indian leaders are seizing the opportunity to be strong leaders. Indian self-determination is a policy that is working, and this project is concrete proof of the great progress that has been made."

A plan for the distribution and use of more than $6 million awarded to the Potawatomi Nation is being published in the Federal Register, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The judgment award, granted by the Indian Claims Commission, is compensation for lands in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan ceded to the United States by the Indians during the treaty making period of 1795 to 1833.

The funds will be shared by members of the Prairie Band Citizens Band, Hannahville Indian Community, Forest County Potawatomi Community, and lineal descendants, who are United States Citizens, of Michigan and Indiana Potawatomis, including Huron, Pokagon and other Bands. The Secretary of the Interior will publish rules to govern the enrollment of these eligible descendants.

The tribal groups will distribute 80 percent of their share to members on a per capita basis, except for the Hannahville Indian Community which will distribute 40 percent. The balance will be retained for future tribal programs. All of the descendant group's portion will be distributed per capita.

This plan was approved by Congress and made effective March 6, 1978.

Persons wanting additional information should contact the Anadarko Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Anadarko, Oklahoma, 73005, or the Minneapolis Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55402.

Donald A. McCabe, former president of the Navajo Community College, has been appointed President of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute at Albuquerque, New Mexico, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

McCabe, a member of the Navajo Tribe, has extensive experience in the administration of education programs. He has been Assistant Director of the School of Education and Program Director at the University of New Mexico. He was the Program Director for the Parent Committee in the San Jose, California, Unified School District. He was also the Coordinator of Research and Development for the Navajo Tribe's Division of Education. A World War II army veteran, McCabe earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of New Mexico. He earned a Master of Arts from Stanford University and is a doctoral candidate at Stanford.

Since June of this year McCabe has been the staff Executive Director for the Yakima Tribe in the State of Washington. Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) is a unique Bureau of India Affairs School. Built in 1971 on a 164-acre campus north of Albuquerque, it provides technical training to Indian students desiring to learn employable skills. About 70 different tribes are represented in the student body of approximately 500.

Programs offered at the post-secondary school include electronics optical technology, offset lithography telecommunications, drafting commercial food preparation and business education.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerrard, said today that the Department has initiated action to establish order in the administration and government of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Northern California. Gerard said that long-standing disagreements about the unity of the reservation and the persons entitled to the use and benefit of the reservation had created an "unfortunate situation which is detrimental to both the Hoopa and Yurok Indians and has severely impeded the proper management of government of the reservation."

In 1963, these disagreements led certain Yurok individuals to file suit in the U.S. Court of Claims in Jessie Short, et al v. United States. I 1973 that court held in an interlocutory decree that the so-called "square" and the "Extension" constituted a single reservation in which all "Indians of the Reservation" were to be treated equally. The claims of more than 3500 of approximately 3800 individual plaintiffs in that litigation remain to be determined. The Department's action is addressed to the present an future use of the reservation.

Gerard said that his staff had carefully reviewed the entire history of the reservation, including the past practices and policies of the Department, to provide a base for a course of action acceptable to him and to Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus, which "will result in a just resolution of the long-standing conflict and the fair and proper use of the resources of the reservation." In a November 20 message to the Hoopa and Yurok Indians of the reservation, Gerard said that the Secretary has the obligation to remove all doubt about who is entitles to use and benefit from the reservation and, consequently, he was designating the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the Yurok Tribe as such beneficiaries.

He said that the membership of the Hoopa Tribe is known, but membership standards and criteria for the Yurok Tribe would be established and a roll developed. The standards would be similar to those used during the construction of the Hoopa roll.

Other parts of the action plan outlined by Gerard were:

• Until the organization of the Yuroks is completed and the two tribes agree on a reservation-wide management and coordination body, the Department of the Interior, through the Assistant Secretary's office, would assume complete management of the reservation assets on behalf of both tribes. During this interim management there would be a moratorium on all per capita payments beginning February 1, 1979.
• Work would begin immediately on creating a Yurok voters list and the election of an interim Yurok committee which would be given authority and responsibility to draft a proposed Yurok tribal constitution and to carry out other tribal organizational activities.
• After the Yuroks are organized and the membership roll certified, the Secretary will make available for the use of the Yurok Tribe trust funds which have been set aside since 1974
• The Present 70%/30% split of the reservation trust income will continue until February 1, 1979, when a single reservation account will be established. When the reservation-wide body is formally established, it will determine, under the general trust authority of the Secretary, the use of funds flowing into this account until this reservation-wide body is established, only the amount necessary for tribe will be made available in amounts approved by the Secretary. No per capita payments will be made from this account until the reservation-wide body is established.

Gerard described these actions as "indispensable first steps toward the realization of self-determination on the Hoopa Valley Reservation."

Indian educators, students, tribal community representatives and Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel will meet January 8-11 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to begin implementation efforts for two major pieces of Indian education legislation enacted in the closing days of the 95th Congress.

Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis said that 12 Task Forces, selected through consultation with tribal councils and national Indian organizations, will work with a BIA steering committee to implement the Tribal Controlled Community College Act (PL 95-471) and Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-561).

Lavis said "the Education Amendments Act calls for substantial changes and new developments in the organization and administration of Indian education programs both in public school systems and in BIA schools. In accord with our policy of Indian self-determination, we will be working closely with the Indian community to accomplish the purposes of the legislation." Lavis said the conferees would be identifying issues and resources, formulating action plans, and beginning to develop proposed regulations.

This will be the first meeting of the Task Forces. In early November, Lavis asked Indian leaders to nominate individuals to serve on the various groups which will deal with such issues as school boards, education personnel, student rights, funding formulas, education policies and other matters involved in implementing the new legislation.

A summary of comments and recommendations from BIA school admini­strators, made at an early December meeting in Phoenix, will be made available to the Task Forces.

Lavis has been given responsibility for managing the policy and planning actions necessary for implementing the legislation by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Forrest Gerard.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of a three-member Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission.

The members of the Commission are Hawley Atkinson, Sun City, Arizona; Robert E. Lewis, Zuni, New Mexico; and the Reverend Paul Urbano, Phoenix, Arizona.

Legislation passed December 22, 1974 to bring about a settlement of a long standing land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes established the Commission and its functions.

The purpose of the Commission is to plan and direct a relocation program for those Navajo or Hopi Indians required to move from their present residence as a result of the settlement of the land dispute.

Atkinson is an economic development consultant, who was special assistant for economic development to Governor Jack Williams of Arizona from 1970-1975.

During this time and also from 1968 to 1970 he had special responsibilities as liaison from the State of Arizona to the Four Corners Regional Commission and to the Arizona Indian Tribes. Previously, he had been employed by the Indian Development District of Arizona and the Navajo Tribe.

Lewis was for many years the Chairman of the Zuni Tribal Council and is the immediate Past President of the National Tribal Chairmen's Association. Under his leadership the Zuni Tribe assumed responsibility for the direction of all reservation programs provided by the ·Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Urbano is the director of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Phoenix. He has held that position since 1952. The Rev. Urbano is the Chairman of the Department of Missions for the Diocese of Arizona and is the founder of the San Pablo School for Boys in Phoenix.

About 1.8 million acres of land in northeast Arizona is involved in the dispute. This land completely surrounds the Hopi Reservation and is itself completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation. It is commonly referred to as the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area.

The land was set aside by Executive Order in 1882 for the Hopis and such other Indians that the Secretary of the Interior will settle thereon. The Navajos, with the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, moved into most of the Joint Use Area in the 1930's and are still there.