OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) has issued a handbook on best practices for reducing crime in Indian Country. The publication, “Crime Reduction Best Practices Handbook: Making Indian Communities Safe 2012,” was developed by the OJS based on the successful deployment of its strategy to meet the Department’s goal of reducing violent crime on four reservations.

“Reducing violent crime in tribal communities is among Secretary Salazar’s most important commitments to Indian Country, and Indian Affairs vigorously supports this effort,” Laverdure said. “The BIA Office of Justice Services’ ‘Crime-Reduction Best Practices Handbook: Making Indian Communities Safe 2012’ is a valuable new resource for tribal leaders, their police departments and their law enforcement partners, containing ideas and techniques they can use right away to fight crime and improve public safety in their communities.”

Through his Safe Indian Communities initiative, Secretary Salazar in 2010 established as a DOI High Priority Performance Goal (HPPG) initiative the reduction of violent crime by at least five percent over 24 months on four reservations that were experiencing high rates of violent crime: the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana, the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and the Standing Rock Reservation in North and South Dakota. The effort resulted in a 35 percent decrease in violent crime across the four sites.

The performance goal was achieved by implementing a comprehensive strategy involving community policing, tactical deployment and critical interagency and intergovernmental partnerships. The handbook is a compendium of best practices from that strategy intended to guide law enforcement entities operating throughout Indian Country. It includes strategies that worked and those that didn’t, and the information it offers ranges from general approaches to details necessary to implement specific crime-reduction plans.

In addition to information about lessons learned and remaining challenges to reducing crime, the handbook also includes demographic profiles of the four targeted reservations; a glossary of acronyms; findings from the HPPG initiative on various issues affecting crime incidence; and an appendix with useful guides, templates, crime statistics, and a listing of OJS contacts.

The OJS’s approach to crime-reduction combines elements of short-term enforcement actions with longer term prevention, and considers having strong working relationships with tribes, community service providers, other law enforcement entities, and the at-large community as instrumental to building an ongoing service capacity in Indian Country that can address and correct conditions that contribute to crime.

The BIA-OJS Crime-Reduction Best Practices Handbook is posted on the Office of Justice Services webpage at www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OJS/index.htm.

The BIA Office of Justice Services’ mission is to enhance public safety and protect property in Indian Country by funding or providing law enforcement, corrections and tribal court services to the nation’s federally recognized tribes. It also coordinates emergency preparedness support on federal Indian lands by working cooperatively with other federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout Indian Country. It also operates the Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M., which provides training and professional development to BIA and tribal law enforcement personnel.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the No Child Left Behind Act Negotiated Rulemaking Committee has set a schedule of four meetings to undertake rulemaking as required under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Committee, which was established earlier this year, is charged with making recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior for proposed regulations on six sections of the Act that seek to improve accountability and student academic achievement at BIA-funded schools.

“The No Child Left Behind Act Negotiated Rulemaking Committee is a joint partnership between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Tribes to ensure that all BIA-funded schools will meet the Act’s stringent requirements for accountability and improvements in student academic performance,” said Martin. “This is also in keeping with the president’s goal of improving the quality of education in Federally-funded schools, regardless of location, by holding them accountable for their students’ academic success.”

The Negotiated Rulemaking Committee held its first meeting on June 9-13 in Albuquerque, N.M., and established ground rules and schedules for conducting business. Moreover, the Committee organized work groups based on the six sections, which are undertaken in this negotiated rulemaking. A notice announcing the first meeting was published in the Federal Register on May 29. The Department also published a notice on July 1, 2003 on three upcoming meetings, which are scheduled for July 14-18 in Bloomington, Minn.; August 21-24 in Seattle, Wash.; and September 15-19 in Nashville, Tenn. These meetings are open to the public.

The Negotiated Rulemaking Committee must develop final rules to be published by September 1, 2004 in time for the start of the 2004 school year. On January 9, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (Public Law 107-110), legislation that embodied his vision for reforming public education by holding Federally-funded schools accountable for their students’ academic achievements. The Act brings to BIA-funded schools the four pillars of the president’s education reform plan: accountability and testing, flexibility and local control, funding for what works and expanded parental options for children attending failing schools.

The Act directed the Secretary to conduct consultation meetings followed by negotiated rulemaking for the six sections that deal with issues affecting programs funded by the Department’s Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). The six sections are: 1) Section 1116(g), defining “Adequate Yearly Progress,” the essential measurement for determining that a school is providing quality education; 2) Section 1124, establishing separate geographic attendance areas for each BIA-funded school; 3) Section 1127, establishing a formula for determining minimum annual funding necessary for each BIA-funded school; 4) Section 1130, establishing a system for the direct funding and support of all BIA-funded schools; 5) Section 1136, establishing guidelines to ensure constitutional and civil rights of Indian students in BIA funded schools; and 6) Section 1043, establishing a method to administer grants under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988.

In August and September of 2002, OIEP held a series of regional consultation meetings with parents, teachers, students, school officials and tribal representatives to obtain comments, opinions and ideas on establishing a negotiated rulemaking committee. The Act required that the committee represent a balance of interests that will be significantly affected by the final rules, that it proportionately represent students from tribes served by BIA-funded schools, that it reflect different varieties of schools and that it include individuals with experience and expertise in Indian education.

On December 10, 2002, the BIA published in the Federal Register a Notice of Intent to form a negotiated rulemaking committee and to request nominations for tribal representatives to serve as committee members. On May 5, 2003, the BIA published in the Federal Register a list of proposed committee members comprised of tribal and Federal representatives, school administrators, school board members and other educators.

The public may make comments to the committee during specified times during the committee meetings or submit written comments to the committee through the No Child Left Behind Negotiated Rulemaking Project Management Office, 500 Gold Avenue, S.W., Room 7202, P.O. Box 1430, Albuquerque, N.M., 87103-1430.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities to individual and tribal trust beneficiaries, as well as promoting the self-determination and economic well-being of the nation’s 562 Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing education and social services to approximately 1.4 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the nation’s 562 Federally recognized tribes.

The BIA school system is comprised of 185 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on 63 reservations in 23 states and serving approximately 48,000 students. In School Year 2001-2002, the BIA directly operated one-third of its schools with the remaining two-thirds tribally-operated under BIA contracts or grants. The BIA also directly operates two postsecondary institutions of higher learning and provides funding to 25 tribally-controlled colleges and universities. In addition, the BIA offers financial assistance grants to Indian undergraduate and graduate students through, respectively, tribal scholarship programs and the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) in Albuquerque, N.M.

Information about the No Child Left Behind Act Negotiated Rulemaking Committee is also available by clicking on “Negotiated Rulemaking” at the Office of Indian Education Programs website www.oiep.bia.edu.

WASHINGTON – Special Agents Craig Janis and Mario Redlegs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) were recognized today by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for their efforts that helped lead to the eradication of a major marijuana cultivation site last year on the Yakama Nation Indian Reservation in Washington State. Janis, 34, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., and Redlegs, 38, of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Fort Yates, N.D., were presented with awards by ONDCP Director John Walters at a ceremony here today.

“Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement personnel play a vital role in the detection, investigation and prosecution of drug crime in the United States,” said Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason. “I congratulate Special Agents Craig Janis and Mario Redlegs on being recognized for contributing to the successful completion of their mission.”

The marijuana crop, or “grow”, was the largest seized in Washington State history and the fourth largest in U.S. history. It consisted of 60,500 mature plants weighing approximately 30 tons with an estimated value of $35 million.

In August 2004, the BIA Division of Special Investigations’ Drug Enforcement Section initiated an investigation into marijuana cultivation taking place on the Yakama Reservation. Agents Redlegs and Janis were part of multi-agency effort led by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Yakima (Wash.) Resident Office and included personnel from the Yakama Nation Tribal Police, the local multi-jurisdictional L.E.A.D. (Law Enforcement Against Drugs) Task Force, Klickitat County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State National Guard. The two agents hiked over tough terrain in adverse weather conditions to locate what was found to be numerous camp sites and collected crucial initial evidence that helped lead to several arrests. None of the suspects who were arrested as a result of this investigation were Yakama tribal members.

“This is only one example of how BIA officers work shoulder-to-shoulder with other Federal, tribal and local law enforcement offices and agencies,” said OLES Director Christopher B. Chaney. “Special Agents Redlegs and Janis exemplify the hard work, dedication and professionalism that are expected of BIA law enforcement personnel.”

The Office of Law Enforcement Services carries out its mission to improve law enforcement services and preserve public safety in Indian country through six district offices and by supporting, through funding and/or training, over 170 tribally operated police departments and directly operating 31 police departments, as well as funding 59 tribally operated detention facilities and directly operating 22 detention facilities, across the country, by coordinating homeland security support on Federal Indian lands, by working cooperatively with other Federal and local law enforcement agencies in Indian country, and by providing training and professional development through the Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a component of the Executive Office of the President, was established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. The principal purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities and objectives for the Nation’s drug control program. The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of the Interior today announced two important steps in the ongoing commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to Native Americans. Today, Interior announced the publication of a draft plan and a request for comment on implementing the potential Cobell Land Consolidation Program. Additionally, Interior announced that the first meeting of the Commission established to undertake a forward-looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management of Native American trust funds is set for the first week of March.

“Interior’s continued rapport and outreach through consultations with Indian Country are crucial components to accomplishing truly open government-to-government communication,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “We are thankful for the participation of all of the tribal leaders as we continue to move forward with this landmark program in a manner that incorporates tribal priorities and promotes tribal participation in reducing land fractionation in a timely and efficient way.”

The Cobell Land Consolidation Program will not be implemented until all court approvals are final; however, Interior has prepared the draft plan to continue the tribal consultation on the development of the program. In May, 2011, the District Court allowed representatives of the United States to communicate with Cobell class regarding to the land consolidation component of the settlement. Since then, Interior has conducted seven regional government-to-government tribal consultations on the issues.

In accordance with the $3.4 billion Cobell Settlement, a $1.9 billion land consolidation fund is to be used to purchase fractionated interests in trust from willing sellers to benefit tribal communities and aid in land consolidation. Up to $60 million of the $1.9 billion will be set aside to provide scholarships for post secondary higher education and vocational training for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Today’s publication in the Federal Register opens a 45-day comment period on the draft implementation plan that seeks to remedy the proliferation of thousands of new trust accounts caused by the increasing subdivision or “fractionation” of trust and restricted fee land interests through succeeding generations. The draft implementation plan proposes a voluntary buy-back and consolidation of fractionated trust and restricted fee land interests that would occur over a 10-year period after the Cobell Settlement becomes final.

Deputy Secretary Hayes also announced that the first meeting of the National Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform is scheduled for March 1-2, 2012 in at the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. The March meeting will mark the first time the five recently named members of the Commission will meet to move forward on their comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s management and administration of the trust assets, as well as recommendations for improvement.

“Building upon the progress made with the historic Cobell Settlement, this commission will help usher in a new era of trust administration,” added Hayes. “Our trust administration must be more transparent, responsive, customer-friendly and accountable in managing these substantial funds and assets.”

More information on the Cobell Trust Land Consolidation Program can be found at: www.doi.gov/cobell.

The Cobell Land Consolidation Draft Plan can be found here.

The public notice of the National Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform can be found here.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today issued a positive Secretarial Determination to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin for an off-reservation class III gaming facility located on a 228-acre parcel in the City of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The land can be acquired in trust for gaming purposes only if the Governor concurs in the determination within one year.

Pursuant to Section 2719 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the Assistant – Secretary can allow gaming on trust lands if it is determined that the Tribe’s proposed gaming facility would be: 1) in the best interest of the Tribe and its members, and 2) not detrimental to the surrounding community.

“After an extensive review of the Tribe’s gaming application it was determined that the application satisfies the rigorous standards contained in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” Washburn said. “The tribe demonstrated that it had an unmet need for economic development to supplement their tribal government services to their members, and a historical connection to the Kenosha area.”

The proposed Kenosha gaming facility would be geographically located between two of the Menominee Tribe’s existing satellite offices in Milwaukee and Chicago. The Tribe intends to establish another satellite office at the Kenosha site to provide services to the Menominee tribal members that currently live in the area. The proposed gaming facility is projected to create more than 3,000 jobs in Menominee and Kenosha Counties.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) prohibits Indian gaming on lands acquired in trust after the law’s enactment in 1988, unless one of three explicitly crafted exceptions applies. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin submitted its application under IGRA’s “Secretarial Determination” exception, which requires the Secretary to determine the proposed gaming establishment is in the best interest of the tribe and its citizens, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community, subject only to the Governor’s concurrence.

This exception for an off-reservation gaming location was previously used in Wisconsin when the Forest County Potawatomi Community established a very successful gaming operation in Milwaukee in 1990 which was located more than 200 miles from its reservation in Forest County. The proposed Kenosha operation is located 162 miles from the Menominee Tribe’s reservation headquarters in Menominee County.

Under IGRA, the Governor of Wisconsin has one year to concur in the Assistant Secretary’s determination. If the Governor does not concur in the Assistant Secretary’s determination, then the tribe may not conduct gaming on the proposed site.

Click here for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Gaming Decision

Click here for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Gaming Decision Fact Sheet

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to help strengthen American Indian communities, the Department of the Interior today released its revised Land Buy-Back Program Valuation Plan. The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), the nation’s foremost authority on appraisal standards and qualifications, performed a comprehensive review of the draft Plan, which was revised to incorporate all of TAF’s recommendations.

“There is no greater authority for establishing standards for appraisals and qualifications for appraisers than The Appraisal Foundation,” said Kevin Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “TAF’s independent analysis confirms that the steps we are taking to determine fair market value for offers to landowners are cost-effective and conform to the best practices for valuation. We are grateful for their comprehensive review and have incorporated their recommendations into the Valuation Plan we will use in the months and years ahead as we work through a transparent process to provide fair market value to tribal landowners.”

The Valuation Plan will guide the methods Interior uses to determine the value of fractional lands held by Indian landowners to ensure that willing sellers are offered fair market value for their land interests. The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program) implements the land consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement, which made $1.9 billion available to purchase fractionated interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers within 10 years. Upon purchase, interests will be held in trust for tribal governments for their beneficial use.

TAF, a non-profit, non-partisan organization authorized by Congress to issue national appraiser standards and qualifications and guidance on valuation methods, found the Department’s Valuation Plan a sound approach to meeting the appraisal demands required of the Buy-Back Program.

“We are honored to participate in this historic project and to lend our expertise to the Department of the Interior and its mission to provide Indian landowners with a fair market price for their fractional lands,” said David S. Bunton, President of The Appraisal Foundation. “The Land Buy-Back Program is a massive undertaking deserving the highest quality in appraisal standards and techniques. We are pleased that the Department has incorporated all of our recommendations and we are confident that these will greatly benefit landholders for years to come.”

The Buy-Back Program has the potential to unlock millions of acres of fractionated lands for the benefit of tribal communities. Interior holds about 56 million acres in trust for American Indians. More than 10 million acres are held for individual American Indians and nearly 46 million acres are held for Indian tribes. The Department holds this land in more than 200,000 tracts, of which about 93,500 (on approximately 150 reservations) contain fractional ownership interests subject to purchase by the Buy-Back Program.

Because of the large number of properties involved, the Buy-Back Program plans to use mass appraisal techniques in which values are assessed simultaneously for many properties within a particular geographic area. TAF specifically analyzed and concurred with the Program’s determination that mass appraisals are the most efficient and cost-effective means to appraise similar, non-complex, vacant lands that have comparable land sales available. At the same time, recognizing that mass appraisals may not be appropriate for all tracts, TAF also reviewed the other appraisal methodologies identified in the Plan for such instances, including project appraisals and property-specific appraisals.

The Buy Back Program Valuation Plan was developed by the Office of Appraisal Services in the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians.

The revised Valuation Plan, TAF’s analysis, and the Department’s response to specific recommendations, are available at: www.doi.gov/buybackprogram/appraisals. More information about The Appraisal Foundation can be found here.

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WASHINGTON, DC – Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today announced that nearly $1.5 million in purchase offers have been sent to more than 600 landowners with fractional interests at the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation in Washington through the Department’s Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program). Interested sellers will have until January 26, 2015, to return accepted offers.

An important step in President Obama’s commitment to help strengthen Native American communities, the Buy-Back Program has successfully concluded transactions worth more than $300 million and has restored the equivalent of nearly 500,000 acres of land to tribal governments.

“This Program – developed in partnership with Cobell plaintiffs – is an exceptional opportunity that cannot be taken for granted. As we enter our second year of sales for this voluntary program, we will continue our commitment to reach as many interested landowners as possible across Indian Country,” said Deputy Secretary Connor. “We must ensure that landowners are given every chance to make informed decisions about the potential sale of their land at fair market value.”

The tribe will host an outreach event on Monday, December 15, from 5-7 p.m. PT at the Squaxin Island Tribe Community Kitchen, 10 SE Squaxin Lane, Shelton, Wash. The event will feature speakers from the Buy-Back Program, notary public services, and staff available to help landowners with questions about their offer packages. Landowners can contact the tribe’s staff at: 877-387-3649 or 360-426-9781.

The Buy-Back Program implements the land consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement, which provided $1.9 billion to purchase fractional interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers at fair market value within a 10-year period. Individuals who choose to sell their interests receive payments directly into their Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts. In addition to receiving fair market value for their land based on objective appraisals, sellers also receive a base payment of $75 per offer, regardless of the value of the land.

Consolidated interests are immediately restored to tribal trust ownership for uses benefiting the reservation community and tribal members.

Sales of land interests will also result in up to $60 million in contributions to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund. This contribution by Interior is in addition to the amounts paid to individual sellers, so it will not reduce the amount landowners receive for their interests.

There are approximately 245,000 owners of nearly three million fractional interests, spanning 150 Indian reservations, who are eligible to participate in the Buy-Back Program.Many see little or no economic benefit from what are often very small, undivided interests in lands that cannot be utilized due to their highly fractionated state.

The Department recently announced 21 additional locations where the Program will begin implementation, bringing the total number of locations actively engaged in the Buy-Back Program to 42. This total represents 83 percent of all outstanding fractionated ownership interests.

Landowners can contact the Trust Beneficiary Call Center at 888-678-6836 with questions about their purchase offers. Individuals can also visit their local Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) office, or find more information at www.doi.gov/buybackprogram/landowners in order to make informed decisions about their land.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued the following statement today which was read during the 26th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M. The ceremony formally announced the names of three fallen law enforcement officers from the Navajo and Chickasaw Nations as new inscriptions to the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Monument.

“Like the famous and humble actions of the WWII Code Talkers who valiantly stepped out of Indian Country to defend the United States from foreign threats, these three brave officers courageously rose up within Indian Country to protect tribal communities from unexpected dangers. Today, I pay their families and their memories the utmost respect for their ultimate sacrifices as we permanently add their names to this distinguished memorial. May this memorial continue to serve as a testament that those who answer the call of duty will never be forgotten.

"In a tradition from my Navy service, I respectfully bid 'fair winds and following seas' to the spirits of these brave men and women.”

The officers recognized at this year’s ceremony brought the total number of names listed on the monument to 114:

• Navajo Nation Police Officer Leander Frank who, on August 30, 2016, was killed in a traffic accident while responding to a disturbance call in the Chinle District of the Navajo Nation Reservation. Office Frank served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
• Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police Agent Robert Patrick Flickinger who, on March 7, 2008, was killed in a traffic accident within the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma while serving in an undercover narcotics investigation of an outlaw motorcycle organization. Before joining the force, Agent Flickinger served two years in the U.S. Navy.
• Navajo Nation Chief of Police Hoska “Hoskie” Thompson who, on October 21, 1949, succumbed to freezing temperatures while trying to serve civil papers at a remote canyon area on the Navajo Reservation near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

The event is hosted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services and is held in conjunction with the International Chiefs of Police’s (ICAP) Indian Country Law Enforcement Section and other law enforcement organizations and agencies, including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers at the U.S. Indian Police Academy in Artesia. The formal ceremony consists of full law enforcement honors with flag presentation, 21-gun salute, honor guard, traditional drum song and prayer, officer roll call, and family recognition. Each year, invited dignitaries provide keynote remarks at the ceremony.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was first dedicated on May 7, 1992, at the Indian Police Academy then located in Marana, Ariz. The academy and memorial were later moved to their present site, where the latter was re-dedicated on May 6, 1993. The memorial’s design is based upon indigenous design concepts. Comprised of three granite markers sited within a circular walkway lined with sage, a plant of spiritual significance to many tribes, the memorial includes four planters filled with foliage in colors representing people of all nations. The planters represent the four directions and are located near the walkway’s entrance.

The earliest inscribed name dates back to 1852. In addition to those from BIA and tribal law enforcement, officers listed represent numerous law enforcement agencies including the U.S. Border Patrol, the New Mexico State Police, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Customs Bureau, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A list of the names inscribed on the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial is available at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers’ website.

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William A. Mehojah, a Kaw Indian, has been appointed superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Turtle Mountain Agency in Belcourt, North Dakota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today. The agency serves the Fort Totten and Turtle Mountain Reservations.

Mehojah, a career employee with more than 24 years of service, has served since 1962 as administrative manager of the Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, North Dakota. At Belcourt he succeeds Leonard Lay, who has transferred to the Bureau's Aberdeen Area Office as housing development officer.

A native of Washunga, Oklahoma and a World War II veteran, Mehojah joined the Interior Department Bureau's staff in 1939 as a clerk-stenographer at the Pawnee Indian Agency in Oklahoma. In 1946 he transferred to the veterans Administration regional office in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as a claims examiner. He returned to the Indian Bureau in early 1953 as a supervisory procurement clerk in the Billings, Montana, area office. He subsequently served in a series of supervisory positions with the Northern Cheyenne Agency, Lame Deer, Montana; the Rosebud Agency, Rosebud, South Dakota; and the Standing Rock Agency.

"Mr. Mehojah has demonstrated his administrative ability in his many years of capable service with the Bureau," said Commissioner Nash. "We are pleased to have this opportunity to appoint another American Indian with managerial and leadership qualities to a post where he can serve and inspire the Indian people.

Three Oklahomans will take on new responsibilities April 1 in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a series of related personnel transfers announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Graham E. Holmes, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Muskogee, Okla., for the past year, has been named Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau in charge of legislative activities.

Holmes succeeds Martin P. Mangan who was recently appointed president of a new development corporation in American Samoa. At the Muskogee area office, Holmes will be replaced by Virgil N. Harrington, superintendent of the Bureau's Seminole Agency at Dania, Fla., since 1958.

The new Seminole superintendent, succeeding Harrington, will be Doyce L. Waldrip, administrative officer under Harrington for the past three years.

A lawyer by profession, Holmes first came with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1949 as a probate attorney at Wewoka, Okla. Two years later he moved to the area office at Aberdeen, S,. Dak., as area counsel and in 1955 was appointed program officer at Aberdeen. The following year he was selected superintendent of the Rosebud Agency in South Dakota. In 1959 he transferred to the Southwest as assistant area director at Gallup, N. Mex. After two years in this post he was appointed Assistant Solicitor of the Department of the Interior in charge of Indian legal activities at Washington, D. C., in May 1961. The following January he moved to Muskogee as area director. He was born at Whitefield, Okla., in 1913 and holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas. Before joining the Bureau he served for a number of years as a county judge and county attorney at Stigler, Okla.

Also a native Oklahoman, Harrington was born at Ward Springs in 1919. He has been with the Bureau since November 1948, when he was appointed soil conservationist at the Pawnee Agency, Pawnee, Okla. In 1955 he transferred to the Consolidated Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colo., as land operations officer and served there for three years before being promoted to superintendent of the Seminole Agency. Before coming with the Bureau, he spent several years with the Naval Ordnance Depot at McAlester, Okla. He is a 1942 graduate of Oklahoma A&M College.

Waldrip has been with the Bureau since 1950. His experience prior to the Seminole assignment included six years as a teacher on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota and four years on the Fort Totten Reservation in North Dakota as field representative and administrative officer. He was also born in Oklahoma, at Hollis in 1924. He is a graduate of West Texas State College and also attended New Mexico A&M State College. From 1943 to 1946 he served with the Army Air Corps.