OPA

Want to attend an Eskimo blanket-toss? Potlatch? Snake or crown dance? Exhibition of Indian arts and craft?

The American Indian Calendar, 1973, listing events under the sponsorship of Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts scheduled to take place from the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean is now available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402. The price is 45 cents.

"This year an increasing number of American Indian tribally owned motels are in a position to make visitors to Indian events welcome," Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, said.

Typical events to which travelers are invited by their Indian and Alaska Native hosts are: Indian stick dances, which take place at Nulato, Alaska; beaver roundup at Dillingham, Alaska; Ahoolai Days at Window Rock, Arizona; Bear dance at Jaynesville, California; and Whaa-Laa Days at Worley, Idaho.

Franklin said a number of Indian observances depend upon seasonal activities and exact dates cannot be determined in advance. He urged tourists to check with tribes, local Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, and local Chambers of Commerce for specific dates if they are not already indicated or if the traveler is building his itinerary around a particular occasion.

The publication includes a list of Bureau Area Offices, the states they serve, and their telephone numbers.

Campgrounds as well as motels are available on some reservations.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS

Establishes an additional Assistant Secretary of the Interior responsible for Indian Affairs. The purpose of this proposal is to upgrade the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs (which would be eliminated by the proposal) to that of an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, The creation of this position will raise the Department's responsibility for Indians to its proper level within the structure of the Department. Focusing his attention solely on their unique problems, the new Assistant Secretary will work full-time with Indians to improve their economic and social conditions and assist in the development of their full potential, both for their own and the Nation's benefit.

INDIAN ASSUMPTION OF CONTROL

Provides for the assumption of the control and operation by Indian tribes and communities of certain programs and services provided for them by the Federal Government. This proposal will enable any Indian tribe, band, group, or community to request and assume control of any program or service now extended to it by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior or the Indian health service program of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The two program areas are the ones that deal most directly with Indian people. The turnover will be made after the tribe has consulted with the appropriate Department, has worked out a transfer plan with that Department, and has submitted that plan formally along with its request for the turnover. Even though an Indian group assumes the control and operation of a program or service, the Federal government will retain its ultimate responsibility for that program or service and will maintain its trust relationship with that Indian group.

TRANSFER OF CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES

This proposal is a companion to our proposal that authorizes Indian tribes to assume control and operation of programs and services now rendered for them by the Federal Government. It allows civil service employees to transfer with the program or service and retain the coverage that they now enjoy as civil servants and also gives them preferential reemployment rights for a period of five years. Without the opportunity for continuity in the operation of transferred programs, most if not all such transfers would be doomed to failure.

INDIAN FINANCING ACT

The Indian Financing Act is designed to infuse capital into Indian country. Essentially the Act contains three major programs. The first expands several existing revolving loan funds that have been operated by the Department of the Interior with limited capital and limited applicability. Under the Act these funds would be consolidated into one fund, $50 million in additional funds would be added to the fund, for a total of $75 million, and the fund would be made available to all tribes and eligible individuals on the same basis. The second major section in the bill is aimed at making Indians more attractive prospects for private lenders by means of a guarantee program. By virtue of this program the Secretary of the Interior would guarantee up to 90 percent of loans made to Indians by private institutions. Finally, the Act would authorize the Secretary to make grants to small Indian businessmen. These grants, of up to $50,000 per venture, would enable Indians to launch business ventures but could be made only to those who were ineligible to obtain loans or loan guarantees under the Act.

INDIAN TRUST COUNSEL AUTHORITY

Provides for the creation of the Indian Trust Counsel Authority. The Indian Trust Counsel would 'provide independent legal counsel and representation on behalf of Indians and Alaska Natives in the assertion of their natural resource rights. Such an authority is needed to remedy a conflict of interests on the part of the Federal Government. The Authority will be free from control by any Executive Department. This independence will enable the Authority to protect the natural resource rights and interests of Indians untrammeled by any other interest. The Authority will be under the direction of a three-man Board of Directors, two of whom must be Indians. The proposal authorizes the Authority, upon the request of an aggrieved Indian or group of Indians, to assist those Indians in the protection of their natural resource rights and interests in the courts and before administrative bodies. This authority will be used when a tribe has a justiciable claim and feels that it needs the assistance of the Authority for prosecuting that claim. The assistance rendered by the Authority is in addition to the responsibilities that the Department of the Interior has to protect Indians, not only in their natural resource rights, but in all rights protected by the trust relationship between the United States and American Indians.

EXPANSION OF CONTRACTING AUTHORITY WITH TRIBES

Amends the Johnson-O'Malley Act to authorize the Department of Interior to channel funds appropriated under the Act directly to Indian tribes and communities. This amendment will add new authority to contract directly with Indian tribes, bands, groups, or communities who run their own educational institutions, enabling the Secretary to arrange for direct Indian involvement in Indian education, agricultural assistance, and social welfare. The same authority will be given to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for Indian health programs.

LIVESTOCK TRESPASS AND TRADERS

A proposal to afford Indians greater control over activities conducted on their reservations, concern the areas of livestock trespass and traders. Section 1 of the bill provides that any person allowing his livestock to trespass on trust or restricted land without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior shall be liable for a penalty of $5 per day for each head of livestock in trespass, together with the value of forage used by the animal during the period of trespass plus any other cost incurred in connection with the trespass. Section 2 of the proposal authorizes Indian tribal governments to enact laws and ordinances relating to the issuance of trader licenses on their reservation. This will place with tribal governments the ultimate decision as to whether federal law or their own trading ordinances shall obtain on the reservations.

Indians of North Carolina, II a new 24-page booklet describing the life or the 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living today in the Tarheel state, has just been published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Richard S. Bodman announced today. Bodman has administrative control of all Indian operations for Interior.

"About 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians live today in North Carolina, most of them on the 56,500 acre Cherokee Reservation in the western part of the state," Bodman explained. "Their reservation is a well-governed Indian community that welcomes tourists --its principal source of income," he said.

"We hope this booklet will tell all Americans more about their Indian neighbors and encourage those who live near the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina or travel in that vicinity to visit the "First Americans" there,” he said.

The booklet points out that the Cherokee had the mightiest empire of all the southeastern Indian tribes before the white man entered the New World. They built villages on the banks of streams in what are now parts of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.

It discusses the exodus of' the majority of' Cherokee along the "Trail of' Tears" in 1935, recognition and protection of' the North Carolina Cherokee which began in 1948, the Cherokee economy, school system, housing, and health of' today, as well as tourist attractions available on their North Carolina reservation.

The booklet is one in a series that describes Indian tribes with a Federal relationship. Others are "Indians of The Eastern Seaboard," "Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts of Alaska," "Indians of Arizona," "Indians of California," "Indians of the Central Plains, II "Indians of the Dakotas,." "Indians of the Great Lakes," "Indians of the lower Plateau," "Indians of the Gulf Coast," "Indians of Montana-Wyoming," "Indians of New Mexico," "Indians of the Northwest," and "Indians of Oklahoma."

All are 15 cents except "Indians of the Great Lakes," "Indians of the Gulf Coast," "Indians of New Mexico," and "Indians of North Carolina," which are 20 cents. All are available from the Superintendent of Document Washington, D.C. 20402.

Regulations have been published in the Federal Register to cover distribution of nearly $3 million awarded the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia Indians by the Indian Claims commission under two different dockets, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The Indian Claims commission is a special tribunal established under a congressional act of August 13, 1946 to consider claims of Indian tribes, bands, or other identifiable groups for monetary judgments -- against the United States -- usually involving fair payments for tribal lands taken many years ago by treaty or agreement.

The regulations implement legislation authorizing distribution of awards in docket 314 D of $1,209,900 and in docket 289 of $1,501,294. The cases were decided by the commission in that order.

The Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia has existed since 1854. The Weas were first found by non-Indians in what is now Wisconsin. They moved across the Great Lakes to the mid-West, where they joined the Piankashaw. Later the Peoria and Kaskaskia tribes, which had come somewhat similar route and had already merged, became affiliated. All were members of the Illinois Confederacy.

The Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia moved to northeast Oklahoma in 1868.

After an Indian tribe receives an award from the Indian Claims Com­mission the Congress appropriates funds to cover the amount of the award and passes special legislation authorizing use of the money. When a per capita distribution from judgment funds is authorized the amount authorized for distribution is paid in equal shares to those persons eligible to share in the funds.

The Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) authorizes the distribution of funds derived from judgments awarded the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskias and directs the Secretary of the Interior to bring current the roll prepared in accordance with section 1 of the Act for the purpose of distributing awards appropriated for the Tribes after 1968

In order to bring the roll current, it was necessary to amend Section 41.3, Part 41 of Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The regulat­ions recently published in the Federal Register establish the requirements for eligibility for enrollment and the deadline for filing applications.

Funds awarded to the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kaskaskia Indians as the result of the settlement of docket 314-D are to be distributed on a per capita basis to persons whose names appear on the roll after it is brought current as of January 8, 1971 -- the date the Congress appropriated the money to pay the award granted in this case.

It will be brought current by adding the names of children born to persons whose names are on the roll prepared pursuant to section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) between July 31, 1970 and January 8, 1971 and living as of, January 8, 1971 and by deleting the names of enrollees who died between July 31, 1970 and January 8, 1971.

Money the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peoria and Kask­askia Indians are now entitled to as the result of the settlement of docket 289 is to be distributed on a per capita basis to persons whose names appear on the roll after it is brought current as of December 15, 1971 -- the date the Congress appropriated the money to pay the award of docket 289.

It will be brought current by adding the names of children born to persons whose names are on the roll prepared pursuant to section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) between January 8, 1971 and December 15, 1971 and living as of December 15, 1971 and by deleting the names of enrollees who died between January 8, 1971 and December 15, 1971.

In the case of each docket, application for enrollment is the re­sponsibility of the parents, guardians, or other parties having legal custody of eligible children.

Persons whose names appear on the roll of the Confederated Tribes of Weas, Piankashaw, Peorias and Kaskaskias prepared in accordance with section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1970 (84 Stat. 688) and section 41.3 (m) of Title 25 Code of Federal Regulations need not reapply for enrollment. But, they are required to furnish current information as to their whereabouts. Add­ition to the roll will be made only on the basis of applications.

Applications for enrollment may be obtained from and must be filed with the Area director, Muskogee Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U. S. Department of the Interior, Federal Building, Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401.Applications must be filed no later than May 15, 1973.

A six-month study of the school construction needs of public school districts serving Indian students is currently underway, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The National Indian Training and Research Center (NITRC) of Tempe, Arizona, is conducting the study under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"We expect more than 400 school districts serving Indian students in 23 states will be involved in the six-month study," Franklin said. "The NITRC study will not be limited to major impact districts --those with more than 50 percent Indian enrollment --but will encompass all areas where Indian students form a significant part of the school population."

Many of the public school districts serving Indians have no adequate tax base to replace obsolete or inadequate facilities because of surrounding Indian-owned, tax-exempt lands and the general poverty of the areas. In an effort to develop legislation that will provide assistance to these schools on a realistic and uniform basis, the Bureau was asked by the House Appropriations Committee to conduct an in-depth study and suggest solutions to the problems.

"We consider this study of the school situation as very significant since more than 68 percent of the nearly 205,000 Indian students are enrolled in public schools," Franklin said.

Preliminary research conducted in 80 major impact school districts shows that Indians are the fastest-growing segment of the school population in the United States. Enrollment at many of the schools has doubled over the past five years. The rapid population increase has combined with the deterioration of outdated school buildings to create a serious backlog for construction aid.

In a preliminary study, the Gallup-McKinley District in New Mexico where Zuni and Navajo children are educated was found to have the greatest need of any single district. At the state level, Arizona was found to have the greatest overall need.

Limited construction aid has been provided for some public school districts with large Indian enrollment under Federal legislation known as Public Law 815. Congress has also approved specific funding for a few schools in critical need. The report of the House committee on Appropriations requesting the Bureau to make the study said the problem has intensified each year and has ~ now reached a point where the committee can no longer provide funds for construction of these schools without a comprehensive study of their needs.

The Department of the Interior has proposed amendment of Title 25 of the Code of Federal regulations to establish requirements and filing application deadlines for enrollment with the Mdewakanton and Wahpakoota Tribe of Sioux Indians and the Sisseton and Wahpeton Mississippi Sioux Tribe, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

The proposed amendment is being published in the Federal Register.

The purpose of the amendment is to carry out the provisions of the Act of October 25,1972 (86 Stat. 1168) which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to distribute funds derived from a judgment awarded the Mississippi Sioux Indians in Indian Claims Commission dockets 142, 359, 360, 361, 362, and 363. The proposed amendment would include in Section 41.3 the requirements which must be met to establish eligibility for enrollment to share in the distribution of the funds and the deadline for filing applications.

The revision provides that two separate rolls be prepared of lineal descendants of the Mdewakanton and Wahpakoota Tribe and the Sisseton and Wahpeton Mississippi Sioux Tribe who were born on or prior to and were living on October 25,1972 and whose names or the name of a lineal ancestor appears on any available records and rolls acceptable to the Secretary. Descendants of the Mdewakanton and Wahpakoota Tribe who meet the requirements for membership in the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, the Santee Sioux Tribe, the Lower Sioux Indian Community at Morton, Minnesota, the Prairie Island Indian Community at Welch, Minnesota, or the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota will be enrolled by the tribes on tribal rolls and will not be enrolled on the Secretary's roll. Descendants of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Mississippi Sioux Tribe who meet the requirements for membership in the Devils Lake Sioux Tribe, the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux Tribe or the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux Indians of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation will be enrolled by the tribes on tribal rolls and will not be enrolled on the Secretary's roll.

Applications for enrollment on the Secretary's rolls as a descendant of the Mdewakanton and Wahpakoota Tribe of Sioux Indians or the Sisseton and Wahpeton Mississippi Sioux Tribe must be filed with the Area Director, Aberdeen Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 820 S. Main Street, Aberdeen, S.D. 57401 and must be received no later than November 1,1973. Applications for enrollment on the tribal rolls should be directed to the appropriate tribe as soon as possible.

In keeping with Departmental po1i-cy of allowing the. puh1i-c to participate in the ru1emaking process, interested persons will have 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register to submit their comments, suggestions, or objections regarding the proposed revision to the. Director of Community Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20245.

Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today that the first exhibition of art at the John F. Kennedy Center will be a showing of works by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Scheduled to open at the Kennedy Center on April 1, 1973, the multi-media show will feature several of the best known American Indian artists, working in sculpture, painting, graphics, ceramics, jewelry, costumes and poetry.

Artists are: Donna Whitewing Vandall, John Vandall, Bill Prokopiof, Cal Rollins, Juan Chavarria, Roberta Watts, Jim McGrath, Paul Masters, Milliard Holbrook, Ramoncita Sandoval, Seymour Tubis, Lloyd New, Otellie Lioma, Don Whitesinger, John Boyland, Douglas Hyde, Ralph Pardington, Dave Schwindt, Herb Gilbert, Dominick Laducer, Alan Houser, Kay Wiest, Eldred Poisal, Bob Harcourt, John Kindred, Henry Cobin, George Fredericks, Chuck Dailey, and Bruce Ignacio.

The show will bring the work of many of these artists to Washington for the first time, and will provide a serious look at the full spectrum of Native American art. Thirty-four artists will exhibit more than 150 individual pieces during the 22 day show. Sponsors are: U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, James E. Hawkins, Director Education Programs BIA; Mrs. Elizabeth K. Hart, Cherokee Studios, Alexandria, Va.; Charles Daley, Museum Director, I.A.I.A.; and Lloyd New, Director of I.A.I.A.

During its ten years of existence, the Institute of American Indian Arts has produced world famous artists such as Fritz Sholder and Lloyd Kiva New. The school has a student body of some 300 Indians from 80 tribes, and has as its stated purpose the idea that "unique cultural traditions can be honored and used creatively as a springboard to a meaningful and productive contemporary life." The result is art that combines international sophistication with the overwhelming influences of the American Indian culture.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton in a statement issued today urged support of legislation to restore the terminated Menominee Indians of Wisconsin to Federal status as Indians.

Marvin Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs, testified today before the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in support of H.R. 7421, the Menominee Restoration Act.

The text of Secretary Morton's statement follows:

"Today the Department of the Interior has taken an important step to implement the policy of Indian self-determination which the President set forth in his July 8, 1970, Indian Message to the Congress. This position is a concrete reversal of the policy of terminating Indian tribes --discontinuing the Federal trusteeship for Indian land and ending special Federal services to Indian 'people --which dominated much of the 1950's and part of the 1960's.

"The policy of termination crystallized in the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 108, on August 1, 1953, which declared the withdrawal of Federal supervision over Indians to be the policy of the Congress. The Menominee’s were the first Indian group to be terminated under the policy heralded by H.Con.Res. 108.

"The philosophy of termination has, in my judgment, long since been discredited. Its underlying premise --that Indians should relinquish their unique identities --is one which President Nixon rejected in his campaign for the Presidency. On September 27, 1968, he stated: "We must recognize that American society can allow many different cultures to flourish in harmony and we must provide an opportunity for those Indians wishing to do so to lead a useful and prosperous life in an Indian environment."

“I would add to this statement my own profound respect for the rich wisdom of Indian culture. I am convinced from my dealings with Indian people that the mainstream of American life is broad enough to hold more than one channel. I have been skeptical as to whether termination was willingly accepted by all tribes which underwent it.

"The Menominee case --in which per capita payments of certain funds due the tribe were attached to the Act authorizing termination --seems to bear this out. In his 1970 Indian Message the President repudiated the policy of "forced termination" in favor of Indian self-determination. Restoration of the Menominee’s to Federal status helps achieve the shift in policy advocated in that message.

"Today Menominee County is engaged in a stiff battle for fiscal survival. Restoration of the Federal relationship should relieve the Menominee’s of some of the burden which they have striven to shoulder since being terminated.

"I hope the Menominee Restoration Act will be enacted and that the Menominee’s will prosper in their new relationship with the United States."

America's attention has been focused on the irresponsible violence at Wounded Knee. The future of Indian self-determination can only be set back when unrepresentative groups disregard the law.

Instead of leading to solutions and the conditions for a new era of Indian self-determination, violence leads only to more violence, and more suffering.

Human injustice cannot be eliminated without the conditions for equity --and full moral responsibility cannot be met without full legal authority.

At the same time, however, we share the belief of America's elected Indian leaders that many Indian needs must be met with legislation, with funding, and assistance --and not through negotiation at gunpoint.

The Administration has today retransmitted seven key Indian affairs bills to the Congress. Each of these bills was submitted to the 92nd Congress. All of them were originally set forth in the President's Message to the Congress on Indian Affairs on July 8, 1970.

In the two and a half years since then, however, no final Congressional action was taken. With today's proposed legislation America's Indians are for the first time in over a century on the threshold of “a new era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and decision.”

Proposed regulations for the preparation of plans for the use or distribution of judgments made to American Indian tribes or groups by the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims have been drafted and can now be commented on, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The proposed regulations to implement the Act of October 19, 1973 were published in the Federal Register on November 14, 1973. In compliance with the new law, a public hearing on the proposed regulations will be held at Denver, Colorado, on December 13, 1973, at the Federal Post Office Building, Room 269, 1823 Stout Street, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

In addition, written comments, suggestions or objections to the proposed regulations may be sent to the Division of Tribal Government Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20245, and will receive consideration equal to that given to all oral testimony presented at the public hearing. Although the proposed regulations cite December 14, 1973, as a date for the receipt of such written expressions, Commissioner Thompson said the Bureau will accept and consider any postmarked not later than January 5, 1974.

In implementing a 180-day time schedule set by the 1973 Act for the disposition of judgment funds, the new regulations would do this:

Require the earliest possible completion of research to identify the ultimate .Require the earliest possible completion or present-day beneficiaries of judgments.

Give the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 75 days from the date of appropriation of funds to cover a judgment in which to submit the results of all research to the involved Area Director or Directors of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They, in turn, would present the results of the research to the effected tribe or tribes.

Require an affected Indian tribe or group to hold a preliminary meeting of the tribal governing body, or a public meeting, to develop a suggested plan for the use or distribution of its judgment funds. The Area Director or Directors would assist in arranging these meetings and would make the expertise of the Bureau of Indian Affairs available to them.

Require the Area Director to call a hearing of record, to receive testimony on the proposed tribal plan, within 60 days after receiving the results of the research from the Commissioner.

Within 180 days of the appropriation of judgment funds, or in the case of awards for which covering funds were appropriated prior to passage of the 1973Act, within 180 days from the date of that Act, the Secretary of the Interior is required by the Act to submit the final proposed plan, and other pertinent items, to the Chairmen of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives. At the same time, he will submit these items to the governing body of each affected tribe or group, and to the appropriate Area Director and Agency Superintendent. Unless one of the Committees disapproves a submitted plan by resolution, it becomes effective on the 60th day from its submission to the Committees. Disapproval of a plan will require the Secretary of the Interior to resubmit it in the form of proposed legislation, after further consultation with the affected Indian tribe or group.