OPA

The tribal plan for the distribution and use of more than $1.8 million awarded to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians by the Indian Claims Commission was published in the Federal Register March 13.

The award represents payment for two tracts of land that were lost to the Band as a result of erroneous surveys of boundaries of the Red Lake Reservation in the periods 1883 to 1903 and 1885 to 1907.

Before payment of any judgment funds can be made, it is required that a plan for distribution and use of the funds be prepared and submitted to Congress for approval.

The plan of the Red Lake Band was approved on February 2, 1975, to become effective February 3. It calls for a per capita distribution of 80 percent of the judgment funds to tribal members.

The remaining 20 percent will be utilized in four existing tribal programs and a new tribal program to provide services for juveniles and the elderly. The existing programs are the Tribal Scholarship/Incentive Program, Tribal Credit Program, Tribal Industrial Development program and the Tribal Burial Allowance Program.

The regulations provide that as soon as possible after the approval date of the plan, the Red Lake Band of Chippewas post copies of the proposed tribal membership roll for 30 days during which any person may appeal the inclusion or omission of any name on or from the roll. Appeals will be handled in accord with procedures established by the Red Lake Tribal Council and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Regulations for the implementation of the Indian Business Development Program were published in the Federal Register and made effective on December 27, 1974, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson made the effective date simultaneous with publication to avoid any loss of opportunity caused by delay.

The purpose of the program is to promote Indian-owned profit-making businesses that benefit Indian reservations and communities. It provides equity capital through non-reimbursable grants. The program was established by Title IV of the Indian Financing Act of 1974. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975 an appropriation of $10 million is available.

Grants cannot exceed 40 percent of the total financing required or $50,000 -- whichever is the lesser. Also, grants can only be made to applicants unable to find adequate financing from other sources.

Application forms and additional information about the program can be obtained from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency Superintendents.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13--A group of Native American leaders, brought together through the National American Indian Council, today announced their plans to purchase the historic Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue from its New York owners for $7 million.

The building will become national headquarters for NAIC an umbrella organization representing 800,000 American Indians through 1,500 local and regional groups. Other Native American groups also will have offices there.

Helen Marie Klein, a spokeswoman for the group, said a portion of the Willard also will be devoted to exhibits and offices of the International Cultural and Trade Center

The facade of the Willard will be preserved in keeping with its status as a building of national historic significance.

"Ownership of the Willard means the First Americans can make a contribution to the preservation of an important part of the city's and nation's history," said Ms. Klein.

"Through it we will be able to extend the culture of our people and others around the world to the people who live in and visit Washington.

“And, as a practical matter, it will create a permanent home in the city where programs affecting American Indians can be created and administered," she said

The plans are to devote the first three floors to offices and meeting rooms and ICTC exhibits.

The upper seven floors will be renovated as hotel space. The purchasing group is discussing a management contract with a leading hotel chain.

Until the Willard ran into financial difficulty which forced its closing in mid-1968, it had a long and colorful history and a reputation for fine food and hospitality.

The original Willard, replaced by the present structure which was built starting in 1901, was home to many famous American and foreign guests.

President-elect Abraham Lincoln and his family stayed there, as did U.S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge. Charles Dickens visited at the Willard and Walt Whitman wrote a poem at the bar. Jenny Lind sang there, and the first Japanese Embassy was located in the hotel

Since its closing, the Willard has been the center of controversy and legal battles between commercial developers who planned to strip it of its facade, gut the interior, and create a modern office building, and civic groups determined to preserve the historic structure.

The International Cultural and Trade Center, to be the first non-Indian tenant, was formed in 1970 by Washington Oriental art dealer Simon Kriger, who is its chairman. Ms. Klein serves as ICTC president.

The ICTC was conceived as a means of building bridges of understanding and mutual respect between the peoples of all continents through closer cultural and trade relationships.

Burton A. Rider, a Gros Ventre/Cree Indian, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Fort Peck Agency in Northern Montana. Since 1971 he has been the Employment assistance Officer for the Minneapolis Area, which includes Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

A native of Harlem, Montana, Burton has more than 20 years’ experience with the Bureau. Since 1959 he has held various positions in relocation and employment assistance work in Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Burton is a graduate of the Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas and also attended Bacone College, Bacone, Oklahoma. He has completed training in the Bureau's Management Training Institute. He is a veteran, is married, and has one daughter.

Burton's appointment at Fort Peck becomes effective January 19. He succeeds William Benjamin who was named Director of the Hopi-Navajo Joint Use Office.

Proposed regulations governing the preparation of the membership roll for the per capita distribution of more than $20 million awarded to Northern Paiute Indians by the Indian Claims Commission (Docket 87) are being published in the Federal Register.

The proposed regulations state that all persons who meet the following requirements shall be entitled to be enrolled to share in the distribution of the fund:

1) Persons who were born on or prior to and living on October 10, 1974;

2) Who are lineal descendants of Northern Paiute Indians and;

3) Whose name or whose lineal ancestor's name appears on any available census roll or other record or evidence acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior, and who is identified as being of Northern Paiute ancestry.

Some specified persons, however, have been excluded from eligibility for enrollment. They are any person who has shared in the awards granted by the Indian Claims Commission in Dockets 88, 330 and 330-A to the Southern Paiute Indian Nation; or in Dockets 31, 37, 80, 80-D, 176, 215, 333, and 347 to "Certain Indians of California; or in Dockets 351 and 351-A to the Chemehuevis; or in Docket 17 to the Malheur Paiutes; or whose Indian ancestry Western is derived solely from the Walpapi Paiutes, Yahooskin Snakes, Barmocks or Monos; or is a member of the Quechan Tribe or of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has appointed William Lynn Engles as Public Information Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Engles, an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, has been the Public Affairs Officer for ACTION in Seattle, Wash. since May, 1972. His experience before that included almost seven years with United Press as a state broadcast editor, news bureau manager and political reporter in Oregon and Montana.

"Lynn's diverse experience in communications -- as a Government information officer and as a writer and editor for both the broadcast and print media -- makes him well qualified to head up our public information staff," Commissioner Thompson said.

Engles, 39, has completed studies for a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and public affairs at Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash. He has also attended Stanford University, the University of Montana and St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minn. He is a native of Poplar, Mont.

Carl J. Cornelius, a 40-year veteran with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been named Field Administrator for the Bureau, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. In his new position in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cornelius will be responsible for administrative and management services for Bureau field units.

A member of the Oneida Indian Tribe, Cornelius has worked the past 20 years in Bureau headquarters in Washington, D. C., where he has held various high-level, policy-making positions. Since August of 1974 he has been Assistant Director, Management Service, in the Office of Administration.

Cornelius began his career with the Bureau in 1935 as a clerical assistant at the Fort Berthold Agency in North Dakota. He spent 12 years at the Consolidated Chippewa Agency in Minnesota before coming to Washington in 1954 as a trainee in an Executive Development Program.

Cornelius, who will assume his new- duties May 19, received the Bureau's Meritorious Service Award in 1974.

A native of the Green Bay, Wisconsin area, Cornelius attended Haskell Institute and, in later years, took courses in Public Administration at American University.

Cornelius, 61, is married and has two sons and two daughters. He was an infantry captain in World War II.

The former Secretary of Interior, Rogers C. B. Morton, has commended Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson for recent accomplishments in Indian Affairs.

In an April 30 letter to the Commissioner, Morton noted major legislative achievements, the increased involvement of Indian people in BIA programs and the predominantly Indian leadership established within the Bureau.

Morton, now Secretary of Commerce, described the Indian Self Determination Act, the Indian Financing Act and the Menominee Restoration Act as "milestones in Indian efforts to achieve social and economic equality.

On Indian participation in the direction of programs, he said: "This is especially important to you and me because we share the belief that active involvement by Indian people in Indian programs is most essential to development of successful programs." He noted also that the predominance of Indians, appointed by Thompson to leadership roles in the Bureau, should further his participation.

Morton expressed appreciation to Bureau employees for "outstanding work" and to Thompson for this "dedication to successfully administering a challenging position."

A second series of regional meetings with Indians to discuss implementation of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act will begin May 28, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Draft regulations for the Act, mailed to leaders of Indian tribes and organizations May 16, will be reviewed at these sessions, conducted jointly by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.

The first series of meetings was held in March prior to the drafting of regulations.

The Act sets the stage for major changes in the relationships of Indian tribes with the Federal Government by authorizing them to take over the directions and operation of Federal programs serving them.

The draft regulations include sections governing contracts with Indian groups, unique provisions concerning Federal employees and a new, broad purpose granting authority. The objective is to strengthen tribal capabilities and minimize Federal restrictions for Indian assumption of program responsibility.

The Act requires that the implementation process be completed not later than Nov. 4, 1975, with deadlines also set for major steps in the process -- consultation with Indians, submission of proposed rules to Congress and first publication in the Federal Register. Commissioner Thompson noted that the process was on schedule. He said, "Together with the Indian Health Service, with whom we are working very closely, we expect to meet all imple­mentation deadlines established in the Act,"

At a workshop in Denver, May 12-16, for BIA and IHS officials who will be involved in the scheduled regional meetings, Emery Johnson, IHS Director, and Harley Frankel, BIA Deputy Commissioner, stressed the importance of Indian input in the development of the final regulations.

The regional meetings have been scheduled as follows: May 28-30, Washington, D.C., and Aberdeen, South Dakota; May 29-31, Norman, Oklahoma; June 2-3, Rhinelander, Wisconsin; June 2-4, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Billings, Montana, Washington, D.C. and Tahlequah, Oklahoma; June 3-4, Port Angeles, Washington; June 3-5, Sacramento, California; June 4-6, Phoenix, Arizona and Window Rock, Arizona (tentative); June 5-6, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and June 9-13, Anchorage, Alaska.

Further information about these meetings is available from BIA and IHS regional offices.

A plan for the distribution and use of more than $16 million awarded to the Chiricahua Apache Indians by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The plan, approved by Congress, has an effective date of March 16.

The award represents payment for more than 15 million acres of land in New Mexico and Arizona taken without compensation on September 4, 1886, when Apache Chief Geronimo and his followers surrendered to the United States forces.

According to the plan, the funds will be divided between the Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico and the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma.

The Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico will receive 69 percent of the funds and the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma will receive 31 percent. This division is based on the relative numbers involved in a 1913 division of the Chiricahua Apaches to form the two groups.

The funds accruing to the Mescalero Apache Tribe will all be utilized for tribal programs. $1.4 million will be added to an existing tribal Scholarship Trust Fund. $150,000 will be used for development and maintenance of an inventory of the tribe's human and physical resources. $500,000 will be used to establish a Resource Protection Fund for research, legal fees and other matters pertaining to the protection of the resources and rights of the tribe and its members. Another $500,000 will be used to set up a Retirement and Health Plan for tribal officials and employees. The balance of the award will be put into the tribe's Investment Trust Fund, with the income available for the benefit of tribal members.

The plan for the Fort Sill Apaches sets aside $170,000 to establish a Tribal Burial Fund and to provide for certain anticipated legal expenses. The balance of their share of the award will be distributed on a per capita basis to living members and lineal descendants of the original 1913 group, placed on a payment roll by the Secretary of the Interior. Regulations for the preparation of this roll exclude all persons eligible to benefit from the judgment funds due to the Mescalero Apache Tribe.