OPA

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, today praised the wildfire-fighting Indians of seven tribal groups who were commended in a joint resolution by the Southwest Interagency Fire Committee for their work during last summer's fire season.

In the course of what experts have called the greatest fire outbreak in the history of organized fire-fighting, one of the Indian men lost his life.

Frank Rios, 19, a Papago from Crow Hang, Ariz., was fighting a fire in the San Bernardino National Forest in California when the wind changed and increased in speed, forming a pocket of gas that exploded and killed him.

The Committee (SWIFCO) paid special tribute to Rios, adding: Southwest Interagency Fire Committee wishes to honor and commend the tribes of the Southwest and the Papago Tribe in particular for their standing service _to their country during the 1967 fire season." "The Indian out The committee (SWIFCO) is made up of representatives of the State of Arizona, of the state's water resource, land and forestry departments, of Arizona colleges and universities that have resource interests, and representatives of the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Bennett pointed out that these and other Indian fire-fighters traveled all over the West to fulfill their mission.

"An unusually prolonged dry period in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana made a powder keg of the forest and range," the Commissioner recalled. "On the Mescalero Indian Reservation in New Mexico uncontrolled wildfire burned over 800 acres of forest and 425 men, 14 bulldozers, 5 aircraft and innumerable pieces of additional rolling stock were needed to put it out; a fire on the Quinault Reservation covered" approximately 6,000 acres before it was controlled.

“To these and dozens of other demands, the Indian fire-fighters responded magnificently."

“In a letter to each of the tribal groups Bennett enclosed a copy of the SWIFCO resolution and noted that the costs of suppression and damage resulting from fires run into the millions of dollars.

“Indian fire fighters can take pride in their efforts to minimize these losses," he said.

Participating tribes included the White Mountain Apaches, San Carlos Apaches, Hopis, Navajos, Papagos, Zunis, and United Pueblos. Throughout the country an estimated 4,000 Indians took part in forest fire activities.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that a purchase agreement has been reached with the owners of the last parcel of land needed to establish Piscataway Park on the Potomac River across from Mount Vernon.

The agreement was signed on Thursday by Robert W. Smith and Karl W. Smith, to convey to the United States fee title to 22 acres, including offshore islands, and a five-acre scenic easement on the balance of 96 acres of their farm, which lies in the acquisition area. The farm is in Prince Georges County, Maryland, generally between Indian Head Highway and Mockley Point. Purchase price agreed upon was $380,000.

The Secretary said this purchase will enable the Department of the Interior to initiate action to establish the 1000-acre park, since the United States now had acquired a fee simple or lesser interest in substantially all of the property in the area designated for acquisition.

Official notice of establishment of the park will be made by early February, the Secretary said.

This acquisition, together with the lands donated, or offered for donation upon establishment of the park, will serve to fulfill the purpose of the legislation, which is primarily the protection of the overview from Mount Vernon, he added.

Legislation to provide for protection of the view from George Washington's historic home on the Potomac was passed by Congress and signed October 4, 1961 as Public Law 87-362.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett announced today appointment of Roy Peratrovich of Juneau, Alaska, as Superintendent of the Anchorage District of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Peratrovich is widely known in Alaska. His mother was a full blood Tlingit Indian.

The new superintendent has over 30 years of service with the territorial government of Alaska and with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He also has been active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood, having served five terms as grand president and now being a life member of the executive committee.

Peratrovich was born in Klawock. School, Salem, Oregon, for four years education in Ketchikan.

He attended the Chemawa Indian He completed his high school He became the first Alaskan to receive a United Nations Fellowship, under which he studied the fishing industry of Nova Scotia. He also was awarded a John Hay Whitney Scholarship in 1952 which enabled him to study banking and finance under the auspices of the University of Denver.

Currently, Peratrovich is in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area office at Juneau, where he is head of the Tribal Operations program in the state. He previously had served as a special officer and then as a credit and financing officer.

As superintendent of the Anchorage District, Peratrovich will have responsibility for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the south central part of the state and the Aleutian Islands c1ain. He will assume his new duties March 3.

Peratrovich has three children, a daughter, Loretta, and two sons, Roy and Frank, and several grandchildren.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that Buford Morrison, formerly superintendent of/the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Horton Agency, Horton, Kans., has been appointed superintendent of the Miccosukee Agency, Homestead, Fla.

He will fill the position left vacant by the recent transfer of Lawrence J. Kozlowski to the post of superintendent of the Jicarilla Agency, Dulce, N.M.

Morrison, a Creek Indian, is a graduate of Stidham High School, Stidham, Okla., and of Haskell Institute, a Bureau of Indian Affairs vocational school in Lawrence, Kans. He is originally from Lenna, Okla.

He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1940 as an assistant (Indian clerk) at the Jicarilla Indian Agency, Dulce, N.M. He was supervisory field representative and area field representative, Anadarko Area, Potawatomi Area Field Office, Horton, Kans., before being named superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Horton Agency.

Morrison served in the Army from November 1942 to December 1945 in the European Theater of Operations. He is married and has a step-son.

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I return to Shiprock for the dedication of this splendid new factory constructed by Navajo effort to house the largest industrial facility in the entire State of New Mexico.

The Navajo people have indeed moved into the, space age. In this plant, a subsidiary of the world-wide Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, Navajos are today assembling some of the components that go into our Apollo rocket systems.

I congratulate the Dineh* -- and Chairman Nakai and officers and members of the Shiprock Chapter, and other members of the Navajo Tribal Council -- for the patience, persistence and foresight that has brought this community into the orbit of America's future. I also congratulate Dr. Lester Hogan, President of Fairchild Semiconductor, and other officers of that corporation who joined hands with the Navajos and with the Federal Government in a venture that was, in fact, a real gamble in the beginning. It takes imagination and belief in the potential of Indian Americans to accomplish what has been accomplished here at Shiprock in the past three years. The company has grown from a modest operation with 50 workers -­functioning temporarily in Shiprock's recreational center building -- to a plant employing 1,200 -- including more Indian people than any other plant of any kind in the entire United States. All but a small handful of the employees, including supervisory employees, are Navajos -- and I am told Fairchild's objective is not only to double and possibly triple the current payroll in the near future but to convert all jobs to Indian occupancy as quickly as Indian skills can be trained to assume the entire range of responsibilities.

These developments didn't happen by spontaneous combustion. They happened because the Navajo people believed in themselves, and convinced others that the belief is well-founded. They happened because Indians employed here have demonstrated aptitudes and attitudes that are necessary ingredients to successful private industry. They happened because a kind of partnership effort was involved -- a four-way partnership of private industry, tribal authorities, Federal aid agencies and the larger New Mexico community.

*Navajo name for "the people" - meaning themselves.

­­­Be assured that during my tenure as Commissioner of Indian Affairs this kind of all-points effort will become a feature of the BIA's efforts to assist Indians to develop themselves and their resources to the maximum degree. Indian areas -- even the vast and somewhat remote

Navajo area -- cannot support their populations in forms that no longer relate to the economy of this Nation as a whole. The Navajos have proven that it is' possible to be Indian and be modern -- indeed, that the best safeguard to survival of a people is to bolster ancient custom and tradition and belief with know-how related to the broader community.

The Navajos have already made a good start, as shown by a decision of the tribal council to retain a firm of urban planners to out­line a comprehensive plan for the entire reservation. This latest important tribal council action follows a series of other moves to pro­mote industrial growth. One is the establishment of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority which is now providing water, natural gas and electricity to many parts of the reservation. and I cannot fail to mention the new Navaho Community College. What a farsighted move this is -- to provide a means, here at home, for training Navajo workers and supervisors in the various skills and technologies that will be necessary to the economic improvement of the Navajo region. I know this college has been a long-time dream-come-true for a number of Navajo leaders dedicated to the proposition that education is basic to continued Navajo vitality.

These new developments strike my eye and heart with particular awareness because I come here today as one returning to the scene.

Navajo pride is growing -- I sense it strongly in this tremendous gathering here today, and I sense it among the several Navajo individuals with whom I have spoken personally. At the same time, the shape of Navajo land is changing. Where once only the dramatic works of nature itself comprised the profile of the land, now the shape of towns made by man are forming. Such places as Window Rock, Fort Defiance, Chinle, and Crownpoint -- to name but a few -- were once hardly more than place names and now they are becoming centers of Navajo life. These are places where that most valuable of all Navajo resources, the Navajo people, can live, work and thrive.

I first became acquainted with Navajos and their problems when Secretary of the Interior Krug asked me to serve as chairman of a task force appointed to review your plight following the terrible winter of 1947. Much of our report was incorporated in the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Program, I have kept up with reservation development, here and elsewhere.

One of the most interesting developments is the fact that the Indian population is growing at a great rate. This is exemplified by the Navajos in particular. Only a decade or maybe a bit longer ago there were only 85,000 Navajos, Today your numbers exceed 120,000 and by the turn of the century, at present rates, there will be about 340,000 Navajo people.

­­All of these people cannot possibly expect to live on lands that are not producing the most they can in terms of today's economy. It is not enough to be farmers and ranchers. It is also necessary to be storekeepers and manufacturers and miners and producers of new kinds of goods from traditional resources. All kinds of products can be made from the resources of the forests. New kinds of foods can be produced, processed and packaged to supplement the agrarian life. New income can come from purposefully planned recreational developments to attract the tourist dollars and still not detract from the natural beauty of some Indian lands.

There are jobs and job opportunities of many kinds yet to be created in Indian areas. This must be our objective. For, while many Indians will perhaps wish to venture into the urban, areas in search of new opportunity, many others will prefer to remain in their homelands.

To open up the options -- this is my objective as Commissioner. And it can be done only through the four-way kind of effort that has been demonstrated here at Shiprock. Through joint planning by private industry, Federal and state government, and the Indian people themselves.

This kind of economic development planning will have its impact upon the social betterment of Indian communities -- for there is no way to draw the line between the term "social progress" and the term "economic development." Each is only a theoretical concept until they come together. The betterment of human living is the objective of developing natural resources.

You have all heard about Indian people moving into the "mainstream" of American life. Where, I submit, does the mainstream begin and end? In my mind, the mainstream of America runs from the rich tidelands through the mountains and across the plains for three thousand miles. Indians are in the mainstream. The only problem is, their areas have not been as well developed for human habitation, nor their resources as well developed for human use, as have most other areas and resources of the country.

It is beginning to happen. It is happening there in Shiprock. And I salute 'the efforts of all people and all organizations that combined to make it happen.

The award of a $968,000 contract to remodel and expand the existing Kyle School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota was announced today by tie Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Existing facilities will be remodeled and anew addition will be constructed to provide multipurpose, administrative, and instructional materials spaces, 12 new classrooms, a kitchen, and two locker rooms, together with utilities, paving, and adjunct facilities.

When completed, the project will provide complete elementary school facilities for approximately 360 children in the area. The low successful bidder was Rapid Plumbing Co., of Rapid City, S. D. Three higher bids ranging from $998,600 to $1,098,500 were received.

Award of a $980,000 contract to construct a dormitory with sleeping rooms for 64 students, a kitchen-multi-use building adequate for 128 students, and adjunct facilities, , including utilities and paving at Eufaula, Okla., was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior.

When completed, the project will provide living facilities for elementary and secondary school-age Indian children attending public schools in the City of Eufaula.

The contractor will be C. A. Cowen Construction, Inc., of Shawnee, Okla., which had the lowest responsive bid. Three higher bids, ranging from $991,143 to $1,123,000, were received.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel has announced the publication, in the Federal Register, of a list of 83 Indian tribes which conduct their own local law enforcement and are therefore eligible for assistance under the I Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.

"These are the tribes which have clear-cut jurisdiction over law and order on their reservations," Hickel said, "and this publication makes it possible for them to make timely applications for Federal assistance in improving local crime control."

A section of the new crime control law (Public Law 90- 351) requires the Secretary of the Interior to determine which tribes are eligible £or assistance, he said.

"Improved law and order must be a part of the new atmosphere of growth and improvement that Indian communities seek for themselves," Hickel said, "and I am confident that many reservations will take advantage of this new law to provide themselves with the tools and knowledge to do the job."

Additional tribes may become eligible to take over law and order responsibilities, Hickel said.

Award of a $941,100 contract to build a 10-classroom school at Peever, S.D., was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior.

The contract includes a multi-purpose room, kitchen, instructional materials center and such facilities as utilities and paving.

When completed, the project will provide elementary school facilities for 300 Indian and non-Indian children in the area.

The low successful bid was by Schull Construction Co. Watertown, S.D. Eight other bids ranging to a high of $1,209,400 were received.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Harrison Loesch today directed the, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to replace immediately the Superintendent and the Principal of the Chilocco, Oklahoma, Indian school pending completion of a thorough investigation of conditions there.

The high school is run by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs. It accommodates about 1,000 Indian boarding pupils from various parts of the nation.

A BIA education team, in reviewing the .operation of the school, charged' that some students had been subjected to handcuffing for long periods and to other physical punishment.

The conditions were discovered last November, but no further action was taken by the Bureau.

"I have urgently requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation check into the possibility that criminal laws may have been violated," Mr. Loesch said. "Other actions will be taken to improve both the quality of education being offered to the students and the living environment," he added.

Mr. Loesch, sworn in. as Assistant Secretary last week and given supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said he is considering a personal visit to the school within the next few days.

The Superintendent, Dr. Leon Wall, and the Principal, Clarence Winston, are being reassigned temporarily to other duties by BIA while the investigation continues. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett said Gordon Gunderson, BIA's Assistant Area Director for Education at Anadarko, Okla., has been detailed to serve temporarily as Acting Superintendent at the Chilocco School.