Gene Nicholson to retire as BIA
Superintendent
of the Colville Indian Agency
PORTLAND, OR., DEC. 13—A “Retirement Dinner” was held here
today at the Holiday Inn—Portland Downtown Convention Center
for the BIA Superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency,
William “Gene” Nicholson.
Presentations took place after the dinner. The Chairman of the
Colville Tribes Business Council Harvey Moses Jr. presented
Gene with a Certificate recognizing him as Colville Tribal
Senior Citizen. Besides Harvey, three of Gene’s co-workers
were also at the dinner: Debbie Francis, Trust Officer’s
Secretary; Rita Martin, BIA Roads, and Debbie Wheeler, OST
Fiduciary Trust Officer.
One of the many gifts that Gene received was from Stanley
Speaks and his wife Lois. Stan, who is the Director of the
BIA’s Northwest Regional Office here, during the past few
years is at Nespelem when the Business Council holds their
“Regular Session” on the 2nd Thursday of July. At that time
the old Business Council takes care of unfinished business,
and then the seven people who won a seat on the Council at the
General Election are sworn in.
After graduating from Eastern Washington State College, Gene
began working for the BIA in 1972 as an Administrative
Assistant. He worked his way up the ladder and became the BIA
Superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency on Aug. 21, 1995.
Gene’s last day in office will be Jan. 3, 2006. For now, Gene
plans on being a cattleman. He has 150 Black Angus.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, BIA, Central Human
Resources Office, Andarko, OK., put out a “Merit Promotion
Announcement” on Gene’s job, and the closing date for applying
for Gene’s position was Thursday, Dec. 15. No word yet on how
many people have applied for the job or when the Colville
Tribes Business Council will select a new BIA Superintendent.
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HIS
LAST DAY OF WORK WILL BE JAN. 3, 2006—William “Gene”
Nicholson, BIA Superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency,
holds the gift he received from Stanley Speaks and his wife
Lois. The event took place during the “Retirement Dinner” held
for Gene on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at Portland, OR. Stanley Speaks
is the Director of the BIA’s Northwest Regional Office in
Portland, OR., and Stan also presented Gene with a $3,000 Star
Award.
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FRANK
GEORGE & PRESIDENT JFK—It’s unknown when the above picture was
taken, but it must have been when Frank George met with John
F. Kennedy at his Hyannis Port home in the late summer of 1960
to help in developing a Democratic Party Platform on American
Indians. At that time Frank was a former Executive Director of
NCAI and Chairman of the American Indian Section of the
Nationalities Division of the Democratic Nation Committee.
Frank George, who a Colville Tribal member lived at Nespelem,
and he was deeply involved in the formation of the National
Congress of American Indians, and later on he also helped with
the development of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
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MT.
TOLMAN PROJECT STILL ON HOLD!—The Business Council’s “Natural
Resource Committee met on Tuesday, Dec. 20, and one of the
items on their agenda was a Mt. Tolman Mining Discussion to be
held to review an updated version of the information brochure
that is scheduled to be mailed to Tribal Members. However, the
Committee was informed that the people who are against the
Project were still putting together the information that they
wished to present to the Committee. The original “Mt. Tolman
Project Consideration” document has been revised, and copies
of the revised document were presented to the Committee. As of
now, the next discussion on the Mt. Tolman project is
scheduled to be held on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006.
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