Facebook Twitter Email
APRIL 18, 2001

Tribal leaders in Oklahoma know Neal McCaleb well but not all of their memories are positive.

Joe Byrd, Former Chief of the Cherokee Nation, told The Native Times he supports McCaleb's nomination to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But Byrd said McCaleb wasn't always an advocate for tribal issues, recalling how a number of tribes fought a tax compact the former state Representative pushed through the Legislature.

The Times reports that some of the figures McCaleb used during the debate were later discredited.

McCaleb is also remembered for proposing to build a highway through a Kickapoo burial ground. But the Kickapoo Tribe was never notified and found out about the project by accident.

McCaleb later killed the project, due to complaints.

Get the Story:
Bush announces Neal McCaleb to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs (The Native Times 4/18)