Reagan OKs Payment to Indians

WASHINGTON — President Reagan today signed into law a bill that allows the payment of nearly $10 million to Michigan’s Saginaw Chippewa Indians for lands ceded to the government without just compensation in the early 1800s.

Congress has stipulated that the long-awaited money be used to set up a tribal investment fund that will finance social and economic development programs administered from the Indians’ reservation in mid-Michigan’s Isabella County. A separate $1-million elderly assistance account also will be established, with interest from that fund used to make per capita payments of up to $3,000 to tribal elders aged 50 and over.