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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2002

"Call it a modern-day Trail of Tears, another chapter in the endless saga of the raping of the American Indian. Federal district court judge Royce Lamberth this week held Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton in contempt for not complying with his order to correct problems in a trust fund that manages billions of dollars in royalties from American Indian lands. The department's handling of the Individual Indian Money trust "has served as the gold standard for mismanagement by the federal government for more than a century," Lamberth said in a scathing opinion.

"They're like school kids who're always finding excuses for not doing their homework," John Dossett, general counsel to the National Congress of American Indians, a federation of tribes, says of the people who run the trust fund.

"Instead, they focus on 'how do we limit our explosure,' rather than on 'how do we get the job done.'"

Get the Story:
Sheryl McCarthy: U.S.'s Rape of the Indians Continues Still Today (Newsday 9/19)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

Related Stories:
Norton 'unfit' to manage Indian trust (9/18)
Griles nearly perjured himself (9/18)
Congress responds to contempt (9/18)
Lamberth makes ruling on trust (9/18)
Editorial: Send Norton the liar to jail (9/18)
Editorial: Norton deserves rebuke (9/18)
Editorial: Norton is 'disgrace' (9/18)
Slonaker feels vindicated by ruling (9/18)
Norton found in contempt for trust fund (9/17)
Judge holds Norton in contempt (9/17)
Rahall: End the trust fund charade (9/17)
Your Ultimate Guide to Contempt (9/5)