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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2001

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth showed signs of weariness on Monday as he urged attorneys for 300,000 American Indian beneficiaries to wind up their examination of a witness in Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's contempt trial.

Tommy Thompson has been on the stand for the past six days going over findings and conclusions made by court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III in his reports on trust reform. As Principal Deputy Special Trustee at the Interior, he has lent support to the contested documents.

Still, Lamberth wanted the plaintiffs to conclude their detailed and grueling question and answer sessions so he could hear what the government has to say about the whole affair. "I don't really understand what they are doing," he said of the Department of Justice attorneys.

"I'm sure the government has a theory," he added. "I just don't know what it is."

Eliciting laughter from Lamberth and the few hearty souls still brave enough to attend the proceedings, plaintiff attorney Dennis Gingold said he too wanted to move on. But he wanted to make sure he got through Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus -- the rest of Kieffer's reports.

Lamberth also quipped of the government: "I'm sure they need all the help they can get." He then said he might later regret making that remark.

Not all was fun and games though. Lamberth was particularly troubled by the government's editing of quarterly status reports on trust reform.

"Who cared about the beneficiaries?" Lamberth wondered. "Did anybody care?"

"When it came down to making a decision about whether you move towards the direction of dealing with the litigation issue," Thompson responded, "or you stepped back, took your lumps and did what what some of us felt was the right thing for the beneficiaries, the litigation position drove the decision process."

Testimony continues today at 11 a.m. with Thompson again set to take the stand.

Today on Indianz.Com:
Judge orders Interior reconnect (12/18)
Norton ordered to submit trust fund report (12/18)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Office of the Special Trustee - http://www.ost.doi.gov
Trust Management Improvement Project - http://www.doi.gov/bia/trust/tmip.htm
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com

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