And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Published Thursday August 05, 04:28PM CDT Indians' Lawyers Seek Funds Watchdog http://www.omaha.com/Omaha/OWH/APStoryViewer/1%2C3293%2C84379%2C00.html By MATT KELLEY Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government cannot be trusted to fix decades-old mismanagement of about $500 million of American Indians' money without court oversight, lawyers for the Indians argued to a federal judge. In court papers filed shortly before midnight Wednesday, the Indians' lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to appoint an independent watchdog to make sure the government fixes problems with some 300,000 trust accounts. The Interior Department oversees the accounts, which mainly hold proceeds from oil drilling, mining, logging or grazing on reservation land owned by individual Indians. ''Without judicial intervention, reform efforts will fail, since the (Interior) Department will ultimately lose focus and interest,'' the Indians' lawyers wrote. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and other federal officials have strongly opposed appointing a court watchdog, known as a special master, to oversee efforts to fix the problems with the trust accounts. The department's Bureau of Indian Affairs is working on a computerized system to track the accounts, but Babbitt admitted this summer that the plans wouldn't fix all of the problems. Babbitt and other officials acknowledge that for decades, many records regarding the trust accounts were never kept, collected haphazardly or eventually destroyed. Millions of dollars were invested improperly or not at all, and record-keeping is so lax that officials cannot say whether billions of dollars' worth of transactions were legitimate or not. Lamberth held Babbitt, BIA head Kevin Gover and then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt of court earlier this year for repeatedly failing to hand over documents. That contempt citation helped speed federal efforts to clean up the problems, said Keith Harper, one of the Indians' lawyers. Without continued court pressure, reform efforts would likely flounder, he said. ''You turn off the lights and all the roaches start coming out again,'' Harper said Thursday. ''It's difficult to get the Department of Interior to focus on this issue for an extended period of time.'' Tom Clark, the Justice Department lawyer heading the government's defense team, did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment Thursday. Five Indians sued the federal government in 1996 on behalf of all Indian account holders, seeking to force the government to clean up the problems and repay account holders for lost revenue. Lamberth split the trial into two parts: One dealing with solving the trust management systems and the other with determining how much the Indian account holders should be paid. Final written arguments in the first phase were filed this week. The Indians plan to seek billions of dollars in the second phase. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
