Hi All Great news! I included at the bottom an email I received that is self explanatory. As these accounts get corrected, so to will a lot of new family tree info be surfacing. Larry Friend (Black Buffalo) friend@2z.net ============================================ WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 -- U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth today ordered the Interior Department to conduct a full accounting of all individual Indian assets held in trust since 1887. In the process, the judge rejected the department’s efforts to limit its fiduciary responsibilities and ordered long-delayed reforms to the troubled trust. “This is a landmark victory,” said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that has demanded the government live up to its obligations to the trust account beneficiaries. “It is now clear that trust law and trust standards fully govern the management of the Individual Indian Trust and that Secretary Norton can no longer ignore the trust duties that she owes to 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries,” observed Ms. Cobell. In a 17-page order and two separate opinions totaling more than 350 pages, the judge said that Interior has “an unprecedented opportunity within its grasp: to take real steps now to redress some of the harm that has been inflicted against some of this nation’s most impoverished citizens.” But the judge repeatedly admonished Secretary Norton and rejected her proposal to limit the accounting to only those trust accounts that were open 9 years ago when Congress passed major trust reform legislation. The judge also rejected Norton’s effort to limit the liability of the government as trustee for American Indians and imposed strict liability on the government trustees in accordance with trust law. Dennis M. Gingold, lead lawyer for Indian plaintiffs, said this is a major loss for the government as well as the companies that have exploited the trust beneficiaries’ oil, gas, timber, coal and other natural resources for generations. “The Court has confirmed that individual Indian trust beneficiaries’ claims go back to 1887 and that the statute of limitations will not bar our clients’ claims. Moreover, the structural injunction confirms that the trust must be managed in accordance with highest fiduciary standards, standards that Norton has refused to accept. Nevertheless, we fully expect that Norton will continue to breach her trust duties and that when she does a receiver will be appointed. Our clients should no longer be required to suffer an unfit trustee-delegate. Lamberth said he will no longer allow the Interior Secretary to manage the trust without close supervision because “the court has no confidence that Interior is willing to actually implement an adequate accounting,” he said. Despite endless promises “virtually all that Interior has to show are broken promises and plans that have never been implemented,” Lamberth said. The judge said that the Interior Secretary has treated the Individual Indian Trust as if they were “a toy, one that it need not share with anyone else, one that it can abuse and mistreat if it wants to and no one can tell it differently.” Under the timetable the judge outlined the Interior Secretary must comply with many of the requirements proposed by the Indian plaintiffs or the Court will remove the Interior Secretary as trustee-delegate and appoint a receiver. The judge’s opinions are posted at www.indiantrust.com For additional information: Bill McAllister 703-385-6996 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To view the latest information concerning this case, go to www.indiantrust.com To unsubscribe from the Indian Trust mailing list, please click on the following link or paste it into your browser: http://www.indiantrust.com/unsubscribe.cfm