Mr. Williams would then have the right to apply to the Interior Department and other agencies for permission to sell the fossil. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is pressing its criminal charges against Black Hills. Federal indictments were issued a year ago, charging the defendants with illegal currency transactions, fraud, money laundering, illegal international commerce and other felonies. A trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 1 in Aberdeen, S.D., for Peter L. Larson, president of the Black Hills Institute, Neil Larson, his brother, Robert Farrar and Terry Wentz, all officers of the company, as well as Edwin Allen Cole, a fossil hunter from whom the company bought specimens, and Jun Shimuzu, a Japanese citizen accused of illegally selling American fossils. It means that paleontologists prospecting even on private land will not only need the permission of landowners to excavate, but must also get the permission of any holder of a lien, mortgage or other claim on the land.
Paleontologists have mixed opinions about the case.
Some say Federal regulations and enforcement are needed to prevent fossil dealers from disposing of specimens valuable to science. Others argue that professional paleontologists rarely have the financial backing needed to conduct large-scale excavations, and that by working cooperatively, dealers and paleontologists can both gain.