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         1             MR. BRIGGS:  Your Honor.

         2             THE COURT:  Sustained.

         3             MR. OLIVER:  I apologize, Your Honor, but that

         4    pushed me beyond.  I object.  This is just --

         5             THE COURT:  I understand.  Are you finished with

         6    this witness?

         7             MR. STILLEY:  No, Judge.  I'm almost finished.

         8             THE COURT:  You better come on with some questions

         9    because I'm going to cut you off.  You keep stepping outside

        10    the line.  Sooner or later there is a penalty, you know.

        11    They keep blowing the whistle and once you get so many fouls,

        12    they just take you out of the game.  You see what I'm saying?

        13    I'm tired of telling you.

        14             MR. STILLEY:  Judge, I'm just simply trying to

        15    cross-examine on the matters that were testified on direct.

        16             THE COURT:  Matters that you're interested in.

        17             MR. STILLEY:  Well, if they don't want things

        18    testified --

        19             THE COURT:  I'm telling you what we're here for, and

        20    I'm tired of telling you what we're here for.

        21    BY MR. STILLEY:

        22    Q.    Mr. Gerhardt, have you ever forced any of the students

        23    to work late into the night?

        24    A.    No, sir, I've never forced anyone to work late into the

        25    night.

                                                                    II - 122

         1    Q.    Have you ever forced any student to work when the

         2    student said they were too tired and could no longer work?

         3    A.    I probably have encouraged someone to -- who did not

         4    want to work to keep on working, yes, I probably have.

         5    Q.    Did that include touching or pushing that student?

         6    A.    Probably helping them off -- helping them get up the

         7    hill with a wheelbarrow, helping them carry a log by getting

         8    in front of them, and helping them hold it up with their

         9    hands.  I probably, yes, have touched a student before in

        10    assisting them to get the job done.

        11    Q.    Okay.  In pushing -- in those touchings, have you ever

        12    caused that student to have a serious injury?

        13    A.    No, sir, I never have.

        14    Q.    Have you ever seen that happen?

        15    A.    No, sir, I never have seen that happen.

        16    Q.    When you first started working for Mountain Park, did

        17    you keep time records?

        18    A.    No, sir, I have never kept a time record.

        19    Q.    Do you know anybody at Mountain Park who has ever kept

        20    a time record?

        21    A.    As it was stated previous in the courtroom, the only

        22    ones who have time records are the driving staff.  There's a

        23    clock.  As soon as you walk in the door, they clock in and

        24    they clock out.  Those are the only ones that have time

        25    records.

                                                                    II - 123

         1    Q.    And what kind of staff is that?  Oh, the driving staff?

         2    A.    Yes, sir.

         3    Q.    That means people who drive in, who live nearby but

         4    drive in to Mountain Park?

         5    A.    Yes, sir, that is correct.

         6    Q.    Have you ever taken someone off of a work detail

         7    because there were insufficient orientation guides to watch

         8    over that person?

         9    A.    I don't understand your hypothetical situation.  I

        10    don't understand.

        11    Q.    Say you got a student who is working.  Say they are

        12    hauling wood.  And have you ever taken a student off of a

        13    wood hauling job and put them somewhere else because you

        14    didn't have enough orientation guides to oversee this person

        15    hauling the wood?

        16             MR. BRIGGS:  Your Honor, may we approach for a

        17    moment?

        18             THE COURT:  Yeah, come on.

        19             (The following proceedings were held at the bench

        20    and outside the hearing of the jury:)

        21             THE COURT:  Go ahead.

        22             MR. BRIGGS:  Your Honor, at this point I want to

        23    interpose an objection.  This is inappropriate.  It was not

        24    asked on direct.  The fact that he's trying to inquire

        25    whether randomly at some point in time he may have taken a

                                                                    II - 124

         1    student off work detail because somebody wasn't in a position

         2    to watch him doesn't relate to Mr. Blair's claim of a Fair

         3    Labor Standards Act violation.

         4             THE COURT:  I agree.  You have not seemed to have

         5    gotten my message.  I think I'm going to have to take some

         6    severe measures.  You keep asking questions beyond the scope.

         7    You keep asking questions about things that are just too far

         8    prejudiced or sympathy or, you know, did you -- did his

         9    father ever push somebody.  I mean, please, you know.  Did

        10    they ever take the King James version of the bible because

        11    they disagreed.

        12             I'll tell you what you do, maybe this evening you're

        13    going to have to submit your questions to someone.  I told

        14    you yesterday about the pitching rotation.  But I'm ending

        15    your examination right now because you cannot abide by this

        16    court's ruling.  I'm ending your examination of this witness.

        17    You understand.  And if you have any more questions of this

        18    witness, you submit them in writing to me and I'll approve of

        19    them first.  Because you didn't get the idea when I told you

        20    about the pitching rotation.  And you keep violating my

        21    rulings about what the issues are in this case.  You don't

        22    seem to get the message.

        23             MR. STILLEY:  Can I make a record about the reason

        24    that I wanted to present this testimony?

        25             THE COURT:  No.  We are not making any further

                                                                    II - 125

         1    record.  I have talked to you about this.  I'm tired of you

         2    coming up here.  You sit down and we'll go -- do you have any

         3    redirect of this witness?

         4             MR. BRIGGS:  No, Your Honor.

         5             THE COURT:  Fine.  You sit down.  If you have any

         6    more questions of this witness, you write them down and I'll

         7    approve them first.  Call your next witness.

         8             MR. STILLEY:  I believe the Eighth Circuit says that

         9    you're entitled to make a record of the reasons.  I'd like to

        10    make a record of reasons.

        11             THE COURT:  I'll tell you what, as far as I'm

        12    concerned there is no good reason about asking about his

        13    father pushing somebody.  There is no good reason about

        14    taking the King James version bible because they disagree

        15    with it.  So forget it.  Forget it.  I don't need a reason.

        16             MR. STILLEY:  Can I make a record?

        17             THE COURT:  No, not on that.  No.

        18             (The following proceedings continued within the

        19    hearing of the jury:)

        20             THE COURT:  Nothing further of this witness?

        21             MR. BRIGGS:  We have nothing further, Your Honor.

        22             THE COURT:  Very well.  Mr. Gerhardt, you may be

        23    seated.  Call your next witness.

        24             MR. BRIGGS:  Your Honor, we'll call Robert O'Brient

        25    to the stand.

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         1                          ROBERT O'BRIENT,

         2    Having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as

         3    follows:

         4                         DIRECT EXAMINATION

         5    BY MR. OLIVER:

         6    Q.    Would you please state your name to the ladies and

         7    gentlemen of the jury.

         8    A.    My name is Robert Joe O'Brient.

         9    Q.    And what's your professor or occupation, sir?

        10    A.    I'm associate pastor at Palm Lane Baptist Church.

        11    Q.    And how long have you had that job?

        12    A.    Two years.

        13    Q.    Before that what did you do, Mr. O'Brient?

        14    A.    I was the principal of the Academy at Mountain Park

        15    Baptist Boarding Academy.

        16    Q.    Now, what is the principal, what does the principal do?

        17    A.    Mainly what I did is I supervised the various learning

        18    centers.  At that time I believe we had five different

        19    learning centers.  And kept up with school records.

        20    Q.    I'm not going to spend much time on this, but what is a

        21    learning center?  That's been mentioned a couple of times.

        22    It's in effect where students do their work?

        23    A.    It's actually a room where the students do their work.

        24    We call it a learning center instead of a classroom.

        25    Q.    You were in charge of that?

                                                                    II - 127

         1    A.    Yes, sir.

         2    Q.    At Mountain Park?

         3    A.    Yes, sir.

         4    Q.    When did you go to Palm Lane?

         5    A.    We went to Palm Lane, my wife and I, we went to Palm

         6    Lane in January 2002.

         7    Q.    Now, at Mountain Park as a part of your job did you

         8    supervise the academic education of the students?

         9    A.    Yes, sir.

        10    Q.    And what types of education did Mountain Park make

        11    available to the students?

        12    A.    As far as subjects, just the basic math, English,

        13    social studies, science, bible electives, things of that

        14    nature.

        15    Q.    And what kind of -- let me show you from Plaintiff's

        16    Exhibit 9.  What kinds of diplomas were available?

        17    A.    There were actually four levels of diploma that we

        18    offered; vocational preparatory, general diploma, the college

        19    prep, and the honors diploma.

        20    Q.    And then what's Category B?

        21    A.    Vocational prep.  This is where students who -- a

        22    student has to work up at least until the ninth grade level

        23    in each of the subjects and accumulate the required state

        24    requirements for credit in order to graduate from high

        25    school.

                                                                    II - 128

         1    Q.    And did you teach outside the classroom?

         2    A.    Yes, sir.

         3    Q.    And did you teach life skills outside the classroom?

         4    A.    Yes, sir.

         5    Q.    Well, how does that happen?  How did that happen at

         6    Mountain Park?

         7    A.    As far as life skills, in teaching the students as

         8    we've talked about before in cleaning up their area, keeping

         9    themselves neat and clean, and then also in their work in the

        10    afternoons when they would go out, we would do everything we

        11    could to teach them just a good solid work ethic.

        12    Q.    Why do you do that?

        13    A.    Because that's something that they can carry with them

        14    the rest of their lives.  If, you know, thank the Lord for

        15    our good country, and if you work hard you can at least eat,

        16    support your family.  And if you're working most of the time,

        17    you're staying out of trouble.

        18    Q.    And now when these children come to you, are these

        19    skills that you teach out of the classroom skills that these

        20    young, troubled young people have?

        21    A.    Very rarely.  Now, I have seen some students come in

        22    who have, you know, they may not have known a particular

        23    thing that we were trying to do, but they had learned to

        24    work.  But that's very rare.  Most of the time -- I'm not

        25    saying that anyone's never tried, but they just not picked up

                                                                    II - 129

         1    on the good solid work habits.

         2    Q.    Now, you went to from Mountain Park to Palm Lane,

         3    correct?

         4    A.    Yes, sir.

         5    Q.    What was the mission of Palm Lane?

         6    A.    The mission at Palm Lane is, first of all, to see that

         7    a student come -- to do everything we can to encourage a

         8    student to come to a right relationship with God through

         9    Christ.  And then our secondary goal is to provide a good

        10    academic education for the students.

        11    Q.    And in the carrying out of that mission, just tell the

        12    ladies and gentlemen of the jury how you accomplish those

        13    missions.

        14    A.    Well, when the students first come in they are placed

        15    with an orientation guide which is a student who has shown a

        16    desire to help someone as they've been helped.  Normally

        17    someone who has been there at least six months and would be

        18    able to help the students.  So that when they first come in

        19    they have someone who has, you know, recently gone through

        20    some similar -- some similar circumstances, you know, coming

        21    in to a new place, definitely someone who feels for them or,

        22    you know, would know what they are feeling to help them get

        23    acclimated to what's going on.

        24             And then also to, you know, when they first come in

        25    as far as educational, that we give the student a diagnostic

                                                                    II - 130

         1    test which determines their performance levels of curriculum

         2    or perhaps any remedial work that they may have to do.  It

         3    identifies that.

         4    Q.    So you start off with an orientation guide to show by

         5    example; is that right?

         6    A.    Yes.

         7    Q.    And do you work as groups?  Other than in the classroom

         8    do you work as groups, teams?

         9    A.    Yes, sir, we do.

        10    Q.    And why do you do that?

        11    A.    Well, in order to teach teamwork.

        12    Q.    What else does a group allow, if anything?  Is that the

        13    primary thing?  Any leadership skills arise out of that?

        14    A.    Well, certainly there are leadership skills that arise

        15    out of that because those who work harder are showing the

        16    others who are not perhaps putting as much effort into it as

        17    they could, you know, that it won't kill them to do some

        18    work.

        19    Q.    Okay.  Now, we've shown -- the jury has seen

        20    Defendants' Exhibit C, which is a sample schedule from

        21    Mountain Park.  Is the schedule -- let me show you Exhibit D.

        22    Is the schedule at Palm Lane essentially the same?

        23    A.    Yes.

        24    Q.    You typed this schedule up for me, did you not, or had

        25    it typed for me, sent it to me in a letter?

                                                                    II - 131

         1    A.    It's possible, yes.

         2    Q.    And is this fairly representative of what the students

         3    do?  I'm not saying every day, but day in day out on a

         4    Monday?

         5    A.    Yes.

         6    Q.    The differences are Wednesday night, right, because

         7    they go to church, correct?

         8    A.    Yes, sir.

         9    Q.    Second difference is Friday night?

        10    A.    Yes, sir.

        11    Q.    And on Friday night there are movies, correct?

        12    A.    Yes, we get an old movie out, yes.

        13    Q.    And then Saturdays are different?

        14    A.    Yes, sir.

        15    Q.    And then Sundays are different, correct?

        16    A.    Yes.

        17    Q.    There are no work or --

        18    A.    Not on Sunday.

        19    Q.    -- academic programs on Sunday?

        20    A.    Not normally.

        21    Q.    And is the same thing true of Saturday at Palm Lane,

        22    normally not any work activities?

        23    A.    You mean not any school work activities?

        24    Q.    There's no school work, correct?

        25    A.    Yes, sir..