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Q. But you did not factor in those other things <br />that we have gone over previously? <br />A. The Alaskan Pipeline? <br />Q. Yes, those certainly very realistic occur- <br />rences in the Billings' area. <br />A. I think I've said to you about four times that <br />I used the historical use patterns for projecting <br />the demands; and I told you before that I did not <br />factor in the Alaskan Pipeline. <br />The skillful witness also knows when to concede a point, even if it <br />reflects poorly on his work. To struggle with a lawyer on a line of question- <br />ing, only to agree with him later, highlights the concession and places the <br />other answers of the witness in an unfavorable light. What follows is the <br />aftermath of a cross-examination on a point on which a witness refused to <br />yield until the last possible moment. The expert then became argumentative and <br />refused to answer questions clearly within his area of expertise. The <br />questions deal with possible sources of dieldrin found along the Atlantic <br />coast (Rogers 1974:16-17): <br />Q. Looking at Table 5, I notice that New York is <br />the most frequent reporter of residues of dieldrin <br />in mollusks. Are you able to account for that? <br />A. No; that is an interesting observation, but I <br />am not able to account for it. <br />Q. Why is it interesting? <br />A. It just interests me as a person. <br />Q. What does it suggest to you? <br />A. I have no further comment. <br />Q. Refer to the New York section of the paper. <br />This begins at page 303. <br />A. Yes. <br />Q. You will notice the sites of the monitoring <br />stations are fringed around the island of Long <br />Island, not notorious as one of the world's great <br />feed corn granaries. Does that suggest anything to <br />you? <br />A. I am not in a position to comment on that. <br />Q. You are not even in position to comment on <br />whether or not these sites are adjacent to urban <br />areas? <br />A. No comment. <br />17