21.   The answer such a formal request turns up may finally break the public silence that has been golden to the Weld administration for the past seven years.

22.   The congressman has maintained a public silence about the case, which has expanded to include possible obstruction of justice allegation.

23.   The United States also committed public silence about Syrian terrorism.

24.   There are civil settlements, of course, checks signed over to victims in exchange for public silence on the culpability of the Catholic Church.

25.   Until Wednesday night, Foster had tried to maintain the kind of public silence that is traditional for presidential nominees before their confirmation hearings.

26.   An army colonel has broken his public silence and proclaimed his innocence in the killing of an American innkeeper and the guerrilla husband of a Washington lawyer.

27.   As for Graham, Bush maintained his public silence about the case until the end, despite being dogged about it on the campaign trail.

28.   But the deputy premier has maintained a public silence.

29.   But Yeltsin has maintained a deep public silence on the pact, casting doubts about its future and his support for Lebed.

30.   Condit ended a nearly four-month public silence and agreed to a series of print and broadcast interviews last week.