by: CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer Tuesday, September 15, 2009; A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by the Cherokee Nation to intervene in a lawsuit involving the state and several poultry companies. In turning back the tribe, District Judge Gregory Frizzell said he would have “been pleased” to grant its request had it been timely. “Unfortunately, it is not,” Frizzell said, following a morning hearing. The ruling leaves the trial for the state’s pollution case against the poultry industry on track to begin Monday.