My question in all this is, had the mode C of the lightie been verified since his departure, cos if it hadn't, it would have been criminally negligent for the ATC to have even tried to separate these two aircraft based on unverified information. The thing Dick needs to understand is that in E airspace ATC does not separate VFR from IFR. ATC gives traffic information to IFR's on known VFR's, which is pretty clear. In this case from all reports, the ATC'er went above the call of duty and gave traffic 3 times, yet still the 737 could not get the traffic visual. The holes in the swiss cheese almost lined up again and TCAS saved the day. Dick needs to blame the system not the controller. If he went out on a limb and tried to separate these aircraft, and he was separating based on incorrect information, and they hit, he would be hung out to dry.