COPA Conference

[John Simkin]

Message from John Judge:

Here is my tentative agenda, barring impossibilities, for the upcoming Coalition on Political Assassinations "Digging Up History" regional meeting, to be held from November 18-20, with a Moment of Silence at 12:30 pm on the Grassy Knoll on November 22 if you stay. Please confirm ASAP that you can attend and speak at the allotted times. The order of speakers on each panel is flexible. If you need any sort of audio/visual or computer equipment, let me know now please. Also, make your arrangements at the Hotel Lawrence as soon as you can to get the $84 discount rate, call 214-761-9090.

Our keynote and opening events are scheduled on Friday November 18 at the Adolphus Hotel, starting with dinner and drinks at 5:00 pm and our keynote speaker, Rep. Cynthia McKinney at 6:30 pm because she has to leave on a flight to Atlanta that evening. There will be free shuttle service to the Adolphus and back provided by the Hotel Lawrence. We will present our Sylvia Meagher award that night (Paul Nahra is helping us invite the accepting party) and be entertained and enlightened by Walt Brown, PhD and Paul Krassner.

We will have panels all day Saturday, November 19, and a featured speaker and films that evening. We are currently trying to negotiate use of the George Allen Building Jury Room, since we were arbitrarily denied

use this year by an administrative judge. Failing that location, we will use the two meeting rooms at the rear of the second floor of the Hotel Lawrence instead for the rest of the weekend. The book and resource room

will be open during our events as well. Panel topics will include: JFK, the investigation, The Suspects, LBJ and the JFK Assassination, Archiving the Assassination, and COINTELPRO, the Murders of "Black Messiahs" and Peace Candidates. Our featured speaker that evening will be Dick Gregory, followed by videos on various topics, crowd's choice.

On Sunday, November 19, we will kick off with a panel on Digging Up History, Opening Files and Cases, and another on The 9/11 Omission. At noon we will have our regular roundtable discussion on the future of COPA.

If you have a problem with your place on the schedule, let me know. I tried to take into account the times you asked for. A few of us will stay in town for the Moment of Silence on the 22nd, and speakers can address the crowd on the Grassy Knoll. As we do every year, we are announcing the event to the press and calendar editors, advertising it cheaply in Dallas, and inviting responsible coverage.

Please take a look at the attached agenda and RSVP. I really hope you will consider speaking at and attending our events. We are holding a seat for you and the research community members who attend will be equally delighted if you come and disappointed if you do not. If we can have all of you on our agenda this year it will be a very successful event.

for COPA

202-583-5347 or 202-277-1992

[John Simkin]

Digging Up History

11th Annual Regional Meeting

Coalition on Political Assassinations

November 18-20, 2005

Hotel Lawrence, 302 S. Houston St., Dallas, TX

Schedule

Friday, November 18

Adolphus Hotel, 1321 Commerce Street (shuttle available from Hotel Lawrence)

5-6 pm Drinks and dinner at Bistro Lounge (individual bills)

6:30-7:00 pm Keynote: Rep. Cynthia McKinney

Sylvia Meagher Lifetime Achievement Award presentation

7-9 pm Walt Brown and Paul Krassner – comic relief

Saturday, November 19

Hotel Lawrence, 302 S. Houston Street (second floor meeting rooms)

Books and resource room open during all events

9 am – 10:30 am – JFK, the investigations

Joan Mellen on Jim Garrison

David Wrone on the Zapruder Film

Robert Groden on the HSCA

Jerry McKnight on the Warren Commission

Walt Brown on the Warren Commission

10:30 am – 12:00 pm – The Suspects

Paris Flammonde on The Kennedy Conspiracy

Ralph Schoenmann on Bertrand Russell’s Tribunal

Dick Russell on The Man Who Knew Too Much

Dave Starks on Gerald Posner and the counter-critics

1:00 – 2:30 pm - LBJ and the JFK Assassination

Billie Sol Estes on LBJ

Ronnie Dugger on JFK and Dallas

Barr McClellan, on JFK and Dallas

Ed Tatro on the History Channel series

2:30 – 4:00 pm – Archiving the Assassinations

Philip Melanson, PhD – The RFK collection at U Mass Dartmouth

Rex Bradford – the digital archives of the AARC

Jerry McKnight – the Weissberg archive at Hood College

Ben Rogers, curator of the Penn Jones collection at Baylor University

Chris Pike, collecting Penn Jones materials

Clay Carson, curator of the ML King Papers Project at Stanford

Sam Anderson, director of the Malcolm X Museum at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem

4:00 – 5:00 pm – COINTELPRO – The Murders of “Black Messiahs” and Peace Candidates

Sam Anderson, director of the Malcolm X Museum

Nick Kotz on LBJ and MLK

Michael Newton on MLK and the FBI

T Carter and Lyndon Barsten on James Earl Ray

Dr. William Pepper on MLK and RFK

Philip Melanson, PhD on MLK and RFK

Hotel Lawrence, 302 S. Houston St.

7-8 pm Dick Gregory

8-11 pm Video presentations – mixed topics

Sunday, November 20

Hotel Lawrence, 302 S. Houston St.

Books and resource room open during all events

9 am – 10:30 am – Digging Up History, Opening Files and Cases

T Carter and John Judge on the MLK Records Act HR 2554

Bill Kelly on opening a Grand Jury investigation on JFK

Dr. William Pepper on reopening RFK, a civil suit

Dick Gregory on finding the truth

10:30 am – 12:00 pm – The 9/11 Omission

John Judge on the McKinney Congressional Briefings, Brain Trusts and Able Danger

T Carter on Flight 77

Michael Nurko on latest evidence

12:00 – 1:00 pm – The Future of COPA – roundtable discussion

Tuesday, November 22

12:30 pm – Annual Moment of Silence, Grassy Knoll, Dealey Plaza with speakers following to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Registration $50 or $20/day, payable at event.