Dallas PD dispatcher removed?

[Guest Mark Valenti]

According to the early Nov. 22, '63 edition of the Dallas Morning News, Margie Barnes, a secretary in the communications center of the Dallas Police Department Radio Patrol Division, would not be on the job that day.

She was moved out of her critical role in a manner she described as "astonishing."

Her job was described as of vital importance in coordinating the dispatch of communications for officers in the field.

She received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters, located about a mile from Dealey Plaza.

She was privy to all transmissions, and would have heard all communications regarding the murder of Officer Tippit.

On Nov. 21, she received an unexpected and unsolicited, engraved invitation to JFK's luncheon at the Trade Mart. She had planned to watch the motorcade from the window of the Dallas Police Building.

The invitation was placed on her desk by Sgt. R.E.Dugger, and it had evidently come in the mail.

At the time of the assasination, Margie Barnes was seated at table 356 at the Trade Mart luncheon.

from the LA Free Press

[James Richards]

Hi Mark,

This image below shows Margie Barnes displaying her invitation. Her father (deceased) was a party faithful but she said it didn't really explain why she received the invitation especially when so many staunch Kennedy supporters didn't.

In 1974, a Margie Barnes was killed when the motorcycle she was a passenger on was slammed into by a hit and run car. I have not been able to find out if this was the same Margie Barnes.

As to Dugger, I have some stuff on him somewhere that I will have to dig up.

FWIW.

James

Edited July 26, 2006 by James Richards

[Guest Stephen Turner]

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day? Your right about James collection, its truely mind-bogling. Opps, posted before I saw the above reply. Please ignore.

Edited July 26, 2006 by Stephen Turner

[Jack White]

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day? Your right about James collection, its truely mind-bogling. Opps, posted before I saw the above reply. Please ignore.

His name is readily available in regard to the Dallas Police Tapes,

but it escapes my memory at the moment. However, I do remember

that he ordinarily was the police voice on KRLD radio every morning

giving traffic reports during drive time. If I think of it, I will post it.

As I recall, he was a sgt.

Jack

[James Richards]

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day? Your right about James collection, its truely mind-bogling. Opps, posted before I saw the above reply. Please ignore.

His name is readily available in regard to the Dallas Police Tapes,

but it escapes my memory at the moment. However, I do remember

that he ordinarily was the police voice on KRLD radio every morning

giving traffic reports during drive time. If I think of it, I will post it.

As I recall, he was a sgt.

Jack

Was it C.B. 'Bud' Owens?

James

[Myra Bronstein]

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day? Your right about James collection, its truely mind-bogling. Opps, posted before I saw the above reply. Please ignore.

His name is readily available in regard to the Dallas Police Tapes,

but it escapes my memory at the moment. However, I do remember

that he ordinarily was the police voice on KRLD radio every morning

giving traffic reports during drive time. If I think of it, I will post it.

As I recall, he was a sgt.

Jack

Was it C.B. 'Bud' Owens?

James

This thread is really astounding.

Does anyone have a scan of the early Nov. 22, '63 edition of the Dallas Morning News, with the article being discussed?

Anyone have any additional details on the Margie Barnes episode at all?

[Steve Thomas]

Stephen,

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day?

I guess that would depend on which Channel she normally broadcast on.

Two people operated Channel 1, and one person operated Channel 2.

At 10:00 AM the two Channel 1 operators were J. A. McDaniel and B.D. Huffstutler.

They went off duty at 12:25 and were replaced by C.E. Hulse and M.J. Jackson.

Later in the day (around the time of Tippit's shooting), Jackson was replaced by McDaniel.

I guess McDaniel had gone out to lunch.

Sgt. G.D. Henslee was the Dispatcher for Channel 2 all day.

Police transcripts CE 1974 at 23H832

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk...Vol23_0432b.htm

Steve Thomas

[Myra Bronstein]

Stephen,

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day?

I guess that would depend on which Channel she normally broadcast on.

Two people operated Channel 1, and one person operated Channel 2.

At 10:00 AM the two Channel 1 operators were J. A. McDaniel and B.D. Huffstutler.

They went off duty at 12:25 and were replaced by C.E. Hulse and M.J. Jackson.

Later in the day (around the time of Tippit's shooting), Jackson was replaced by McDaniel.

I guess McDaniel had gone out to lunch.

Sgt. G.D. Henslee was the Dispatcher for Channel 2 all day.

Police transcripts CE 1974 at 23H832

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk...Vol23_0432b.htm

Steve Thomas

Thank you for the link Steve.

I sure would like to find the source for her quote that her removal from her normal position was "astonishing."

[Steve Thomas]

Stephen,

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day?

I guess that would depend on which Channel she normally broadcast on.

As Gary Mack correctly pointed out to me, Margie was a Secretary, not a Dispatcher.

Steve Thomas

[James Richards]

Does anyone have a scan of the early Nov. 22, '63 edition of the Dallas Morning News, with the article being discussed? (Myra Bronstein)

Here you go, Myra.

James

[Ashton Gray]

Stephen,

Mark, good find. Do you happen to know who, if anyone took her place that day?

I guess that would depend on which Channel she normally broadcast on.

As Gary Mack correctly pointed out to me, Margie was a Secretary, not a Dispatcher.

Steve Thomas

It was very appropriate for the assiduous Gary Mack to point out the distinction, Steve. But I find what Mark said in his originating post to be utterly absorbing, her job description of far more relevant interest to me than her job title:

Her job was described as of vital importance in coordinating the dispatch of communications for officers in the field.

She received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters, located about a mile from Dealey Plaza.

She was privy to all transmissions, and would have heard all communications regarding the murder of Officer Tippit.

I am captivated to hear that the invitation didn't arrive until the day before the event. Ordinarily such lists are compiled and invitations sent with ample time.

If the invitation in fact came in the mail from a local address, it likely would have been posted the day before—on 20 November. If so, by whom, I wonder? Could there be any involvement here by everyone's favorite Dallas postal employee?

Such an outré event cannot be tossed aside.

Ashton

[Myra Bronstein]

Does anyone have a scan of the early Nov. 22, '63 edition of the Dallas Morning News, with the article being discussed? (Myra Bronstein)

Here you go, Myra.

James

James! Thank you.

Man oh man...

1) Secretary in the police department's radio control division is removed from the division on D-day.

2) 12:29 pm on Nov 22, '63, Dallas -- "The Dallas Police radio systems Channel One, reserved for officers participating in the security of the President, is suddenly immobilized." --"Trauma Room One"

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8644

Um, they are related, right?

[Ashton Gray]

Man oh man...

1) Secretary in the police department's radio control division is removed from the division on D-day.

2) 12:29 pm on Nov 22, '63, Dallas -- "The Dallas Police radio systems Channel One, reserved for officers participating in the security of the President, is suddenly immobilized." --"Trauma Room One"

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8644

Um, they are related, right?

I think that not only are these two events related, but also the events you chronicled in your topic The Flakey Power Grid, and that they all are linked to the arrival in Dallas of a team—of unknown number and assignment—that had been briefed by the CIA and flown into Dallas by Tosh Plumlee.

This supposedly was an "abort team," having been given some kind of still unclear information about a possible attempt on the President's life that they somehow were to prevent. The legion of holes in the story as it exists makes it look like fishnet, and I already have posed questions for Mr. Plumlee about his avowed prior intelligence connections to Lee Harvey Oswald in a topic I started, Would Tosh Plumlee Please Pick Up the White Courtesy Phone? So far, he's not picking up.

Meanwhile, this topic had already grabbed my attention when I saw that Gary Mack had hastened to get into the record, through Steve Thomas, that Margie Barnes was a secretary, not a dispatcher. When I responded that despite her job title, her job description was of great interest, lo and behold I was contacted by Gary Mack, calling the description Mark Valenti had given into question. So here, again, is how Mark described her job:

Her job was described as of vital importance in coordinating the dispatch of communications for officers in the field.

She received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters, located about a mile from Dealey Plaza.

She was privy to all transmissions, and would have heard all communications regarding the murder of Officer Tippit.

In response to my having pointed that out, here is what I got from Gary Mack in two separate messages to me. In the first he said:

• You might consider asking Mark exactly where his characterization of Barnes' job comes from. My understanding is that only the dispatchers on duty could monitor the police radio. The secretaries' work, while important to daily operations, was hardly "crucial," as Mark termed it. Some clarification is in order, don't you agree? —Gary Mack
  

Well, I believe it's no secret what an agreeable sort of chap I am, so I did agree. And so I asked Gary Mack for clarification of exactly where his characterization of Barnes's job came from. And he replied, in pertinent part:

• My information came initially from Bowles, the department supervisor, who said the secretaries weren't involved in the daily broadcasts. They did filing and typing, nothing more. That information matched what other JFK researchers such as Larry Harris had found.
  Only the dispatchers on duty heard and responded to the broadcasts. —Gary Mack
  

Hmmm. This almost seems to be a tight-rope walk (by whom I don't know, if it is) across the relevant part of the job description originally provided by Mark, which doesn't say she "monitored the police radio" or that she was "involved in the daily broadcasts" or that she "heard and responded to the broadcasts." What it says is that she "received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters."

But my agreeability being equaled only by my fairmindedness, it only seems right to ask Mark Valenti now where he came by the job description he posted for Ms. Barnes.

Pending the arrival of that, I have since wondered of the possibility of a planned emergency call that had to be made to police on 22 November 1963 by someone whose voice Ms. Barnes might be too familiar with. When I have time I plan to scour the records and make a list of any known calls of such nature that day, but if anyone happens to know or think of calls that might qualify, please post them here.

Ashton

Edited December 5, 2006 by Ashton Gray

[Ashton Gray]

Her job was described as of vital importance in coordinating the dispatch of communications for officers in the field.

She received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters, located about a mile from Dealey Plaza.

She was privy to all transmissions, and would have heard all communications regarding the murder of Officer Tippit.

Mark, any chance of getting a source for this job description?

Ashton

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Her job was described as of vital importance in coordinating the dispatch of communications for officers in the field.

She received emergency calls and issued information directly to the dispatch officer in the downtown division headquarters, located about a mile from Dealey Plaza.

She was privy to all transmissions, and would have heard all communications regarding the murder of Officer Tippit.

Mark, any chance of getting a source for this job description?

Ashton

As I recall, there were two 911 phone calls made from the Tippit crime scene. One was made by one of the Davis girls, and one by a neighbor down the street whose name escapes me. As far as I know, the timing of these calls was never established, although it is likely that both calls preceded Bowley's radio transmission. The exact time of the Davis phone call, if known, would be extremely helpful in pinpointing the time of the Tippit murder, but as far as I know the person at DPD H.Q. who received the call was never identified, and the Warren Commission neglected to subpoena the phone records of the Davis household.

If the job description we have for Ms. Barnes is accurate, then perhaps she (and her log book, assuming she kept one) would have been an indispensable witness to the circumstances surrounding the Tippit murder. It was by ignoring the time of the Davis phone call that David Belin and his WC brethren were able to claim that the murder occurred much later than the time given by Helen Markham and TF Bowley.