Ron Ecker

He has also cited the large wound in the back of JFK's head. I believe it was also Gary who discovered Badgeman in the Moorman photo. As far as I know he has not repudiated his discovery.

This is from Gary Mack on the bridge question: "I never knew, and I don't think any books mention it, that the Triple Underpass is private property owned by several railroads. That information surfaced a few years ago while working on a Sixth Floor Museum project.That, plus information from other documentation which I do not recall, explains what happened. In 1963, the Secret Service and Dallas Police had no jurisdiction over private property and people who had a legal right to be on it.According to DPD reports and WC testimony, the DPD called nearby Union Terminal (headquarters for railroad operations in the area) to send someone over to ID the workers who had a lawful right to be there. They sent S.M. Holland to do just that." On the subject line Gary used in emailing you, I believe he was simply quoting you, as a reference point to the post he was responding to. I don't see nothing wrong with that. But I realize you've already addressed the matter of your reaction before knowing much about him.

Tim, I have two problems with this. One, the problem of size I mentioned earlier. When I said he would have to be the size of Goliath, I didn't mean just height-wise. The image looks overall too large to be a person back where you say he was. Second, I believe it was pointed out some time ago on another forum that if this person was where you say he was, he couldn't even see the limo over the retaining wall. Whether this is true or not you can check out for yourself when you get to Dallas. Take a photo for us of what he could see from where you say he was. Ron

James, Thanks for that info on Nugan Hand. I've run across the name several times in the literature, and have been wanting to learn more about it. On Colby, I've read two things that may be related to his death. One, he was working on a new book, which of course was never completed. Two, I recall reading that he had started working or was going to work for some publication (can't remember which one), in Washington I think, that was critical of Clinton, and this enraged Slick Willie. Can't remember the details or source, but Colby was rather obviously murdered, and he wasn't the only one who got offed during the Clinton years.

There is good information on the McAdams site. You just have to separate the wheat from the chaff. Gary Mack is one of the most valuable information resources around. You may not agree with something he says, but I can't imagine not wanting to hear from him. Send it to me, Gary!

And he missed. Given the size of this individual as we see him, he and the "vehicle" or whatever he's positioned on would have to be forward enough that Sitzman and others could see him. If this individual is further back, out of view along the side of the shelter, then he would have to be the size of Goliath. This individual also remains stationary in the Nix film for some time after the shooting, which a real person shooting wouldn't do. He would be hauling it. I also question whether a shooter would choose a position shooting from the side of the target, not only from the tracking standpoint but from the standpoint that he might wind up shooting Jackie's head off instead. A more frontal shot would be easier to track and hit only the intended target. I have to agree with the experts who looked at this for the HSCA and concluded that this is a play of light and shadow and not a gunman positioned on a vehicle or something.

Bear in mind that Tosh does not know where the shooter was. He heard a shot and is estimating. If you look at that last plaza photo that James posted, you have a clear view of how the overpass wall slants eastward at the south end. (It slants at both ends.) That's where weapons expert Al Carrier believes the south knoll shooter fired the fatal head shot. Al has been there, and says that a shooter at the wall where it slants would not be visible to the people who were standing at the north end over Elm. And it may be a better trajectory, rather than over at the parking lot fence, because of Jackie's closeness to JFK at the time of the head shot. It's more exposed, perhaps, but who was there to see him before he made his exit? Check it out, Tim, when you get there.

Gator is short for Alligator. Wim, do you mean you folks over there have never heard of the Florida Gators? Tsk tsk. Go Gators! Ron

Tim, It looked to me like DCM could be missing a finger or part of one (or the thumb). It's hard to tell, that's why I wanted others to look. It also looks like the hand is turned palm inward, as if the waving is actually motioning "come on" to someone off to the right (to shoot). But if the palm is turned inward, then (what looks like) the thumb is on the wrong side of the hand. Maybe I'm just seeing more than is there.

The pickup truck is circled in blue. I think Tosh suggests that the shooter may have been to the upper left of the truck, behind the fence between the two big trees. I wonder which would have been the better trajectory, from there or from behind the colonnade atop the south end of the overpass. Hopefully Tim can check this area out, in relation to where JFK was, when he gets to Dallas, and bring us back some pictures. Ron

Tosh, A year or so ago on another forum Don Roberdeau posted that the 1957 Chevrolet belonged to Vidal's brother-in-law. Before the tag was obliterated while in DPD custody, the photo appeared in another DPD photo with the tag still intact, which appeared in Chief Curry's book "Personal Assassination File." If Don is a member here, maybe he can say more on this. Ron

There's an interesting animated gif on the Lancer forum. It's an enlargement of a segment of the Zapruder film, and is the clearest look I've seen at DCM's waving right hand. I tried to save the image to post here but couldn't save it for some reason. There's something odd about his hand, like it's missing a finger or the thumb or has a stub or something. Everyone take a look and see what you can make of it. Here's the link. Scroll down about half way, to the large animated image that shows the waving hand. http://www.jfklancerforum.com/dc/dcboard.p...ing_type=search

Terry, Are you saying that the red circle is where Tosh and Sergio were? If so, that is not correct. They were in the area with the (other) forked tree that is circled in yellow in the photo James put up. See Tosh's reference to the "man on the left" in the photo and the car roof above him. He's saying they were above that man and the car roof. That is the same area where his daughter posted close-ups some time ago on the Lancer forum. Ron

Tosh, Did you know Felipe Vidal Santiago? Would you rule him out as the guy by the Umbrella Man? And would you know if Vidal was in Dallas? Ron

One should follow where the evidence leads and use Occam's Razor. The argument that we try to look too deep gets into the Peter Jennings school of thought that we are mental weaklings with a psychological need for conspiracy. So the more complicated the better. As for Lennon, I don't know all the details, but as I recall he was shot by a bullet or bullets fired from the opposite side of where they went in him, and the doorman who talked with the accused assassin before the shooting was an anti-Castro Cuban from the Bay of Pigs days. Sounds to me right off like a government hit, but I'm only recalling from memory of what I've read.

Tosh and James, I'm confused about Gator and El Gato. Was Gator really El Gato (which means The Cat in Spanish), or were Gator and El Gato two different people (both with a missing finger)? Ron

Tosh, The people on the overpass were supposed to be railroad workers. An office supervisor, Holland, was there for the purpose of making sure that's who they were. Holland did say that some people he didn't know arrived at the last minute, and the cops were checking them. But since the workers were allowed to be there, it was natural they would congregate on the north end, where JFK would pass right under them, instead of the south end, which would therefore be deserted. But then there's the question, why didn't the cops move them away from the north end, toward the south, so that they wouldn't be standing right over the president? That was not supposed to happen anywhere on the motorcade route. So there may indeed have been a reason why the cops let them stay at the north end. Maybe there was something at the south end that they were not supposed to see or hear. Ron

Tosh, Somewhere on the Lancer forum there was a diagram with notes on an overhead picture of the plaza that you did for Fensterwald, but I can't find it now. As I recall, your daughter also posted close-ups of the area you're talking about above the man on the left. Ron

I also don't believe that a Coke bottle thrown down on a sidewalk would be as loud as a gunshot, as Sitzman claimed. (And why would a person throw down a bottle, hard enough to break it, when running from gunfire? Wouldn't he or she just drop it? I would.) But I don't know because I haven't done a Coke bottle test on the knoll.

Tosh, One ballistics expert who has checked out the area believes that the fatal head shot came from atop the south end of the triple underpass. The bullet would have gone right over the windshield and under the crossbar (or whatever it's called) in the limo. Would that shooter location be consistent with your hearing a shot that came, as you put it, "from the south parking lot just over the left side of my head"? (The end of the underpass adjoins the parking lot, as I understand it.) Or do you feel the shot was more likely from the parking lot itself? (Seems to me that this more eastward position would put Jackie in the way of a shot.) Thanks. Ron

Isn't it possible that Zapruder was unwittingly manipulated, through these associations he had? Didn't he have to go back home that morning and get his camera at the urging of someone in his office? I recall reading this. Did Sitzman perhaps talk him into going to the knoll area, and climbing onto that concrete structure for such a good broad view of what was to be the kill zone, assuring him that she would hold him so that he wouldn't fall, when he could have stood on the grass or sidewalk for much closer images of the president? And then he breaks down when he testifies.

Tosh, It has always seemed odd to me that an abort team would be sent to try to stop the assassination, instead of the White House being informed that there was a plot and that the trip should therefore be aborted. The Chicago trip was aborted for this very reason. Why didn't they just keep JFK out of Dallas, or at least out of a motorcade (as they did on the Miami trip)? Ron

I recently bought a book about 9/11 called Painful Questions, by Eric Hufschmid. I was surprised to find it contains a whole section on the JFK assassination. The author is suspicious of Zapruder, noting that his office was in the Dal Tex Building and he could have taken a few steps outside to film the motorcade, at the corner of Elm and Houston where it would have been moving slowly. Instead he walked far down the street, and instead of standing on the sidewalk or grass, he climbed onto the concrete structure where Sitzman had to hold him. This location "coincidentally" gave him the best view of the killing. But Hufschmid then really goes overboard, as he often does in this unintentionally funny book. Here's what he says about Zapruder crying during his WC testimony: “An easy way to stop yourself from laughing is to force yourself to cry; it gives you an excuse to hide your head and justify strange noises that resemble laughter.”

Tosh, Did you know David Morales or Rip Robertson? And do you think either one or both might have been in Dallas?

Nixon flew out of Dallas that morning. He was in a taxi in New York City, not Dallas, when he heard of the assassination.