Ron Ecker

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.

My guess is that the $25,000 "photo" LBJ had heard about was the Zapruder film, which Zapruder was said to have sold for $25,000. From article by Don Fulsom in Crime Magazine: “A 1947 memo, found in 1975 by a scholar going through a pile of recently released FBI documents, supports Giancana's contention (that Ruby once worked for Nixon). In the memo, addressed to a congressional committee investigating organized crime, an FBI assistant states: ‘It is my sworn testimony that one Jack Rubenstein of Chicago ... is performing information functions for the staff of Congressman Richard Nixon, Republican of California. It is requested Rubenstein not be called for open testimony in the aforementioned hearings.’ (Later in 1947, Rubenstein moved to Dallas and shortened his last name.) The FBI subsequently called the memo a fake, but the reference service Facts on File considers it authentic.” http://crimemagazine.com/03/richardnixon,1014.htm It’s possible that Hoover had a conversation with Nixon after Ruby shot Oswald and Nixon remembered him. (I recall reading that Nixon called Hoover after Nixon heard that JFK was shot, and asked, “Was it one of the nuts?” Hoover said, “No, it was a Communist.”)

What is the source that JFK agreed that Hoover could stay on?

Good point. Never would have thought of that. If they told him Alice Hidel was an alias of Oswald (and not just the name the gun was bought under), Hoover probably figured that Oswald was a cross-dresser like himself.

Johnson and Hoover would obviously seem to believe that a shot came from the front if Connally got in the way off it and kept Kennedy from being hit three times. This is clear from 43-47. But then Hoover says that, if Connally hadn't moved, Kennedy "would have been hit three times from the fifth floor . . . (48).” Is Hoover saying that we’re going to claim that and frame Oswald? Johnson says, “You can prove that?” (47), and Hoover says, “Oh, yes, oh, yes, we can prove that” (50). But then Johnson says, “Well your conclusion is: (1) he's the one that did it; (2) the man he was after was the President; (3) he would have hit him three times, except the Governor turned (51),” and Hoover says, “I think that is correct” (52). This makes absolutely no sense, since Hoover cannot conclude both that Oswald did it and that Connally got in the way of one shot that would have hit Kennedy. This leads to either one of two conclusions: One, they are talking nonsensically because they know a shot came from the front but they are going to frame Oswald but they’re not coming right out and saying it; or two, they both really have no idea where Oswald and the TSBD window were in relation to JFK and Connally, and actually think that Connally somehow got in the way of a bullet fired by Oswald. The second conclusion doesn’t make sense because Johnson was there in Dealey Plaza and rode right by the building, owned by his friend Mr. Byrd, where the shots allegedly came from. That leaves the first conclusion as the only possibility: Johnson and Hoover are talking nonsensically but know what they’re really talking about: framing Oswald for shots that came from more than one direction. One thing that has me curious: Johnson wonders whether Oswald “was connected with the Cuban operation” (53). What “Cuban operation” is he talking about?