Comments on the Grand Rapid's Meeting

by Russ Burr


Yes, It most definately an illuminating weekend. Martin neglects to mention the slides he presented. In terms of clarity and variety (many of the photos I have never seen) they added greatly to the discussion.

Dale Myers presentation was simply amazing and his computer animated presentation does demonstrate the feasibility of the SBT. Dale entered this project without any preconcieved notions of where the shots came from and came up with a video that clearly shows the trajectory cone of the shots leads back in the direction of the 6th floor window. His study is based on a maximum of a 5 degree error so I'm not sure if the placement of the wound on Kennedy's lower neck would matter if the trajectory was somewhat steeper since the wound was a couple inches below where he placed it. Sadly, we didn't fully explore that completely.

I missed day two due to family obligations but I heard that one of the participants who had the chance to fire Todd's Carcano (exact replica of Oswald's rifle down to the scope...he got it from Kleins of all places, if I heard him correctly) was quite accurate in firing at stationary objects (pumpkins). I won't say who it was, so I'll let him decide if he wants to speak of it. They video taped it so we have proof ;-) BTW, those that had the most accuracy used the iron sights.

In viewing some of the video of Todd firing the rifle up in Northern Michigan some time ago I was struck at how the sound of the shot did have the crack sound that one could easily associate with a firecracker...though a lot louder. And the video tapes of the melons and coconuts being struck, though not a human skull with brain in it, demonstrated quite clearly how the head could explode SENDING FRAGMENTS AND DEBRIS IN ALL DIRECTIONS. Todd also showed us a picture from the HSCA volumes (Todd which volume was it?) of blood stains on the front windshield which goes along nicely with the video of the the melon's and coconuts exploding sending debris in all directions.

Also of interest was while I was examining some of the cartridge casings that Todd had used in past firings of the weapon that a number of them had small crimps or dents, very similar to the one cartridge casing that was found on the 6th floor that had a dent in it. Todd wasn't sure what caused it but the crimps in the cartridges were plain to see.

And of course Greg, Todd, John and Steve were able to provide some incredible "color commentary".

Myself, I was just lucky to be there....it was perhaps the most healthy and detailed sharing of ideas from different perspectives that I have ever been a part of. It was well worth the 3 1/2 drive in lousy weather....I'm still blown away.

Russ


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