Updates

(January 22, 1999)

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are pleased to announce that The 1999 Providence Conference on the JFK Assassination: From Evidence to Truth and Justice will be held Friday through Sunday, April 16-18, 1999, at the University of Rhode Island's Feinstein College of Continuing Education in Providence, Rhode Island.

The conference is sponsored in part by URI's Political Science Department. Co-chairmen are Kenneth Rahn, professor of atmospheric chemistry at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography, and Charles Drago, author and historical researcher. George Michael Evica, widely respected researcher and author of And We Are All Mortal, will serve as honorary co-chairman of the conference.

We hereby invite you to present a research paper at the conference. You may choose to examine specific aspects of the evidence, offer longer views of the assassination and its effects on American/world culture and politics, suggest definitions of truth and justice--and the means to achieve them--in the case of the murder of the president, or deal with related subjects. You may feel free to speculate as long as it is clearly identified as such.

One distinctive feature of this conference is that papers will be offered in relaxed, informal circumstances. Your presentation of 20-30 minutes will be followed by a Q&A/discussion period of equal length. True dialogue with fellow attendees will be encouraged and facilitated. This meeting is all about communication, enlightenment and mutual respect.

Final details of the conference will be worked out in the coming weeks. We anticipate a full day (Saturday) of presentations and discussions, followed by an evening keynote address. Friday evening will feature an informal welcome and reception, during which presenters and attendees will have ample opportunity to meet, socialize, and exchange ideas. Sunday morning will be given over to presentations by URI students enrolled in Professor Rahn's upper-level class on the assassination that is being given this semester in URI's Political Science Department.

In order to help us plan the conference adequately, we must receive your abstracts no later than March 5th. Keep the length to 250-500 words and be specific. Please submit by E-mail, if possible, to:

krahn@uri.edu
and
cdrago@rilin.state.ri.us.

If submitting by mail, send to

K.A. Rahn
GSO Box 48
South Ferry Road
Narragansett, RI 02882-1197

and

C. Drago
12 Stephen Hopkins Court
Providence, RI 02904.

You may also submit by fax to K. Rahn at (401) 874-6898 and to C. Drago at (401) 274-7297.

A web site for the conference has been set up at

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/Spring1999Conference/ProvConf-Intro.html

Prospective attendees are encouraged to contact either co-chairman with questions and/or suggestions.

Belin, born in the nation's capital, moved to Des Moines in 1954 and began practicing law. In 1978, he and other lawyers founded the firm that would eventually become Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn, where he served as a senior partner until his death.

Belin's public service included an appointment to serve as counsel to the Warren Commission, which investigated President John F. Kennedy's assassination. He wrote two books on the subject, including Final Disclosure in 1988.

In 1991, Belin defended the Warren Commission's work against attacks made in the Oliver Stone movie JFK. Belin called the film "a big lie that would make Adolf Hitler proud."

Belin also served as executive director to the Rockefeller Commission, which investigated CIA activities within the United States.

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