All the pros missed it 15 years ago,
an amateur with a one hundred dollar
camera was the only one filming during
one of the most tragic news events of our
time, the assassination of John Kennedy.
But tomorrow, the pros will be ready
and easy. One million dollars of
equipment is in Dallas to record every
moment of the recreation from almost
every angle.
Cameras with telephoto lenses will be
perched on the roof of the Hyatt Regency
Hotel.
More than 30 journalists have signed up
for seats on the asphalt.
Top others will find positions
in nearby buildings or as close to the
street as police will allow them to go.
The work started this afternoon as
acoustical experts met with Dallas police
to discuss the recreation.
No one is saying much about the exact
plans, and police say they aren't even
sure who will fire the Italian rifles
during the test.
But sometime during the night,
technicians will set up sophisticated
audio equipment to tape the gunshots,
which will be fired first when the sixth
floor of the Texas School Book
Depository, where the Warren Commission
said Lee Harvey Oswald stood as he shot
at the motorcade.
Police say the sharp shooters may then
move to other areas for still more
recordings.
The experts will then compare the sound
of tomorrow shots with a scratchy
recording made 15 years ago when
a traffic policeman inadvertently left
his radio on.
In contrast to the noisy parade the day
of the assassination.
The streets will be eerily quiet and
vacant. Tomorrow, police will set up
barricades to seal off several blocks
surrounding the depository.
But Deputy Chief John Driscoll says that
shouldn't make any difference.
To understand is that the
equipment is so sophisticated that it
screens everything out other than just
the very particular thing you're looking
at. And that's the same thing they'll do
with the other tape.
Yes, they've already done that the other
day, but all the attention
is understandable if the comparison shows
that the shots on the original tape were
indeed shots and not echoes, it
could present the biggest challenge yet
to the Warren Commission's report and
perhaps indicate that Lee Harvey Oswald
was not the only one shooting on November
22nd.
That's a big if, and many people are
skeptical.
Karen Parfitt, The Texas News.