Hi everyone,
I thought I would take just a moment to let you know how my presentation went at the Wecht conference held this weekend in Pittsburgh.
I was of course honored to have an opportunity to speak at a conference with such prestigious researchers and found the camaraderie and atmosphere as warm and exciting as anticipated. I was scheduled as a concurrent speaker scheduled late Saturday morning in a breakout room against Walt Brown, I wondered if I would have many in attendance since he speaks so seldom, and was pleasantly surprised to have a very good turnout. The presentation was designed for this specific audience, so it did have some new information, but the techniques for the trajectory analysis and the subsequent results were as the first time I presented this information in 2003. It seems strange to think I have been speaking about the shooter's location on the south end of the triple overpass for ten years, but I have.
Several of the other speakers were in the audience, which also included university forensic students, a few physicians, police officers, and of course conference attendees.
There were a few questions, but most attendees readily understood the trajectory techniques and how they applied to the assassination. A few had questions concerning the discovery of the Harper fragment and its relationship to Kennedy with a front shot. I had to elaborate some on that point and stress the location on bone fragments can not be used to determine directionality of bullets in shootings. The direction they are projected is dependent entirely on the random tearing of the scalp.
The concept of forward spatter (from exit wounds) traveling in every conceivable direction was confusing to at least one person, and that had to be expounded upon. The moderator finally had to stop the comments and questions so we could move to the lunch period. I left encouraged, and very excited to know more persons had been exposed to this essential element of the investigation. I was also happy to be one of the few persons who had real expertise and training in the area in which they presented, which I believe adds credibility.
One person made a statement I wanted to share. During the Q & A, John Costella (he is the person who de-blurred and stabilized the Zapruder film) stood and stated he hoped everyone in attendance was aware of the significance of the information I had presented. It was a generous act on his behalf since my book is clear we disagree on some things; however, his response is a good example of how we as a research community can disagree in a friendly manner on some issues but still be supportive when it is appropriate. I certainly appreciated his statement and asked the audience to join me in thanking him for his work on the Zapruder film.
Which is a nice segue to extending my heartfelt thanks d to all who had me in their thoughts this past weekend. Your support is always appreciated.
Hope to see you in Dallas,
Sherry
