.Letters to the Editor: November 27, 2013

Letters to the Editor: November 27, 2013

Tragedy’s Legacy

Thank you for Steve Bhaerman’s article on John F. Kennedy and his horrific assassination 50 years ago on the streets of Dallas (“A Dream Interrupted,” Nov. 18). Like so many other citizens, Bhaerman is well aware that the murder of our 35th president was not the work of a lone lunatic firing from behind Kennedy’s motorcade.

Doctors who worked furiously at Parkland Hospital to try to save the dying chief executive understood that at least two shots came from in front of the president. These were trauma room doctors who knew well a bullet’s entrance wound from an exit wound. Dr. Malcolm Perry, who performed the tracheotomy on the president’s throat, stated three times in a press conference a short time after Kennedy expired that the throat wound was a wound of entrance.

Dr. Robert McClelland, another respected physician in Trauma Room One that day—and the only surviving doctor who attended JFK that day—has always stated unequivocally that the president had a huge hole in the right rear of his skull consistent with a frontal shot. Also, Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry would argue that there was never any conclusive proof that Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in the Texas Book Depository at the time of the assassination, ever had a rifle in his hand that day. In fact, paraffin tests showed that Oswald could not have fired a rifle on Nov. 22, 1963. Witnesses to the killing of Officer Tippit were not easily able to identify Oswald as Tippit’s assailant, and some of those witnesses saw two assailants of the policeman.

Bhaerman is correct to call attention to James W. Douglass’s JFK and the Unspeakable. Douglass’s book is a profound work of investigative research and an indispensable tome for any thinking citizen who wishes to more fully understand the political and historical context of JFK’s assassination. John F. Kennedy’s turn to peacemaking was viewed as heresy by unyielding cold warriors, of which there were many in the CIA, the Pentagon and his own administration. His death was a tragic loss for our country and the world. It is up to us to carry on the critical work of peace and justice for ourselves and our children.

Seattle, Wash.

Sneak Peek

Efren Carrillo is an accident waiting to happen . . . again (“No Peeking,” Nov. 6). What is going to do next? He should be cut off from any public salary now. He is a liability, and a walking time bomb.

Via online

NIMBYism Away

It sounds like both sides have more communicating to do over this center (“Dreams on Hold,” Nov. 20), but I can’t wash the aroma of NIMBY-ism off my fingers after reading about it. Are there any studies proving that homeless youth centers drive down property values? I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the neighbors’ real concern.

Via online

For the Earth

It’s not often that you get to meet real, live eco-warriors. A couple weeks ago, we students from Nonesuch School in Sebastopol were lucky enough to tour the Rainbow Warrior, one of Greenpeace’s ships that was docked in San Francisco harbor. Greenpeace sails the oceans staging peaceful but daring protests, currently against oil drilling in the Arctic.

On Sept. 19, 30 people (“The Arctic 30”) on one of their ships were arrested by Russian authorities. The ship was seized, and everyone aboard charged with piracy, although they were in International waters. They were bearing witness and documenting the first Russian arctic offshore drilling operation. Later charges were reduced to hooliganism which carries a jail sentence of seven years. Some crew members have been released on bail, but we encourage people to research the Arctic 30 and support the cause of freeing all of them. Their actions were taken on behalf of the planet and everyone who wants to live on it.

In a month when climate change has hit so hard, with the Philippines suffering a devastating typhoon, and the Midwest reeling from killer tornadoes, Greenpeace stands strong, and their work grows ever more important.

Sebastopol

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