In article <3d3b2
...@mcadams.posc.mu.edu>, "John says...
>"twalsh" <tuchdow...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:763beff9.0207171312.6a8a3c8f@posting.google.com...
>> I isolate the following to show how CTers read what they want into
>> things.
>> DCWillis quoted Jackson's testimony:
>> Ford: "Did you have your camera in your hand?"
>> Jackson: "Yes. I had one camera around my neck & the camera
>> I had just emptied, it was in my lap. I had thrown my film
>> out...."
>> Then wrote, among other things,:
>> "Jackson, then, had a loaded camera in his hand."
>> and
>> "If there was a loaded camera around his neck--IN HIS
>> HAND--there was at least one photo"
>> Unless some relevant portion of Jackson's testimony was left out, Jackson
>> never specifies which camera was in his hand, the empty one in his lap or
>> the loaded one around his neck. Willis for some reason, as shown in his
>> quotes above assumes Jackson had the loaded camera around his neck in his
>> hand even though the testimony does not specify which one was in his hand.
>> Seems to me you can't just guess which camera he meant when he aswered yes
>> to the question. If you did guess, it would actually seem more logical to
>> be holding the camera in the lap to keep it from falling, the one around
>> the neck was supported by a strap and not likely to end up on the
>> floorboard.
>That's the way I read it too. That's why I'm asking DC to clarify for me. As
>a long time camera user (often carrying two or more at a time), I can say
>that I've placed an open camera on my lap to reload it hundreds of times.
>Quite often during the reloading process, I've held on to the camera, even
>though it was also lying on my lap. My honest first reaction to Jackson's
>statement was that he had one camera (apparently loaded) hanging around his
>neck and was in the process of reloading the camera in his lap (having just
>tossed film to his partner suggests the camera had already been opened,
>unloaded and was lying in his lap for reloading). Certainly, the process of
>rewinding, opening, unloading, getting another roll out to load, etc. could
>cause one to miss a shot that was only available for a moment or two. That's
>how I read Jackson's statement, FWLIW.
>--
>John Hill (joisa)
John -- A very fair appraisal of the situation. I took Jackson's "Yes" (to
Ford's question, "Did you have your camera in your hand?") to apply to "one
camera around my neck" because the latter was the one he referred to immediately
after the "Yes." Not necessarily, true, I admit. And your comments re
rewinding etc. might, yes, be the scenario behind Jackson's original It happened
too fast. But *he* has never provided such a scenario. The only 2 he has
apparently provided have been (a) the wide angle lens was no good [altho Dillard
used both of *his* cameras, inc. the one with the w.a.l., both *after* Jackson
spotted the rifle, & had had a chance to grab for 6 different cameras], & (b),
now, this year, that he "had no time to reload." Neither is an explanation of
"too fast." The wal would have been fine; he had a loaded camera around his
neck.
Finally, Jackson was apparently not in the unloading/rewinding process, or he
would not have been the first to spot the rifle. The closest approximation we
have of his situation at the critical moment is the photo on p437 of Trask:
Jackson is sitting up, telephoto-lens camera in hand, looking *up* & around.
Mutatis mutandis (necessary changes being made, thank you WFBuckley), he's now
on Houston, still looking up, now with the *w.a.lens* camera in his hand, or
perhaps only around his neck, but he's ready to shoot, certainly prepared enuf
to get off a shot or 2 by the time the belated Dillard got his shot his 2....
dw
