JFK / Dealy Plaza claim

[Mr.D]

So the JFK assassination came up in a conversation a few weeks ago. It was mostly the usual nonsense easily refuted by pointing out a few facts (Yes, it is possible to fire three shots that fast, Kennedy was not sitting directly behind and level with Connelly etc.)

One claim came up that I wasn't able to really address though, because I'd never heard it before. The claim is that a few days/weeks after the assassination, a crew replaced a section of curb/sidewalk that had a small, fresh pockmark (bullet-strike) in it. And this, the story goes, is proof of the Impossibly Vast but Improbably Secret and All Powerful (yet Surprisingly Fresh Scented) Conspiracy destroying evidence of a bullet fired from the grassy knoll.

I'm not a JFK debunker, so maybe this is a well-debunked issue, but Bugliosi's book doesn't seem to address it and my google-fu isn't finding anything. Is anyone here familiar with the claim? Where/when did it first appear? Is there a credible witness involved?

 

[Hamradioguy]

This matter is covered in Jim Moore's "Conspiracy of One". Unfortunately, the book isn't indexed, so I'll have to dig a bit. As I recall there WAS some evidence of a bullet strike on the curb, and a witness nearby was struck in the face by what may have been bits of concrete from this. Moore makes a good case for Oswald's first shot missing and that this is from that first shot. The location would fit a shot from the Texas School Book Depository and not the so called grassy knoll. (In the Zapruder film Kennedy appears to be flinching from this first shot before the second shot which hit him in the back of the neck.) The "grassy knoll shooter" claims heretofore argue that it was a shot from there that hit Kennedy in the head. The claim that such a shooter missed (at least once) is a new one.
I believe Moore also mentions that the street was repaved, but I seem to recall that it was more than a few days/weeks. Let me see if I can find that reference.

 

[LastChild]

So the JFK assassination came up in a conversation a few weeks ago. It was mostly the usual nonsense easily refuted by pointing out a few facts (Yes, it is possible to fire three shots that fast, Kennedy was not sitting directly behind and level with Connelly etc.)

One claim came up that I wasn't able to really address though, because I'd never heard it before. The claim is that a few days/weeks after the assassination, a crew replaced a section of curb/sidewalk that had a small, fresh pockmark (bullet-strike) in it. And this, the story goes, is proof of the Impossibly Vast but Improbably Secret and All Powerful (yet Surprisingly Fresh Scented) Conspiracy destroying evidence of a bullet fired from the grassy knoll.

I'm not a JFK debunker, so maybe this is a well-debunked issue, but Bugliosi's book doesn't seem to address it and my google-fu isn't finding anything. Is anyone here familiar with the claim? Where/when did it first appear? Is there a credible witness involved?

http://www.koelle.dk/hvem.html

Tague, James T.: Tague was hit by a piece of concrete in the cheek, causing a small wound, when a bullet struck the curb in front of him during the assassination of JFK. Tague was standing on Commerce Street on the side of Dealey Plaza opposite the Grassy Knoll.


http://www.texastwisted.com/attr/jfk/03/

In front of the underpass, between Main and Commerce, is where onlooker James Tague was standing when he claims he was hit in the face by flying debris. Evidence suggests a stray bullet may have struck the curb in front of him, which lines up with a trajectory originating in the vicinity of the School Book Depository.


This one includes some kind of UFO crap too. Enjoy. I didn't read it all but it mentions the curb.

http://www.demonhunter.btinternet.co.uk/orion.htm

 

[CurtC]

The claim is that a few days/weeks after the assassination, a crew replaced a section of curb/sidewalk that had a small, fresh pockmark (bullet-strike) in it.

... and here it is!

More info here.

 

[Hamradioguy]

Ah, found it. Here's Moore's take on this from "Consipracy of One":

"I believe that Oswald did shoot through the break in the foliage...The first shot struck the Elm Street roadway near the right rear of the limousine. Bounding low beneath the auto, it ranged diagonally across Dealy Plaza and struck the south Main Street curbway. The impact knocked pieces of concrete into the face of spectator James Tague, who reported the incident to police.

" Five eyewitnesses saw either the bullet strike the pavement or its aftermath...Mrs Virgie Baker was standing on the north curb of Elm Street as the shots were fired. She told the Warren Commission counsel Wes Liebeler that she saw something hit the pavement in the middle lane, behind the presidential automobile.... her testimony is validated by four other witnesses.... Postal Inspector Harry Holmes saw the bullet strike the roadway through binoculars from his office across the Plaza. And Royce Skelton, atop the triple overpass, saw pieces of concrete fly up at the rear of the limousine.

"Oswald, then, missed his first shot, fired at about frame 186, using the Zapruder film as our clock. Perhaps the bullet was deflected at first by a tree branch. The slug struck the concrete behind and to the right side of the presidential automobile. As far as I can determine, no examination of the road surface was ever undertaken before Elm Street was repaved some months after the assassination."

So, there is evidence that a bullet struck BEHIND the presidential car, and "some MONTHS" after the assassination the street was repaved. None of these witnesses saw a shooter on the so called grassy knoll (Holmes and Skelton would have had a bird's eye view of this area), and it seems odd that if there were a cover-up those responsible would wait for several months to repave the street.

Jim Moore's book is a well researched examination of the events of that day, even addressing why Oswald bought a Coke rather than his usual Dr. Pepper immediately after the assassination.

 

[Mr.D]

Thanks guys,

On followup, it appears that what probably happened was that the friend-of-a-friend jumbled together in his head several different tidbits into a "suspicious event."

Take the "Tague bullet," the curbstone being removed and the road repaving, add woo (grassy knoll shooter) and instant conspiracy!

Nevermind that the repaving happened months later, the curbstone was preserved as evidence by the FBI and the Tague "hit" actually supporting the "single bullet theory."

 

[Mangoose]

I read Moore's book 15 years ago....it was a good read too. Wasn't he the one who suspected that the head shot actually was an accidental misfire by a secret security agent? (on his own impression of the trajectory) That seemed a bit dubious to me. But I liked best his analysis of correlating the Zapruder frames to the Willis photo.