October 07, 2007
George McGovern Says "Ladies First", Endorses Hillary Clinton
George McGovern, the former South Dakota senator and presidential candidate, endorsed Hillary Clinton in Iowa City on Saturday.
"I think that if we can elect her president, she'll be a greater president even than her brilliant husband," McGovern told the crowd gathered in a hot barn at the Johnson County Democrats' annual barbeque.
Organizers estimated 1,800 people showed up for the event, calling it the biggest crowd in the barbeque's history and noting they had to run out twice for more food.
McGovern talked about the challenges Clinton and her then-boyfriend Bill Clinton faced when they helped run his organization in Texas during his 1972 presidential campaign, predicting he would have an easier time selling her in Iowa than she did selling him in Texas.
He praised John Edwards and Barack Obama and said he hoped to live to see America elect a black president, but said," We have an old rule of courtesy in the United States: Ladies first."
Clinton thanked McGovern and went on to deliver a stump speech that touched on health care, rebuilding the middle class and investing in clean energy, before ending with a direct appeal to Iowans to support her in the caucuses.
"Take a hard look at my candidacy. Judge me for who I am. See what I stand for and what I have done for 35 years," Clinton told the audience, many of whom sat on bleachers or folding chairs fanning themselves. "Let's start right here in Iowa and go all the way to the White House."
For the most part, her speech prompted cheers and applause from the audience, but when she criticized the Iraq war, one young man shouted, "You voted for it!" a comment that was all but ignored by the candidate and the crowd.
McGovern was a leading opponent of the war in Vietnam. He lost the race for the White House in 1972 to Richard Nixon. He also opposes the Iraq war and has said the United States' presence in the country has increased the threat of terrorism.
Clinton was the last to speak at the event and she stuck around for nearly an hour afterwards, posing for pictures, signing autographs and chatting with supporters and young people there to talk to her about causes like fighting global wamring and ending the genocide in Darfur.
Hours before Clinton and McGovern arrived at the fairgrounds, volunteers stood at the door of the barn housing the stage, passing out handmade signs reading "McGovern Clinton" - with the "C" in "McGovern" also serving as the "C" in "Clinton" and "Jo Co [Johnson County] loves McGovern." (The "love" was a heart.)
"I believe the experience she has is valuable. She's learned some lessons and I think that she has a good history internationally," said Iowa City resident Linda Greene, after the speech.
As Clinton left, supporters chanted "I-O-W-A, Hillary Clinton all the way."
Dennis Kucinich, Edwards,Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson also spoke at the event. The actor Forest Whitaker spoke on behalf of Obama and Delaware Atty. Gen. Beau Biden, Joe Biden's son, spoke on his behalf. [ATHENA JONES]
Posted at 09:45 AM
Comments
Dear Senator McGovern, Can you now clear up the Kent State shootings publicly before history and time pass us by. Thank You, your Supporter.
Fact: FBI/Student-Informant --- Catalyst in Kent State Shootings – May 4, 1970
In early January 1969, I was approached by a girl from my high school, who shared a scholarship award with me. For ease of identity we will call her Jan. Jan was noticeably scared. A student that she had seen only a few times had displayed a dangerous tendency. He had taken her on a date to an area outside of Akron and proceeded to remove a handgun from the glove box of his car. He then went to the trunk and pulled out a rifle. His concept of the date, included discharging the weapons in an area that no doubt was prohibitive, not to mention that the law in the state of Ohio also forbid the carrying of concealed weapons/handguns. (especially minors) at the time. She told me that he worked for the Brookes Detective Agency. She also told me that he had detailed personal information about a mutual friend of ours who graduated from our high school and was in the Air Force at the time. He supplied her with detailed information about him that was not available to anyone, including civilian law enforcement. (Military records at that time were off limits) except for extreme misdemeanors or felonies.
This information coming from a very intelligent young lady with fairly good common sense was puzzling. I advised her that she should stay clear of this individual, because at best he may have a “Dick Tracy” type syndrome. The male student was Terrence B. Norman from Copley High School outside of Akron. There was no Brookes Detective Agency as the phony card indicated, although Brookes was his middle name. How he got a ton of military records on an airman was beyond me, as our friend had a perfect record and nothing suspicious. Evidently Norman was trying to impress her with his accessibility to information. The handgun did not have a permit under the state requirements. He did take a ton of pictures, usually of SDS and anti-war student organization members, and did develop and blow them up in his Akron area housing. The funny thing is that most pictures were black and white. (Government standard for the time?)
As I got back to Jan with the information – she confided that she would steer clear of this individual – which she did. One shocking item came up though. Jan stated that she was invited to go with Terry Norman to Washington D.C. on Sunday, December 1, 1968 .He stated to her that he needed an air travel escort with him from Cleveland, Ohio to Washington D.C. in order to attend a special meeting at the FBI Headquarters. The meeting lasted approximately and hour or so. Travel involved a flight leaving Hopkins Airport (Cleveland) on Sunday morning December 1, 1968, and returning that evening..
There were five witnesses at two locations that are testimonial witnesses.
(Now when J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI mentioned initially after the Kent State Shootings, that Terry Norman wasn’t theirs (FBI) and the agency later had to change it to: Norman started working for the FBI less than a week before the Kent State shootings. I knew Hoover and the FBI were lying to the media and the public,
because I had proof of Norman’s association with the FBI dating back to 1968. If you want to be perfectly honest about it, Campus Police also knew it. So much for “honest” law-enforcement. Norman was and still is suspected of being the probable catalyst of the tragic shootings. His initial admission of firing his .38 caliber gun was followed by denial. I knew that the FBI wanted to diffuse this potentially volatile tragedy, for the self preservation and interest of the FBI itself , but I did not believe they would go to the point of concealing evidence and refusing detrimental testimonies which they did and continued to do by refusing to release the details of their informant’a actions on May 4, 1970 including the complete investigative details as well.
Fate and coincidence have been a part of this case since the beginning. It was around l:00 P.M. on May 4, 1970, when the orders were given to vacate the campus. I still remember how hot it was, the sun shining and a tremendously strong steady wind from the west. I remember the awe of the students not their anger. Most of us left peaceably without a word. I remember walking toward my apartment in the Glen Morris complex. As I passed two girls and a guy, I overheard them mentioning a student with a tan colored sport coat and a gun. I kept walking. Packing some of my belongings and heading for Cleveland was a task in that the main road toward the Ohio Turnpike (Route 43) was jammed, with thousands of students fleeing the shock of their young lives.
On the 11:00 P.M. news that night on WKYC-CHANNEL 3 - I almost fell out of my chair. The film of the Kent State Tragedy – was showing the student with the sport coat
approaching the camera gun drawn and somewhat out of breath communicating with this group. What was actually said turned out to be “I had to shoot, I had to shoot” – “they would have killed me”. This was also witnessed by WKYC Commentator Fred
DeBrine and Sgt. Michael Delaney of the Public Relations Office of the Ohio National Guard. Two other Guardsman also overheard this (and were instrumental in seeking a Federal Grand Jury for the case after relaying their information to Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana). When the gun was turned in Officer Thomas Kelly of the Kent State Police Dept. shouted that, ‘gun was fired four times, what do we do now?’ He later denied he he said it, despite several witnesses. Upon seeing this film (black and white – as we did not have a color television) I remembered what the three students mentioned about a student in a tan sport coat with a gun. I also realized that this was Terry Norman who I had not seen since March of 1969 at a Kent State Band Concert at University Auditorium. I had a compelling feeling that I needed to call the FBI Cleveland Office and report what I knew about him.
The next day, Tuesday May 5, 1970, I called the FBI – Cleveland Office and asked if they were gathering information on the Kent State case or if I should call a different location. They said they were working on the case and I identified myself and gave them an outline of what and who I was going to talk about. I went into detail about Terry Norman and his activities at and around Kent State, some of which were illegal or unlawful. About concealed weapons, the discharge of several weapons. Fake I’D.s, a trip to FBI headquarters, in December, 1968, and his surveillance and photographic operations of anti-war organization members. The major item was that he was illegally armed on the Campus on May 4, and drew his pistol and may have shot it. The problem was he may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time and his actions may have
influenced or prompted the Guard into firing. He had acted in a wreckless manner and was unconcerned when he fired his weapons in a semi-urban area at an earlier time. I told the agent that WKYC had film of Norman and the his gun returning from the Commons area. That was the last time I saw that film, WKYC did not have it,
NBC News Archives in New York did not have it, The National Archives did not have it
and the FBI has refused to talk to me about my testimony for 37 plus years. That film was both critically important from an historic viewpoint as well as a legal one that
would be needed in litigations.
A note of interest – Since the original film disappeared, and the FBI refused to speak to me about the information I had volunteered to them on May 5, 1970 – I could detect that the FBI had violated my confidence by concealing or refusing information that involved Mr. Norman during their investigation and coordination with the Grand Jury and Scranton Commission. I decided to prepare a letter and brief package of information for Senator George McGovern explaining the above and I personally delivered it to his Senate Office in March, 1971 (Spring Break) and another in August, 1972 (copies retained). He and Senator Bayh were very effective in pursuing a federal investigation – but even they could not escape the effectiveness of the concealment efforts of the FBI.
Based upon investigative books, writings, biographies etc. it is my opinion that if the
truth had been released and it showed that an FBI student-informant had anything to
do with the Kent State Tragedy – President Nixon, FBI Director – J. Edgar Hoover,
and Ohio Governor – James Rhodes would have taken a lethal hit politically. So
they felt they had no other choice which resulted in a totally botched investigation
resulting in concealment of evidence, testimonies and the obstruction of justice in the
Courts and Scranton Commission.. (The preceding is 100% fact and verifiable)
Opinion:
One final thought to ponder for Historians and Political Scientists alike…. It is noted
that J. Edgar Hoover did not want the FBI involved in the Kent State Shootings and
expressed this in front of John Mitchell and John Dean. It is also noted that many
people realized that President Richard Nixon was paranoid over Kent State. He felt if
he were to lose the re-election in 1972 it would be because of what happened at Kent.
J. Edgar Hoover passed away on May 1-2, 1972. The Watergate Break-in took place
a month and a half later on June 17, 1972. Do you, like many critical historians
see a connection of the loss of Hoover and the need for the White House to keep tabs on a would-be Presidential candidate who had inside information on Kent State and had voiced his displeasure over the lack of proper investigation of the case in prior months? Why else would the White House jeopardize a re-election campaign which was an overwhelming favorite to win?
Just a thought to make you put things in perspective…since some historians have
pondered why a “Watergate” was even remotely necessary – perhaps four dead students
in Ohio might be a place to begin.
Joseph | 01.30.08 05:06 PM
 |
Dear Mr. McGovern - The truth about the Kent State Shootings was one of your objecttives - It is not too late to have the FBI come clean.
*************************************************
May 4 marks the 36th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University. Four students were killed when the Ohio National Guard opened fire. Even though the National Guard had fixed bayonets and threw tear gas, many students didn't believe the Guard had loaded rifles.
Kent State University News Photograph
By JANIS FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com, The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 30, 2006 Investigation Summary
"My CPA's nephew actually caused the shootings,'' he wrote. "He was an FBI informant and he was carrying a handgun that day. He was taking lots of photos of the protesters that day and when a group of students approached him, he fired over their heads. Then the big volley from the Guard rang out.''
I knew immediately who David was talking about. Terry Norman was the only civilian known to be carrying a gun that day.
David is a solid corporate citizen in Cleveland. He's an executive with Clear Channel, vice president of public affairs. I took him to be a credible source.
I responded I wanted to hear more. He called me two days later when I was climbing through the hull of a World War II vessel docked in Tampa. I couldn't talk so I had to wait through the weekend.
He called Monday and said his longtime accountant worked out of an office on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron and had known David's father. His name is Jim Norman. One day about five years ago, David recalled, Jim went to the back of his office and pulled out a file. He told David to read a 1974 Akron Beacon Journal article. (I later found the title of the story: "Undercover Agents' Role Left Unanswered by Jury.")
Jim said to David, "My nephew caused the shooting.'' He said Terry Norman was toting a camera on campus May 4th but also a gun. He was working as an FBI informant, taking photographs of student protesters. The students figured this out during the protest as he snapped pictures. They hated him. Some rushed him as he was taking photographs. Terry fired a warning shot into the air. Then the Guardsmen volley erupted.
As David was telling me about his conversation with Jim, I thought it was a plausible assessment of what happened. This is what Terry had been telling his relatives through the years. He's given no interview except one published May 5, 1970, by a Beacon Journal columnist, Mickey Porter. He told Porter he never fired the gun.
The testimony of many faculty, students and Guardsmen suggests that a single shot from a small-caliber weapon was heard just before the Guardsmen fired. Some said as many as four shots rang out; others disagreed. In all his statements to investigators, Terry said he didn't fire his gun.
There were many varied accounts of how the shootings happened. The Scranton Commission, the independent panel charged with investigating the causes of the nation's campus unrest, blamed some Kent State students for violent and criminal acts but branded the shootings as "unnecessary, unwarranted and inexcusable."
What David told me next I found hard to believe. He said , according to Jim, the Beacon Journal had planned to do a series of articles on undercover agents on university campuses, but the FBI flew into Akron and stopped that project. Really? The newspaper that won the Pulitzer Prize for its KSU shooting stories would abandon a hot story? I didn't think so.
Jim said the FBI got Terry a job and whisked him out of Akron.
**********************************************************************************************************************
I start again on people I'd like to talk to. Fred DeBrine, the NBC newsman on campus on May 4th, is high on the list. All of his archive footage is shown over and over, even of Terry handing over his gun. DeBrine is quoted in "Four Dead in Ohio'' as saying that Terry said, ""I had to shoot! They were going to kill me.''
Then DeBrine heard the KSU campus policeman who took the gun away say, "My God! He fired four times! What the hell do we do now?''
I find DeBrine in Florida, retired and about an hour from Tampa.
I call him. DeBrine said he knew Terry as a bright kid and FBI informant. He said Terry then "clammed up and disappeared.'' Retired for six years as a broadcaster, DeBrine has boxes of information but never got around to writing that book.
A 1959 graduate of Michigan State, he worked at eight TV stations over 43 years. He's used to delivering the facts fast.
And he does. I hand him a copy of Terry's first statement, given to the KSU police.
DeBrine, 68, put on his reading glasses and noted that information like this wasn't available when he was a reporter.
Then he answered a question for me. Yes, he did testify before a federal grand jury in 1972. He left the NBC Cleveland affiliate in 1973.
He read Terry's statement and said, "This differs a little bit from what he told me. Some of it is pretty correct though.''
DeBrine said it was very common for law enforcement to employ students and others to pose as members of the press back then. Norman had a fake press pass issued by the KSU police, giving him access to the front line of demonstrations.
"Terry told me how this worked,'' said DeBrine. The FBI and other agencies would give Norman a roll of film and then pay him per picture for photographs of demonstrators the agency didn't have in its file. The price per photograph was as low as $1, Terry told him.
"This way the FBI would have a dossier of those troublemakers on and off campus in all parts of the country,'' said DeBrine.
Once in awhile, since Terry lived in Akron near DeBrine's NBC bureau, the student would grab a ride to campus. "I didn't know he had a gun,'' said DeBrine.
What happened on May 4, DeBrine retold with precision. He and his crew, cameraman Jorge Gomez, who recently died in Miami, and soundman Joe Butano didn't follow the National Guard when troops went across the commons and began to chase students over the ridge beyond Blanket Hill. DeBrine said they feared their camera equipment looked too much like weapons. The Guard then circled back and stood on a crest in front of a pagoda.
"We heard what sounded like shots,'' he said. Afterward, the Guard retreated down the hill. Within a short time, Harold Reid, a black professor with a briefcase, was chasing a student and yelling, "Stop that man!''
Here's where the story gets interesting,'' said DeBrine.
DeBrine said he was standing next to the man Reid ushered over to the police. It was Terry who handed his gun to KSU police Officer Harold Rice, who then passed the gun to KSU Detective Tom Kelley.
Kelley yelled, "My God! He fired it four times. What the hell do we do now?"
Shaking, Terry said, "I had to shoot. They were trying to kill me.''
Just then an ambulance siren blared and word spread that students had been shot.
The police took Terry away and DeBrine joined his news crew, who raced off to the hill to eventually view the carnage.
DeBrine said Kelley later denied that he said Terry had fired his gun.
The next day, DeBrine saw Terry. "I ask him, 'Terry what the devil happened?' ''
He said the protesters were trying to kill him. Then Terry said, "I waved my gun at them and then fired a couple shots into the air." Terry wouldn't go on camera for DeBrine.
Terry was positioned in a grove of pine trees, which DeBrine said explained why the National Guard fired toward the parking lot. The trees are near the parking lot, downhill from the pagoda.
"All of a sudden the Guard heard shots from that direction. They thought they were being fired upon,'' DeBrine said.
"The grove of pine trees. That's where Terry said he was. The whole darn thing was an accident. There was nothing deliberate about it. Terry thought he was protecting himself.''
DeBrine worked this angle as a newsman but without Terry going on camera and amid so much conflicting information, he could never fully report what he knew. A National Guardsman told him, "What happened at Kent State isn't what you hear.'' But what he was hearing was a big coverup, he said.
"The door was shut on everything,'' he said, including Terry who "clammed up and disappeared.''
DeBrine said Terry was obviously scared. "I don't blame him but I don't feel sorry for him."
Was Terry taken advantage of by the FBI? "Possibly,'' said DeBrine.
To work a story you go to the top or bottom for the best information. I go to retired Lt. Col. Charles Fassinger, commander of the National Guard troops. He was the highest ranking officer in the chain of command on Blanket Hill on May 4.
"Physically, I was at the spot of the shootings,'' the 75-year-old Fassinger said. What happened never seems to get answered, he said, because people didn't tell the exact same story after the shootings.
"I heard what I thought was a shot,'' he said. "Then there was a pause followed by the Guardsmen shooting.''
He said he feels remorse but not guilt because he believes the Guardsmen's lives were in danger. He only heard about Terry Norman later.
"There was some evidence afterward that weapons other than military ones had been fired,'' he said.
I tell him where Terry was standing, according to newsman DeBrine. "That would be consistent,'' he said
There was no order to shoot planned in advance, he said. "I was the commander. I would have issued it."
He said there was also no last minute order to shoot.
"Absolutely not. The noise level and gas masks would have made that tough to hear."
Joseph | 01.30.08 10:24 PM
|
Dear Mr. McGovern - The truth about the Kent State Shootings was one of your objecttives - It is not too late to have the FBI come clean.
*************************************************
May 4 marks the 36th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University. Four students were killed when the Ohio National Guard opened fire. Even though the National Guard had fixed bayonets and threw tear gas, many students didn't believe the Guard had loaded rifles.
Kent State University News Photograph
By JANIS FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com, The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 30, 2006 Investigation Summary
"My CPA's nephew actually caused the shootings,'' he wrote. "He was an FBI informant and he was carrying a handgun that day. He was taking lots of photos of the protesters that day and when a group of students approached him, he fired over their heads. Then the big volley from the Guard rang out.''
I knew immediately who David was talking about. Terry Norman was the only civilian known to be carrying a gun that day.
David is a solid corporate citizen in Cleveland. He's an executive with Clear Channel, vice president of public affairs. I took him to be a credible source.
I responded I wanted to hear more. He called me two days later when I was climbing through the hull of a World War II vessel docked in Tampa. I couldn't talk so I had to wait through the weekend.
He called Monday and said his longtime accountant worked out of an office on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron and had known David's father. His name is Jim Norman. One day about five years ago, David recalled, Jim went to the back of his office and pulled out a file. He told David to read a 1974 Akron Beacon Journal article. (I later found the title of the story: "Undercover Agents' Role Left Unanswered by Jury.")
Jim said to David, "My nephew caused the shooting.'' He said Terry Norman was toting a camera on campus May 4th but also a gun. He was working as an FBI informant, taking photographs of student protesters. The students figured this out during the protest as he snapped pictures. They hated him. Some rushed him as he was taking photographs. Terry fired a warning shot into the air. Then the Guardsmen volley erupted.
As David was telling me about his conversation with Jim, I thought it was a plausible assessment of what happened. This is what Terry had been telling his relatives through the years. He's given no interview except one published May 5, 1970, by a Beacon Journal columnist, Mickey Porter. He told Porter he never fired the gun.
The testimony of many faculty, students and Guardsmen suggests that a single shot from a small-caliber weapon was heard just before the Guardsmen fired. Some said as many as four shots rang out; others disagreed. In all his statements to investigators, Terry said he didn't fire his gun.
There were many varied accounts of how the shootings happened. The Scranton Commission, the independent panel charged with investigating the causes of the nation's campus unrest, blamed some Kent State students for violent and criminal acts but branded the shootings as "unnecessary, unwarranted and inexcusable."
What David told me next I found hard to believe. He said , according to Jim, the Beacon Journal had planned to do a series of articles on undercover agents on university campuses, but the FBI flew into Akron and stopped that project. Really? The newspaper that won the Pulitzer Prize for its KSU shooting stories would abandon a hot story? I didn't think so.
Jim said the FBI got Terry a job and whisked him out of Akron.
**********************************************************************************************************************
I start again on people I'd like to talk to. Fred DeBrine, the NBC newsman on campus on May 4th, is high on the list. All of his archive footage is shown over and over, even of Terry handing over his gun. DeBrine is quoted in "Four Dead in Ohio'' as saying that Terry said, ""I had to shoot! They were going to kill me.''
Then DeBrine heard the KSU campus policeman who took the gun away say, "My God! He fired four times! What the hell do we do now?''
I find DeBrine in Florida, retired and about an hour from Tampa.
I call him. DeBrine said he knew Terry as a bright kid and FBI informant. He said Terry then "clammed up and disappeared.'' Retired for six years as a broadcaster, DeBrine has boxes of information but never got around to writing that book.
A 1959 graduate of Michigan State, he worked at eight TV stations over 43 years. He's used to delivering the facts fast.
And he does. I hand him a copy of Terry's first statement, given to the KSU police.
DeBrine, 68, put on his reading glasses and noted that information like this wasn't available when he was a reporter.
Then he answered a question for me. Yes, he did testify before a federal grand jury in 1972. He left the NBC Cleveland affiliate in 1973.
He read Terry's statement and said, "This differs a little bit from what he told me. Some of it is pretty correct though.''
DeBrine said it was very common for law enforcement to employ students and others to pose as members of the press back then. Norman had a fake press pass issued by the KSU police, giving him access to the front line of demonstrations.
"Terry told me how this worked,'' said DeBrine. The FBI and other agencies would give Norman a roll of film and then pay him per picture for photographs of demonstrators the agency didn't have in its file. The price per photograph was as low as $1, Terry told him.
"This way the FBI would have a dossier of those troublemakers on and off campus in all parts of the country,'' said DeBrine.
Once in awhile, since Terry lived in Akron near DeBrine's NBC bureau, the student would grab a ride to campus. "I didn't know he had a gun,'' said DeBrine.
What happened on May 4, DeBrine retold with precision. He and his crew, cameraman Jorge Gomez, who recently died in Miami, and soundman Joe Butano didn't follow the National Guard when troops went across the commons and began to chase students over the ridge beyond Blanket Hill. DeBrine said they feared their camera equipment looked too much like weapons. The Guard then circled back and stood on a crest in front of a pagoda.
"We heard what sounded like shots,'' he said. Afterward, the Guard retreated down the hill. Within a short time, Harold Reid, a black professor with a briefcase, was chasing a student and yelling, "Stop that man!''
Here's where the story gets interesting,'' said DeBrine.
DeBrine said he was standing next to the man Reid ushered over to the police. It was Terry who handed his gun to KSU police Officer Harold Rice, who then passed the gun to KSU Detective Tom Kelley.
Kelley yelled, "My God! He fired it four times. What the hell do we do now?"
Shaking, Terry said, "I had to shoot. They were trying to kill me.''
Just then an ambulance siren blared and word spread that students had been shot.
The police took Terry away and DeBrine joined his news crew, who raced off to the hill to eventually view the carnage.
DeBrine said Kelley later denied that he said Terry had fired his gun.
The next day, DeBrine saw Terry. "I ask him, 'Terry what the devil happened?' ''
He said the protesters were trying to kill him. Then Terry said, "I waved my gun at them and then fired a couple shots into the air." Terry wouldn't go on camera for DeBrine.
Terry was positioned in a grove of pine trees, which DeBrine said explained why the National Guard fired toward the parking lot. The trees are near the parking lot, downhill from the pagoda.
"All of a sudden the Guard heard shots from that direction. They thought they were being fired upon,'' DeBrine said.
"The grove of pine trees. That's where Terry said he was. The whole darn thing was an accident. There was nothing deliberate about it. Terry thought he was protecting himself.''
DeBrine worked this angle as a newsman but without Terry going on camera and amid so much conflicting information, he could never fully report what he knew. A National Guardsman told him, "What happened at Kent State isn't what you hear.'' But what he was hearing was a big coverup, he said.
"The door was shut on everything,'' he said, including Terry who "clammed up and disappeared.''
DeBrine said Terry was obviously scared. "I don't blame him but I don't feel sorry for him."
Was Terry taken advantage of by the FBI? "Possibly,'' said DeBrine.
To work a story you go to the top or bottom for the best information. I go to retired Lt. Col. Charles Fassinger, commander of the National Guard troops. He was the highest ranking officer in the chain of command on Blanket Hill on May 4.
"Physically, I was at the spot of the shootings,'' the 75-year-old Fassinger said. What happened never seems to get answered, he said, because people didn't tell the exact same story after the shootings.
"I heard what I thought was a shot,'' he said. "Then there was a pause followed by the Guardsmen shooting.''
He said he feels remorse but not guilt because he believes the Guardsmen's lives were in danger. He only heard about Terry Norman later.
"There was some evidence afterward that weapons other than military ones had been fired,'' he said.
I tell him where Terry was standing, according to newsman DeBrine. "That would be consistent,'' he said
There was no order to shoot planned in advance, he said. "I was the commander. I would have issued it."
He said there was also no last minute order to shoot.
"Absolutely not. The noise level and gas masks would have made that tough to hear."
Joseph | 01.30.08 10:26 PM
|
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