Federal Evidence About Kennedy Killing Should Be Sequel to ‘JFK’

Add the voice of Dr. Louis Kartsonis of San Diego to the furious national debate over Oliver Stone’s movie “JFK.”

Kartsonis, an eye surgeon, thinks Stone has done a national service by raising the nation’s consciousness about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Historians and journalists are frothing over Stone’s twisting of certain facts to fit his message. No matter.

Kartsonis, 40, feels Stone may have contributed to something more important: getting the federal government to release all the evidence.

Kartsonis’ fascination with the case dates from his undergraduate days at Dartmouth, when he heard a lecture from a conspiracy theorist and saw a bootleg copy of the Zapruder film.

Intrigued, Kartsonis later gave a lecture on the puzzling medical facts of the case while he was a medical student in Kansas City.

He met with Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother (who said her son was a CIA stooge) and the emergency room physician in Dallas who treated the dying President.

He has a fully stocked library of books and documentaries. He is one of a handful of people who have been given permission to view the autopsy pictures.

As such, he talked to one of Stone’s researchers during the filming.

He lectures on the case--its twists, its imponderables, the shortcomings of the Warren Commission. He forced the Department of Justice to open certain files, and last month attended a symposium in Dallas.

He is convinced that Kennedy was shot from behind but is dubious (like Stone) that a “magic bullet” could have hit both Kennedy and John Connally and then emerged from their bodies virtually unscathed:

“It is almost impossible to believe, yet if you argue the other side (the second gunman theory), you have to come to grips with the fact that there were a couple of hundred people in Dealey Plaza that day, and not a single one saw another gunman or weapon.”

Kartsonis rates his interest as only a “hobby,” but his quest for information continues unabated. He hopes for some new information in a few weeks.

Does he believe there was a conspiracy?

“I could probably argue it either way.”

An Ode to a Silent Night

And now, from Wayne Doeden, acting sergeant and poet unlaureate of the San Diego Police Department, reflecting on a holiday drop in business for the anti-gang unit:

Twas two nights before Christmas

And all through the land

Not a gangster was stirring

Not one single bad man.

The officers were stationed throughout the city with care

All of them vigilant and full aware

When off in the distance

The sound they did hear

It drew them together

But not out of fear

No gangsters, no bangers, no players

No dope

Only the spirit of Christmas and

Mountains of hope.

Our journals are empty

Our day is done

We have arrested nobody

But we have had some fun!

Throwing the Book at Mr. Grinch

This being Christmas, we should report a recent court decision involving Mr. Grinch--as in Dr. Seuss’s “The Grinch That Stole Christmas.”

The Court of Historical Review in San Francisco--which likes to review such questions, tongue in cheek--recently heard “testimony” about whether the Grinch actually stole Christmas.

There were characters in costume and lines from the Seuss original.

The judge ultimately threw out the charges because the statute of limitations had run out (the book was published 34 years ago).

Acting the role of prosecutor was noted San Francisco attorney John Keker. Of the Grinch, Keker said, “He made children cry and be sad, and he’s bad.”

It wasn’t the first time Keker has lost a case on legal technicalities.

He was also the prosecutor in the Oliver North case, for real.