News Articles
The first UPI article
Click HERE for news article which confirms JFK Jr. to be in calm radio contact with the ground, in 8 mile visibility, and reports a witness who saw a white flash up in the sky. This article also tells a story of a strange radio bacon, thought to be that of JFK Jr's plane, which started at the time of the crash but in the wrong location, then mysteriously shuts down some hours later.
There was no heavy haze.
Click HERE for news article which quotes an eyewitness report that conditions on Martha's Vineyard were not hazy. This report also shows that people on the shore of the island could see aircraft on approach out over the ocean, proving that aircraft out over the ocean could see the shore.
It Wasn't Dark at all.
Martha's Vineyard has bright lights shining up into the sky.
Click HERE for a letter to the editor published in the Martha's Vineyard Times complaining how new lights which point up into the sky have turned the center of the island into bright as the "Boston Skyline".
NEW! Witness "no longer available"
JFK Jr-"SKY FLASH" REPORTER UNAPPROACHABLE
August 5, 1999
I just phoned the Martha's Vineyard Gazette and spoke with a woman there. I asked her about the statement -- in the July 17th United Press International report of the John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash -- that a reporter for the Martha's Vineyard Gazette had witnessed an explosion in the sky around the time of the crash. She replied, "Oh, that story was completely bogus. What really happened was that someone was shooting off fireworks on Falmouth." "Falmouth?" I said, "Is that an island?" "Falmouth," she said, "is the closest point to Martha's Vineyard."
I said, "But this reporter witnessed an explosion in the SKY." She countered, "Well, they were shooting rockets up in the air, or something like that."
Fearing that she might hang up if I continued to contradict her, I asked, "May I speak with the reporter who witnessed this?" "Oh, no," she replied nervously, "we can't do that."
I said, "Oh, that's strange. What could be the problem with speaking to a reporter?" She repeated, "We can't permit that." I said, "Okay, can you at least give me his name?"
"No, we can't do that, either," she persisted." Then she added, "He no longer works for us," almost as if she were making it up, just to get me to give up. Then when I responded with a surprised "Ohhh", she suddenly realized that her comment had made matters worse and, in a jolt of vexation, she sputtered, "Oh, no, no! It has nothing to do with that incident. He went back to school." "Oh," I said, "so is he a journalism student?" After an answerless pause, I thanked her and said goodbye.
I think she was relieved.
What do you make of this, folks? What questions would you have asked if you had called the Martha's Vineyard Gazette, at (508)627-4311? Would you have asked if the reason why the UPI quote (of his statement that he saw a "big white flash" in the sky off Philbin Beach at about the time of the crash) was expunged from ALL subsequent news reports from ALL news outlets was because this reporter had personally called United Press International and told them that he had made a mistake -- that the "big white flash" he saw in the sky off Philbin Beach at about the time of the crash was REALLY caused by someone shooting rockets into the air from Falmouth? And if he would have ever made such an absurd retraction, then how is it that no other news outlet ANYWHERE has, after July 17th, repeated the reporter's sighting ANYWAY, considering that news outlets feed off of one another (e.g. WCVB-TV said this, and UPI said this, and so on)? How is it that this media magical disappearing act could have been pulled off so neatly, without ONE SINGLE news outlet breaking the code of silence?
And so, we come, full circle, to that unnamed, unidentifiable, unapproachable reporter: the unreporting reporter.
If his retraction was so widely recognized throughout all the cutting rooms of mass medialand ... then why in the hell can NO ONE be allowed to speak with him, much less, even find out his name?
And how does the Vineyard Gazette KNOW that its reporter definitely saw fireworks off of Falmouth, and not a "big white flash" off of Philbin Beach? Did the reporter later reflect on his sighting, replay his mental videotape, and say to himself, "Gee, that wasn't a big white flash in the sky off of Philbin Beach. It was rockets shooting up in the air off of Falmouth."
Is that how the human mind functions? You just go back and replay the tape in your head, and see what actually happened? Or, did someone ELSE tell the Vineyard Gazette that the reporter saw fireworks off of Falmouth at around the time of the Kennedy plane's plunge into the ocean? -- and that they had better stick to that story!
Furthermore, did you ever hear of anyone going "back to school" before August 5th (the date of my phone call to the Gazette)? Doesn't school start in September?
And furthermore still -- someone notified me that Falmouth is in the opposite direction from Philbin Beach. The UPI report indeed stated that the Vineyard Gazette reporter sighted the "big white flash" off of Philbin Beach. Well, that's easy enough to check out. Is Philbin Beach near the line-of-sight of Falmouth? Would you check it out for me and let me know? Thanks.
John DiNardo jdinardo@idt.net
FOOTNOTE: The July 26th, 1999 issue of Newsweek
Just days prior to his death, NBC Dateline hinted that JFK Jr. was considering an entry into politics, and mentioned that a story to that effect was to be published in the July 26th, 1999 issue of NEWSWEEK.
NEWSWEEK recalled that issue from the distrubutors, and had them destroyed. CNN ran a story claiming that NEWSWEEK planned to change covers and re-distribute, but that never happened. The NEWSWEEK issue dealing with JFK Jr. is dated August 2nd. The July 26th 1999 issue of NEWSWEEK simply vanished.