Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Bpete put up this testimony of Bonnie Ray Williams as if it is substantiating. But, it's more troubling than it is substantiating, as we'll see. It involves a very easy, straight-forward, uncomplicated thing to discuss, but this exchange was anything but easy and straight-forward.

First, Ball instructed him to "make the outside limits of the area." I presume he meant to mark the two-dimensional area, presumably a rectangle, that represented the approximate area that they got covered. Instead, we get this from Williams: 

What the pluck? He was explicitly told what to do in plain English. So, what is this supposed to mean, and why didn't Ball see to it that a clear, unambiguous, coherent result was obtained? Williams said: "We were working in that area down there like that." Like how? So, Ball said: "From there to the west, or where?" I know Ball was a lawyer and not a carpenter, but, didn't he know that if anything it was from the west to there and not from there to the west? So Williams tells him, "we were working from the west coming this way." Then Ball said, "This marks the area that you saw?" SAW? SAW? What the hell was Ball talking about? Did he mean the area that got covered? Then why did he say saw? And why did Williams respond by saying, "Yes, Sir" to a question about what he saw?  Then Ball said, "So, you already laid floor from the west wall to the dark line." Williams said yes. Then Ball said, "You were working right around in the dark line area?" First, a line is a line; it is not an area. Second, if the area between the west wall and the line got covered, why would Ball follow with " you were working right around in that area?" Was he just asking the same question again, repeating himself, or did he mean something else?  

The whole exchange, like other interviews that Joseph Ball did, is like an Adam and Costello routine, except without the humor. But let's assume that what Williams meant is that the rectangular area between the west wall and the weird line he drew in two segments got covered that morning. 

I'm assuming that is what Williams meant, but neither I nor anyone else can be sure about it from his testimony. Frankly, it's like they were both fucking idiots. Williams was a 19 year old kid with no education, so I can forgive him. But, Ball was a seasoned lawyer with years of experience. And this was the best he could do to extract simple information from a witness?  

So now, we have that assumption, but it's only an assumption, and we have to verify it. If you think that this "Who's on first/What's on second" routine is enough to establish what actually happened, then you're as stupid as the two of them. 

And by the way, do you know who was the "foreman" of this job which involved sawing and nailing and lifting, etc.? Bill Shelley. And this is how he dressed for work that day to lay flooring. 

So, did that whole long narrow rectangular area on the west side get laid with new plywood flooring that morning, as per this diagram?

I don't think so. I don't think there is any evidence of it, other than the claim. Let's look at this image again:

We're looking at the west wall, and we know that because of the sign pointing to the stairway in the northwest corner. There seems to be a piece of board on the floor, but it doesn't look to be a whole panel of plywood. And plywood being light and unfinished would presumably have a lighter grey scale than that in a black an white photo. Isn't it about the same color as cardboard? I would say, if anything, plywood is lighter than cardboard. But look how dark the piece looks compared to the surrounding cardboard boxes. That can't be right. Even the cardboard boxes behind, which are not in the light, look much lighter than the piece, which looks dark. You're not going to claim that they stained it too, are you?  But notice that we can see the edge. Ah, the edge! That's the ticket. Although I must say that plywood comes in various thicknesses, and to install plywood as thin as that seems ridiculous. What's the point? What are you getting? Why go to the trouble? And how long is it going to last? But, I digress. What I want you to notice is that we see the edge where designated, but supposedly, that whole rectangular area got filled. Like this, remember?

  
So why don't we see the edge on the other side of the boxes?

That is the floor on the left, right? It's not some long object going all the way across, is it? So, shouldn't there be an edge there that is continuous with the one on the other side of the books? Are you really going to claim that that whole long narrow rectangular area got covered that morning, as per Bonnie Ray Williams, and that that's what we're seeing in the image above? That that above was the result of them moving all those books out of that area to lay that flimsy plywood, and when they got it laid, they then moved all those boxes back immediately? And that's how it looked when they were done? You really want to go with that?

Fact: there is no visual evidence of a floor-laying project going on, despite the piddling stuff that bpete, who apparently has never done this kind of work, pointed to.  It would be extremely inept if they or anyone went about building a floor in this manner. It would be extremely stupid for anyone to tackle the project this way. It takes method. It takes organization. It takes know-how. All of that is completely lacking here.  

All we are left with is an extremely vague, dubious, and unclear description from a nervous Bonnie Ray Williams who was being led by Joseph Ball but who couldn't give straight answers. 

Read it again. How difficult was this to communicate? How lame did this exchange turn out? 

  
And this was typical for Joseph Ball. Look what happened when he asked Danny Arce where he was during the motorcade. It was a very simple, straight-forward question, right? 

Mr. BALL. Where were you standing when you heard the shots?
Mr. ARCE. I was standing in front of the Texas School Book Depository. I was on that grassy area part in front.
Mr. BALL. You were not on the sidewalk?
Mr. ARCE. No, I was on the sidewalk, then I walked up to the grass to get a higher view. and still couldn't see.
Mr. BALL. When you were on the grass, were you south where you were? Where were you with reference to the entrance to the Texas School Book Depository?
Mr. ARCE. I was down to the west side, a little more to the west.
Mr. BALL. Were you west of the entrance?
Mr. ARCE. Yeah. 
Mr. BALL. You were not in front of the building?
Mr. ARCE. I was directly in front, but then I walked a few steps down to the west side.
Mr. BALL. Where were you with reference to the west wall of the building?
Mr. ARCE. Oh, I was way far from it. I was across the street, I mean.
Mr. BALL. What do you mean "across the street"?
Mr. ARCE. Well, there's a little sidewalk right across the street and there's some grass and things up there and that's where I was at. I couldn't tell you exactly where I was, see, it's hard to explain.
Mr. BALL. Well, you say you were not in front of the building?
Mr. ARCE. Well, not directly, not in front; I was across the street.
Mr. BALL. And were you west of the west wall of the building?
Mr. ARCE. Well, I was, well the building--
Mr. BALL. I understand but you were to the south of the building. You had to be south of the building, didn't you?
Mr. ARCE. Well, I was south but I was, well, I guess you could say I was in front of the building but not directly in front, well, I don't know how to explain it. 

Who's on first/What's on second