Revelations from Kent State audio tape prompt congressional inquiry

There is nothing new under the sun department:
Revelations from Kent State audio tape prompt congressional inquiry | cleveland.com:

"CLEVELAND, Ohio — U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich is launching a congressional inquiry into an altercation and apparent pistol fire that occurred about 70 seconds before Ohio National Guardsmen shot students and antiwar protesters on May 4, 1970.

The violent clash and four shots from a .38-caliber revolver were captured by a student's tape recorder, placed in a dormitory window. The sounds of the altercation recently were discovered by Stuart Allen, a forensic audio expert who analyzed the 40-year-old tape at The Plain Dealer's request. The newspaper reported Allen's findings Friday.

Kucinich, who chairs a House sub-committee with oversight of the FBI and Justice Department, said the paper's account prompted his inquiry."

The above article was written as if this is the first time the tape has been examined. Far from the truth. I recall news specials about this in the 1970s that included audio analysis and a new one seems to crop-up every ten years or so. This article actually mentions prior analysis and includes the audio, embedded several paragraphs down. It mentions that a copy was found in a library archive in 2007 and the tape was "long forgotten."

Allow me to bring you a few steps away from the romantic fantasy of the Kent State riots and how old evidence is made new. That's right, I said old evidence. The Terry Strubbe tape, as it should be called, was used in a film that was in evidence during the 1975 civil trials (abstract) brought by the victims and reported by the New York Times on 3 August 1975.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported on 21 December 1973, that the Terry Strubbe tape was used in a grand jury trial then.

The Akron Beacon Journal, reported on 8 March 2001, almost the same account as is reported as "new" now (abstract):

KENT STATE TRAGEDY ECHOES ON AUDIOTAPE \ FORMER STUDENT GOES PUBLIC WITH 1970 RECORDING THAT CAPTURES DEADLY GUNFIRE IN CAMPUS PROTEST.
You hear the first alone and clearly, then quickly several more gunshots - pop, poppoppoppop - one blast atop another. A roar from the crowd kills the sound. The brief silence is broken by an unknown young man's anguished obscenity. Sirens wail, then fade. Three decades after the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University, the crackling sounds on tape are a record of a tragedy that was one of the defining moments in the political legacy of Gov....

Well before 2001 there were reports shots fired, recorded on the tape, before the National Guard opened fire. The new analysis, of the same old tape,  indicates a .38 caliber pistol made the sounds.

How can a tape be "long forgotten" between 2001 and 2007? The same tape that was trotted out in 1970, 1973, 1975 and 2001. I really wish that I could remember the news specials and documentaries that the tape was used in throughout the 1970s, '80s and after. Just remembering that this tape is not a new discovery helped me find the print articles above. Anybody working for the old major networks who sees this may have access to more specific research tools than Google to help uncover the never-ending analysis of this tape.


ORDER SUKI SERIES eBOOKS AND PAPERBACKS

$2.99 on Nook or Kindle

Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google: Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun
John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.
Copyright 1970 - 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.