JOHN FIORENTINO SAID:
Would you care to list a few of the contributions Gary [Mack] has made to our understanding of the truth re: JFK's assassination?
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
I know the above question (asked by John F.) was directed at John McAdams [and answered by John M. HERE], but let me add my 2 cents regarding Mr. Mack---
Gary Mack has been extremely helpful to me several times in e-mail discussions I've had with him. He'll even send unsolicited e-mails when he sees something on a JFK Forum that he feels needs some straightening out. And I appreciate that help.
In my experience with Gary via e-mail, he's always tried to remain right squarely in the "middle" (i.e., on the "JFK fence", as it were), not leaning toward the "CT" side or the "LN" side in my discussions with him. He simply points out FACTS...the raw, hard facts.
And there's certainly nobody alive today who knows more about the seven-story building that sits at 411 Elm Street in Dallas than does Mr. Gary Mack. And I doubt if anyone knows more about the general area known as Dealey Plaza than Gary does either.
One very helpful discussion he and I had by e-mail in early February of this year [2008] concerned the always controversial question of: How Did Jack Ruby Enter The DPD Basement On 11/24/63? (Gary knows a heck of a lot about that basement garage too, as I discovered in his e-mails.)
Gary's expertise in the Ruby/Basement discussion made me take a harder look at the possibility that Ruby just might have gotten into the basement via another route (other than the Main St. ramp). Gary's arguments on that matter are convincing, and they are based on something else very important as well -- his own personal knowledge of how the doors in the DPD work(ed).
I still think the best answer is that Ruby entered the basement by way of the Main Street ramp, but Gary Mack made me take a hard look at a very viable alternative. And I thank him for that information. (The Ruby discussion in question is linked below [and also above], if anyone's interested.)
http://groups.google.com/alt.conspiracy.jfk
In short, Gary Mack is a class act, as far as I'm concerned. I might not agree with his Badge Man or acoustics theories (and I certainly don't agree with those things), but his detailed knowledge of the assassination in many other areas (plus his knowledge of the sites where important events took place in November 1963) have provided great insight and important factual information to many people who are searching for those answers.
And Gary always gives the answers without forcing any kind of high-and-mighty "It Was A Conspiracy" or "It Was Only Oswald" opinion down your throat. And that type of person is very rare in the arena marked "JFK Assassination Research".
I certainly couldn't maintain Gary's always congenial "middle-of-the-road" posture when talking to a lot of the over-the-top conspiracy theorists that I've encountered over the last few years, I'll tell you that right now. ;)
David Von Pein
November 19, 2008
