The sponsor of a resolution asking Congress to release records from its investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy slumped forward in his seat. Then he flung himself backward.
Utah House Minority Whip Kelly Atkinson, D-West Jordan, was attempting to demonstrate to members of the House Business and Labor Committee Friday that a single gunman could not have killed the president.He and a handful of Utahns who believe Kennedy was the target of a conspiracy that involved the government did persuade all but two members of the committee to send his resolution to the House floor.
The resolution seeks to make records of the House Select Committee on Assassinations public. The committee disputed the finding of the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald alone was responsible for Kennedy's death.
A ballistics expert, examining a film of the assassination that showed the movements Atkinson mimicked Friday, determined that Kennedy was struck by bullets that came from different directions.
Atkinson's resolution would make the in-formation the congressional committee used to come to its conclusions public. More than 800 boxes of documents remain sealed until 2029.
Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, warned that letting the resolution out of committee would damage Utah's reputation since "wiser bodies including the Warren Commission" have already concluded there was no conspiracy.
"We in the state of Utah should not be sending the message that we believe in the conspiracy theory," Tanner said. "I think it would be an embarrassment to the state of Utah of the worst possible sort."
The other vote against the resolution came from Rep. Raymond Short, R-Salt Lake. Short said after so many years there is little that could be done even if the records prove a conspiracy.
"Can't we leave him dead? If we do find a conspiracy, are we going to have a witch hunt? Spend money out the ears? I say leave well enough alone," Short said.
Atkinson, who brought a bust of Kennedy from his Capitol office to the committee room, said all he knows about the Nov. 22, 1963, shooting is that Oswald could not have acted alone.
But Atkinson said he could not agree with the premise of the controversial film "JFK" that the CIA and military conspired with right-wing conservatives to kill the president.
"That's a Hollywood effort to dramatize what took place," Atkinson said of the film. "I have no information to refute the Warren Commission report. I have ques-tions."
Those who came to testify that Kennedy was a victim of a conspiracy tried to offer their answers. A Sandy mother of seven said she feared speaking out but did so because her children deserved to see the sealed information.
"I lay in bed last night and worried about coming here. A lot of people have been killed for coming forward," said Suzanne Stagg. She said she was convinced the government was involved in the assassination.