Canfora Finds Proof
In 2007, Alan Canfora announced his discovery
of the most significant Kent State 1970 evidence
ever discovered:
digital audio recorded evidence proving the
Ohio National Guard COMMAND TO FIRE!
Timeline of key events regarding
the May 4, 1970, audio recording
made by KSU freshman student
Terry Strubbe —
and the Alan Canfora discovery and announcement
of this most important evidence ever
revealed in the Kent State murder mystery.
May 4, 1970: Starting at noon, for more than 29 minutes from the window of his Johnson Hall dormitory, KSU student Terry Strubbe tape-recorded the fateful May 4 student anti-war demonstration, Ohio National Guard attack, tear-gassing and the massacre. Within days, the FBI seized the original Strubbe reel-to-reel recording and returned a copy to Strubbe who stored it for subsequent decades in a bank safe-deposit box. The Strubbe tape is the only recording of the entire sequence of events starting with student anti-war rally at noon and concluding after the 12:24pm shooting incident.
1974: Strubbe tape analyzed for the FBI by Bolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) sound-analysis experts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A 75-page report was issued by BBN including digital-analysis of only the 13 seconds of gunfire. An analog copy of the Strubbe tape was offered as evidence in the 1974 Federal Grand Jury which indicted eight guardsmen who admitted firing into crowd of KSU students in 1970. Only the analog version of Strubbe tape admitted into evidence at trial. Guardsmen acquitted as not guilty by judge. No digital recorded proof of order to fire discovered at this time.
1975: Strubbe tape admitted as evidence at 14-week civil lawsuit trial against Ohio National Guard & Ohio Governor James Rhodes. Only analog tape played in court. Terry Strubbe testified in court and an analog cassette copy of his recording was introduced as court evidence. The 13 seconds of gunfire was played loudly in court. Sound-analysis expert Scott Robinson from BBN testified only about 13 seconds of gunfire, not the preceding seconds nor about any commands to fire. No digital evidence or testimony proving the order to fire at this time. Guardsmen & Governor Rhodes won by a 9-3 verdict which was overturned in 1977 by court of appaeals. Re-trial ordered.
1979: Lacking proof of the order to fire, families of the 13 Kent STate victims agree to end their civil lawsuit in early January with out-of-court settlement & a statement of apology signed by guardsmen & Governor Rhodes. Families of Kent State victims and attorneys including Ohio ACLU agreed to send massive collection of 1970-1979 legal materials to Yale University library archive collection of Kent State-related material.
1982: After several years of delay, Strubbe analog cassette tape was one of thousands of items sent to Yale’s library archive including massive numbers of photos, investigative material, court depositions, trial transcripts, other evidence & records. In particuler, the analog cassette copy of the Strubbe tape was sent by our attorney David Engdahl to Yale University archive in New Haven, CT., where this tape languished neglected and overlooked for decades by researchers until Alan Canfora discovered it in 2005.
2005: Kent May 4 Center Director Alan Canfora discovered the “needle in the haystack” while conducting online research for upcoming book purposes. Canfora discovered the “Strubbe tape” listed in the Kent State collection finding-list online at Yale University. Canfora called the Yale archivist by phone, inquired about attaining a digital CD copy of Strubbe tape recording and was told nobody ever requested a copy before. Upon instructions by Alan Canfora, a research assistant — Vietnam veteran Robert Johnson of Brooklyn, NY, visited the Yale archive in May of 2005. Johnson was alerted by Canfora to secure a large amount of specified Kent State materials selected online by Canfora (including a digital CD copy of the long-overlooked and under-analyzed analog cassette version of the Strubbe recording). Mission accomplished by Canfora and Johnson. Several boxes of Yale’s Kent State materials were mailed to Canfora in Ohio during autumn 2005.
2006: Alan Canfora first opened the boxes of Yale material in 2006, analyzed the digital Strubbe recording first and foremost and immediately discovered clearly shouted evidence of military commands to “fire!” immediately preceding the 12.53 seconds of deadly Ohio National Guard gunfire. Canfora discovered the missing evidence, long-suppressed or long-overlooked, which proved the cause of the Kent State tragedy. Stunned yet thrilled, Canfora alerted only a few people about his discovery of this most significant Kent State tragedy-related evidence since 1970. Before he announced his great discovery, Canfora decided to gather a massive amount of supporting evidence proving the command to “Fire!”. Eyewitness statements from 1970 by guardsmen, KSU students and others were assembled in preparation for Canfora’s announcement of the discovery of proof of the order to “Fire!”
2007: Early in the year, Alan Canfora sent the digital CD copy of the Strubbe recording to his friend in Washington, DC, sound-expert Ian Mackaye of Dischord Records & the band Fugazi, who tested and verified clear evidence of the shouted order to fire within the tape.
May 1, 2007: Alan Canfora news conference at KSU in the Student Center Kiva auditorium. Canfora announced to numerous news media his discovery of proof of the 1970 order to fire — a national & international news event. Canfora provided copies of his evidence to over 50 media representatives including digital CD copies of the Strubbe recorded evidence and printed supporting evidence of the order to fire. News is relayed worldwide immediately via viral television, radio, online and newspaper reports. New York Times, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, NPR and many media outlets spread the word worldwide.
NEW YORK TIMES, May 2, 2007:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/02kent.html
NPR, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, USA, May 1, 2007:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9946806
Winter 2010: Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper requested Strubbe CD from Alan Canfora for new expert analysis investigation.
May 8, 2010: Cleveland Plain Dealer published front-page news of verified scientific forensic proof of order to fire according to experts Stuart Allen & Tom Owens of New Jersey. Again, news was reported virally worldwide, online & via all news media.
May 11, 2010: Alan Canfora & May 4 Task Force student leaders delivered Strubbe CD evidence to US Attorney Steven Dettlebach in Cleveland & requested a new US Justice Department investigation.
In 2010, editorial boards at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal newspapers admitted the legitimacy of this digital recorded evidence and joined our call for new investigations for the sake of historical truth.
November 2, 2010: Alan Canfora & Kent May 4 Center attorneys met Assistant US Attorney General Thomas E. Perez at the office of US Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland and requested a new Justice Department investigation of forensic digital evidence in Strubbe recording.
In December of 2010, the editorial board of the Cleveland Plain Dealernewspaper again calls for a fresh investigation of the Strubbe tape by the US Justice Department.
In May of 2011, after sound-analysis expert Stuart Allen spoke during the May 4 Commemoration at Kent State University, the editorial board of the Kent Record-Courier newspaper called for a new independent investigation of evidence revealed within the Strubbe recording.
January 2012: Kent May 4 Center announced a new plan of action in Kent, Columbus and Washington.
April 23, 2012: Assistant US Attorney General Thomas Perez responded by letter to Alan Canfora. He said a new FBI analysis of the Strubbe recording was “inconclusive” and no further action would be taken by the US Justice Departmernt.
Promptly, in late April of 2012, after the US Justice Department’s fumbled “investigation”, the editorial boards of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal newspapers again call for a new investigation of the Strubbe recording evidence.
More viral news coverage worldwide reporting the negative action by the US Justice Department spreads outrage everywhere.
May 3, 2012: Kent May 4 Center, seven surviving injured Kent State casualties and May 4 Task Force announced new plans of action seeking truth, justice and a further review and verification of the digital forensic evidence contained in the Strubbe recording proving the order to fire.
2013: May 4 Movement for truth and justice, led by Alan Canfora and Kent May 4 Center, on the verge of resolving the longstanding cover-up of murder at Kent State based upon long-overlooked, concealed, recorded evidence now revealed by digital forensic technology within the Strubbe recording.
Not for the purpose of future prosecution or revenge against the guardsmen — for the sake of historical truth — these actions are taken. It is hoped some members of the 1970 Ohio National Guard will join our efforts and reveal the truth about which officer(s) issued the command to fire.
Stay tuned for further developments soon in 2013 as we continue our efforts to destroy the cover-up of the intentional massacre at Kent State which was based upon a military command to “FIRE!”
FOR INTERNET LINKS verifying this entire timeline of events,
see our BEST LINKS section here at may4.org:
