It's 1963, it's the South, and OSHA ain't the OSHA we know today. I would bet that most every Tom, Dick, and Harry that had been at the TSBD 2 weeks would be capable of handling an alleged forklift when mandated by mgt or a straw boss like Shelley. I would Not be surprised if they shuttled the same forklift between the 2 TSBD's. They also had a railroad spur running behind the TSBD which wrapped around the rear of the Pergola. I doubt TSBD employees would be loading/unloading the railroad cars sitting on this Spur by hand. My major concerns would be: (1) Where was the alleged TRUCK specifically located while being unloaded? and (2) Was the truck gone by the time the JFK Limo passed by the TSBD? We already have that mysterious Laundry Truck that was parked at the corner of Elm/Houston St/ right alongside the Dal Tex Bld. This Laundry Truck Immediately Vanished after the Kill Shot. Now, we are hearing about an Additional Truck that was present at the TSBD 30 minutes before the Kill Shot. Mmmmmmm...........
Have you ever operated a fork lift AKA "tow motor" in a cramped commercial or industrial environment, navigating the thing from floor to floor, with a load, on and off a freight elevator?
I have several thousand hours experience, servicing "piece work" process machine operators with a continuous supply of pre-processed material to keep their machines operating without interruption.
Are you aware these lift trucks steer via the rear wheels, each turn of the steering wheel having the opposite effect of conventional front wheel steering, or that visibility in front is difficult with a load on the forks when
attempting entry onto a freight elevator... judging when the vehicle is deep enough intp the elevator to be able to close the door? Are you aware that these lift trucks "rock" like a see-saw when overloaded, lifting the rear, steering wheels off the ground, making control impossible without adequate experience using braking and acceleration to set the rear, steering wheels on the ground long enough to even make a turn when "see-sawing"?
If not, why did you bother to post? Supervisors need to walk arounf their own shop. The last thing a supervisor conscious of his own safety would do is to permit inexperienced workers to operate a fork lift. This is why, in the interests of safety and efficiency, most commercial operations designate who operates a fork lift regularly and who does not. A loading dock requires experienced lift truck operators even more than other work areas because of the potential to damage a delivery truck while maneuvering the lifting forks in a dark, confined area like the inside of an enclosed truck. Untill you've maneuvered a large lift truck on and off a flatbed trailer with no side walls, one front drive wheel partially extended into open aire on the flatbed edge with a four ton load on the forks, you haven't lived!
I once had to page at an airport an executive of the company I had driven a lift truck at before I was promoted into management, to advise him that his son. just graduated from high school and working that summer as a temporary maintenance crew member, was in the emergency room receiving treatment for pelvic and abdominal injuries resulting from "contact" with a lift truck that had trapped him against the back wall of the freight elevator the two were sharing.
There is no actual evidence the individual making the claims about Oswald unloading his truck with a fork lift was actually even at TSBD that day, and certainly none that he sat on the TSBD vestibule steps. as he claimed, more than forty years later!
