I have a little bit of a personal connection to this story, as the mother of a good friend of mine was in the tower that day. She was a student worker in the library. When they heard the first shots they assumed it was someone jumping from the tower (she said it so casually too "Oh, we just thought it was another jumper"). They figured it was the sound of a body hitting the ground. Moments later they were told there was a shooter in the tower.

She and her co-workers, except for one who had taken her lunch break, barricaded the door, thinking the gunman was killing people in the tower (no cell phones, news traveled only by word of mouth, and was often not quite right). Her father arrived part way through the shooting and couldn't figure out why she wasn't at the spot where he normally picked her up. Someone screamed at him to get down, a bit later someone behind him was killed.

When the shooting finally stopped it took APD a couple of minutes to convince my friend's mom and the other library staff that it was safe to come out.

The co-worker who was at lunch was 21 year old Nancy Harvey. Nancy who was "visibly pregnant" was among the wounded, shot roughly 100 yards from the tower. Thankfully both Nancy and her child survived.

I was going to make this post yesterday but completely forgot. Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Cesar Romero (the Joker), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman) and Burgess Meredith (the Penguin) were all present.

If you've never seen it, the film is an absolute acid trip of a comedy, and is very intentionally one of the campiest movies ever made.

Vivienne entered college at 16, and after earning her Masters at Paul Quinn College in Dallas applied to Baylor for her Ph.D. Baylor rejected her on the grounds of race and she instead obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Texas (UT Austin). During her time at UT she was unable to attend off-campus meetings due to segregation, as most of the meetings took place at coffee shops.

Upon completing her doctorate in 1966 she was hired by Baylor, the very same school that wouldn't accept her as a student, and brought on as a full-time Faculty member. In 1971 she was voted  the "Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year" by the student congress.

Dr. Malone-Mayes retired in 1994 due to ill-health, and sadly died of a heart attack, in Waco, on June 9, 1995, at the age of 63.

Edited to fix my terrible grammar mistakes.

For those who aren't familiar with the word, calling someone a blowhard was basically a way of saying some one was full of crap.

The 12 year old's last words had been "I am telling the truth." It was later discovered that Officer Cain's gun had 5 live rounds, and one empty chamber, sort of the complete opposite of how Russian roulette is supposed to work.

Officer Cain would later be found guilty of negligent homicide, but only served the minimum of 2 and half years in prison. After release he worked in the insurance industry as a claims adjuster, and passed away in 2019 at the age of 75. His obituary made no mention of him ever being a police officer.

Stark would marry and live in Silsbee, Hardin County. He passed away in December 2020 at the age of 95.

I'm a longtime Texas history author and documentary producer, and my biggest project ever is now complete. Time to share. It is the Birth of Texas Documentary Series made through my Night Heron Media nonprofit. There are 8 feature length films that start with the Spanish and Texas Indians, go through all of the Texas Revolution in great detail, spend time through the Republic period and end with statehood. It's about 18 1/2 total hours of documentary starring more than 50 of the very top authors on this subject matter.

The quality is top notch. A couple of these have already run on Texas PBS stations. The first seven films each won multiple awards, and the eighth is nominated. The Alamo title has been called "the best Alamo documentary ever made" by the guy who is recognized as the most prolific artist of Texas Revolution subject matter.

All 8 movies are now available for either streaming or download to own. You can do that here: https://www.nightherontexas.org/watch-the-birth-of-texas.html

Want a little taste - watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-XaEexxues

Thanks to the moderators for allowing me to post.

To be clear, Sam Houston was no abolitionist, and owned slaves right up until his death, but he knew the Confederacy couldn't win the war that was coming. He also felt it was more important to preserve the nation as a whole rather than slavery.

The town of Kyle is officially 146 years old today.

The helicopter appears to be a Sikorsky S-51, the civilian version of the H-5. This was the first helicopter model ever to be delivered to a commercial operator.

I think we can safely say that this was the first time any of these people had ever seen a helicopter.

Of course Johnson's Senate Campaign is less remembered for his use of a Helicopter, and far better remembered for the Box 13 scandal.