Excerpt from testimony given before the so-called ‘Stillson Committee’, chaired by Senator William Cohen of Maine. The questioner is Mr. Norman D. Verizer, the
Committee’s Chief Counsel. The witness is Mr. Keith Strang, of 1421 Desert Boulevard, Phoenix, Arizona. Date of testimony: August 17, 1979.
Verizer: And at this time, John Smith was in the employ of the Phoenix Public Works Department, was he not?
Strang: Yes, Sir, he was.
V: This was early December of 1978.
S: Yes, Sir.
V: And did something happen on December 7 that you particularly remember?
Something concerning John Smith?
S: Yes, Sir. It sure did.
V: Tell the Committee about that, if you would.
S: Well, I had to go back to the central motor pool to get two forty-gallon drums of orange paint. We were lining roads, you understand. Johnny – that’s Johnny Smith -was out on Rosemont Avenue on the day you’re talking about, putting down new lane markings. Well, I got back out there at approximately four-fifteen – about forty-five minutes before knocking-off time – and this fellow Herman Joellyn that you’ve already talked to, he comes up to me and says, ‘You better check on Johnny, Keith. Something’s wrong with Johnny. I tried to talk to him and he acted like he didn’t hear. He almost run me down. You better get him straight.’ That’s what he said. So I said, ‘What’s wrong with him, Hermie?’ And Hermie says, ‘Check it out for yourself, there’s something offwhack with that dude.’ So I drove on up the road, and at first everything was all right, and then –
wow!
V: What did you see?
S: Before I saw Johnny, you mean.
V: Yes, that’s right.
S: The line he was putting down started to go haywire. Just a little bit at first – a jig here and there, a little bubble – it wasn’t perfectly straight, you know. And Johnny had always been the best liner on the whole crew. Then it started to get really bad. It started to go all over the road in these big loops and swirls. Some places it was like he’d gone right round in circles a few times. For about a hundred yards he’d put the stripe right along the dirt shoulder.
V: What did you do?
S: I stopped him. That is, eventually I stopped him. I pulled up right beside the lining machine and started yelling at him. Must have yelled half a dozen times. It was like he didn’t hear. Then he swooped that thing toward me and put a helluva ding in the side of the car I was driving. Highway Department Property, too. So I laid on the horn and yelled at him again, and that seemed to get through to him. He threw it in neutral and looked over at me. I asked him what in the name of God he thought he was doing.
V: And what was his response?
S: He said hi. That was all. ‘Hi, Keith.’ Like everything was hunky-dory.
V: And your response was…?
S: My response was pretty blue. I was mad. And Johnny is just standing there, looking all around and holding onto the side of the liner like he would fall down if he let go. That was when I realized how sick he looked. He was always thin, you know, but now he looked as white as paper, and the side of his mouth was kind of …you know… drawn down. At first he didn’t even seem to get what I was saying. Then he looked around and saw the way that line was – all over the road.
V: And he said…?
S: Said he was sorry. Then he kind of – I don’t know -staggered, and put one hand up to his face. So I asked him what was wrong with him and he said… oh, a lot of confused stuff. It didn’t mean anything.
Cohen: Mr. Strang, the Committee is particularly interested in anything Mr. Smith said that might cast a light on this matter. Can you remember what he said?
S: Well, at first he said there was nothing wrong except that it smelled like rubber tires.