Waylon Jennings - Country outlaw.
February 13, 2002 – Controversies On Ice – Waylon Jennings: Passing Of A Country Legend – Trial Of
February 13, 2002 – CBS World News Roundup, Late Edition – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
February 13, 2002 – Lots of news this day.
Starting with the International Skating Union calling a conference in Salt Lake City to announce what it called an “internal assessment” of allegedly tainted judging in a pairs Competition some days earlier. The news conference was at times confrontational, with Skating Union President Octavio Cinquanta insisting nothing had been proving in an otherwise embarrassing situation. He told reporters he was prepared to take action when the Skating Union gathered the following week to review allegations. Although he expressed that he did not have the power the change the initial results, by the end of the conference he hinted he might.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill – House members were last-minute tackling Campaign Finance Reform legislation. In key preliminary votes, about 50 Republicans had been supporting the measure to ban Soft Money and restrict last minute campaign ads by outside groups saying it would hurt their party, which usually raises more money than Democrats, while Democrats claimed the influx of soft money from large corporate interests would hold both parties hostage. However, passing of any one of a number of amendments could sink the bill and voting was expected to go into the wee hours of the morning.
Arraignment began this day for 21 year old John Walker Lindh, accused of conspiring with terrorists, he pleaded Not Guilty to the charges he was linked to the murder of a CIA officer at the Afghan prison where Lindh was being held. At this point, Federal prosecutors had not been able to produce much proof that Lindh was directly responsible for the officer’s death. The trial was slated to officially begin late summer.
And Country music legend Waylon Jennings died this day. Jennings died at his home in Chandler, Arizona from complications due to Diabetes. Jennings, the black-clad Outlaw of Country Music achieved success on his own terms and shunned accolades. He was largely associated with the Outlaw Country movement. In an interview, Waylon Jennings recalled the restrictions of the Nashville establishment: “They wouldn’t let you do anything. You had to dress a certain way: you had to do everything a certain way…. They kept trying to destroy me…. I just went about my business and did things my way…. You start messing with my music, I get mean.”
Jennings was also associated with the fatal Buddy Holly tour in 1959, where a coin toss determined who would be on the plane and who would be on the bus. Jennings lost and Holly took the plane, which crashed taking Holly’s life along with Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper. It was a dubious distinction which haunted Jennings for the rest of his life.
Waylon Jennings was 64.
And that’s what was going on, this February 13, 2002 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup: Late Edition.
