Post #504993 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Jan 17, 2010 8:52 AM

How perfect that the writer of the article worked at the "Institute of Aerospace Sciences" in Los Angeles!!! :)
A prolific author of crime fiction who took up racism and gun control in his books, seems like he was a great guy!:

John Ball Biography

Born in Schenectady, New York, John Dudley Ball Jr. served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps and was later a columnist, broadcaster, and director of public relations for the Institute of Aerospace Sciences in Los Angeles.

In the Heat of the Night (1965) introduced Tibbs, an astute black police detective from Pasadena, California, who becomes inadvertently involved with murder in a racially and socially bigoted town in South Carolina. In this award-winning novel and the 1967 film adaptation, Ball's message was “don't judge minorities until you know what you're talking about.” His social consciousness is also evident in Johnny Get Your Gun (1969; Death for a Playmate), in which he addressed the implications of gun ownership.

Ball prided himself on research into such fields as jade collecting and the import-export business (Five Pieces of Jade, 1972) and forensic detail, which was always crucial to the solutions he presented to his crimes. His impeccably researched settings and police procedures are also evident in his books featuring Jack Tallon, beginning with Police Chief (1977), as well as in his nonseries works.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/john-ball/