81 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
81 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN FILE: UFO1251
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DATE OF ARTICLE: January 27, 1989
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SOURCE OF ARTICLE: American-Statesman
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LOCATION: Austin, Texas
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BYLINE: NONE
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========================================================
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
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AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
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SERVICE
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========================================================
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SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN
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Private citizens who have reported UFO sightings to
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government officials sometimes complain of secrecy, frustration
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and laughter.
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Floyd Petri founded the Center for Instrumented UFO Research
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in Bastrop in part to circumvent such bureaucratic hassles.
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"Our purpose is to confirm the existence or nonexistence of
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the UFO by scientific means," said Petri, a retired police chief.
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"Before organizations such as this existed, an individual
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was nothing more than a UFO buff or a witness. Often, after
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people made a report to the authorities, that was the last they
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heard of it. Any physical evidence they offered went up in
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smoke."
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Petri said the 10-year-old center is accumulating equipment
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and personnel to set up a monitoring station and a field unit,
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probably in a van. Both will be equipped with devices such as
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radar, mangetometers, cameras, video equipment, radiation and
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sound detection equipment, and chart recorders.
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"There are many Americans who are funding this kind of
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research right out of their own pockets," he said. "Just like
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there are people who spend thousands of dollars a year fishing.
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This is my hobby. This is where my money goes. There also have
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been donations and benefactors interested in our research."
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The scientific instrumentation -- much of which the center
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owns -- sounds impressive. But some of the most fruitful
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research -- retrieving government documents pertaining to UFOs --
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forces the private UFO investigator to use simpler but equally
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powerful tools such as typewriters and the mail.
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"The Freedom of Information Act is one of the nicest things
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that ever happened to us," Petri said. "There is a world of
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information in the hands of the government and individuals. If
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it was gathered, studied and disseminated properly, the
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information would shed some light on the UFO enigma. Many groups
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are trying to do that now."
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Petri's organization is interested in investigating
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suspected landing sites and trace materials from all kinds of
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encounters -- from cattle mutilations to indentations thought to
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be made by saucer landing pods. And the center is involved in
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the computer enhancement of photos showing UFOs to determine
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their validity.
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UFO abduction cases also draw the center's attention if
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there's evidence in addition to an abductee's account.
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Petri also serves as state section director of Bastrop and
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Travis Counties for the Mutual UFO Network.
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The center and MUFON work together to train UFO
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investigators, discuss cases and plan field trips for
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investigations. Joint meetings are under the acronym PULSE --
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Project UFO Landings, Sightings and Encounters -- so the two
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organizations can maintain separate identities.
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"The goals are to share information and ferret out bad,
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distorted information," Petri said. "So the organizations don't
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mind communicating."
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Ten members are training to be field investigators. Three
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have been trained. Most are professional people with skills
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such as photography, computers, legal investigation and medicine.
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Membership is by invitation. The center seeks people with
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professional expertise that could be of use in UFO
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investigations. Though it costs nothing to join, members must
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subscribe to the MUFON UFO Journal.
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"We're not here to make converts but to collect evidence,"
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Petri said.
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=================================================================
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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**********************************************
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