textfiles/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1673.ufo

SUBJECT: UPDATE ON GULFBREEZE                                FILE: UFO1673




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UFO REPORT POLITICAL, OFFICIAL SAYS
By Craig Myers
NEWS JOURNAL (TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1990)
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A report that Gulf Breeze resident Ed Walters may have faked 
photographs of UFOs is designed to hurt Walters' campaign for 
city council, a Mutual UFO Network official said Monday.

Dan Wright, who heads UFO investigations for MUFON, said 
Monday the organization is " concerned that one of our 
investigators may have taken sides in a political dispute."

Walters co-wrote " The Gulf Breeze Sightings," which recounts 
encounters he claims to have had with UFOs between November 
1987 and March 1988. He is a candidate for City Council in 
Gulf Breeze on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Walters would not comment Monday, but said earlier this month 
that his alleged UFO encounters were not an issue in the 
campaign.

The issue resurfaced Friday after Rex and Carol Salisberry, 
investigators for the UFO network, released a summary of a 
preliminary report that said Walters likely faked at least two 
photographs reproduced in his book.

The Salisberrys, MUFON investigators of the year in 1989-1990, 
were asked in July to reopen the case.

The new probe was prompted by the discovery of a model in the 
attic of Walters' former home in Gulf Breeze. The plastic foam 
and drafting paper model strongly resembled a drawing of an 
alleged UFO in Walters' book.

In another incident, a former Gulf Breeze man said he helped 
Walters fake UFO photos at least once in 1987.

On Monday, Wright said that Gulf Breeze Mayor Ed Gray, a 
longtime critic of Walters, may have "pressed" the Salisberrys 
to release their report before election. 

" It is possible that Gray may have found a sympathetic ear," 
Wright said in a telephone interview from Lansing, Mich., 
where he lives.

But Salisberry said that Gray had absolutely no influence on 
the report's release. " I could care less about the City 
Council race," Salisberry said. " I don't live in Gulf 
Breeze."

Gray would not comment on Wright's allegations.

In his report, Salisberry questioned the legitimacy of the 
so-called " road shot " which shows a UFO hovering over a 
road.

The reflection of the spacecraft, which should be flat, 
actually is at an angle that does not match the road's 
surface. The triangular shape of the reflection also does not 
match the round light source, Salisberry said.

Salisberry said that he told MUFON International Director Walt 
Andrus in September that he believed Walters faked some, if 
not all, of his photos. It was then, he said, that he learned 
some MUFON members were trying to discredit him.

Before the personal attacks began, he said he decided to make 
public his findings. " I told them we would not tolerate being 
discredited," he said. " We were already being categorized as 
debunkers They have a history of shooting the messenger."

Wright on Monday said evidence still indicates Walters' photos 
are legitimate and that MUFON has no interest in the City 
Council race.

" If we find Rex didn't take into consideration all factors 
and didn't make all the necessary contacts, we may have to 
determine it is an incomplete report," Wright said.
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                  COMMENTS BY SUBMITTER
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Ed Gray, Mayor of Gulf Breeze, wasn't asked about nor told 
about the report until after it was given to the NEWS JOURNAL. 
Mr Gray expressed disappointment that it had been released and 
would have preferred that things remain quiet until after the 
election. Just as good an argument could have been raised 
afterwards, if he was elected, because it could have then been 
said that it was to ruin him politically.

Truth and timing are two different things. The point still 
remains that if the Salisberry's report isn't reviewed then 
MUFON has chosen to ignore information supplied by their two 
top investigators of 1990.

In the first article, Walt Andrus said that the Salisberrys 
had not submitted their report, and Dr. Maccabee said he 
hadn't  seen anything in the report to convince him it was a 
hoax. ( What goes here? A lack of communication or what!

In the second article, Dan Wright says " MUFON has no interest 
in the GULF Breeze politics". I'm confused I thought that he 
used politics as his reason for the report? When is a politic 
not a politic?

In the second article, Dan Wright says that the report may 
have to be labeled an incomplete report. (Which report? The 
one Walt doesn't have, the one Maccabee doesn't believe, or 
the one Dan Wright thinks isn't complete? I know all you have 
to do is decide who's on first, What's on second, and why's on 
third. I don't know about you, but me is on home, and you're 
the umpire.

On one additional note, the other night there was a political 
forum for the candidates in the local election. Questions on 
major issues were assigned to particular chairs at the table 
prior to the meeting. They were in sealed envelopes, and the 
candidates sat where they pleased, choosing they own seats , 
and knowing what was planned. You got it! Ed Walters got the 
one on UFOs. The question was " Do you think that UFO 

       
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