97 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
97 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
|
SUBJECT: SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN FILE: UFO2765
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
MUFONET-BBS Network - Mutual UFO Network
|
|||
|
|
------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
January 27, 1989
|
|||
|
|
American-Statesman
|
|||
|
|
Austin, Texas
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Private citizens <20>who <20>have <20>reported <20>UFO <20>sightings <20>to <20>government
|
|||
|
|
officials sometimes complain of secrecy, frustration and laughter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Floyd Petri <20>founded <20>the Center for <20>Instrumented <20>UFO <20>Research <20>in
|
|||
|
|
Bastrop in part to circumvent such bureaucratic hassles.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Our <20>purpose is to confirm the existence or nonexistence of the <20>UFO
|
|||
|
|
by scientific means," said Petri, a retired police chief.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Before organizations such as this existed, an individual was nothing
|
|||
|
|
more than a UFO buff or a witness. Often, after people made a report to
|
|||
|
|
the <20>authorities, <20><>that was the last they heard of it. <20><>Any <20>physical
|
|||
|
|
evidence they offered went up in smoke."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Petri <20>said <20>the <20>10-year-old center is <20>accumulating <20>equipment <20>and
|
|||
|
|
personnel to set up a monitoring station and a field unit, <20>probably in
|
|||
|
|
a van. Both will be equipped with devices such as radar, mangetometers,
|
|||
|
|
cameras, <20>video equipment, radiation and sound detection equipment, and
|
|||
|
|
chart recorders.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"There are many Americans who are funding this kind of research right
|
|||
|
|
out <20>of their own pockets," <20>he said. <20>"Just like there are people <20>who
|
|||
|
|
spend thousands of dollars a year fishing. This is my hobby. This is
|
|||
|
|
where my money goes. There also have been donations and benefactors
|
|||
|
|
interested in our research."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The scientific instrumentation -- much of which the center owns --
|
|||
|
|
sounds impressive. But some of the most fruitful research -- retrieving
|
|||
|
|
government documents pertaining to UFOs --forces the private UFO
|
|||
|
|
investigator to use simpler but equally powerful tools such as
|
|||
|
|
typewriters and the mail.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"The Freedom of Information Act is one of the nicest things that ever
|
|||
|
|
happened to us," Petri said. "There is a world of information in the
|
|||
|
|
hands of the government and individuals. If it was gathered, studied
|
|||
|
|
and disseminated properly, the information would shed some light on the
|
|||
|
|
UFO enigma. Many groups are trying to do that now."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Petri's organization is interested in investigating suspected landing
|
|||
|
|
sites and trace materials from all kinds of encounters -- from cattle
|
|||
|
|
mutilations to indentations thought to be made by saucer landing pods.
|
|||
|
|
And the center is involved in the computer enhancement of photos
|
|||
|
|
showing UFOs to determine their validity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
UFO abduction cases also draw the center's attention if there's
|
|||
|
|
evidence in addition to an abductee's account.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Petri also serves as state section director of Bastrop and Travis
|
|||
|
|
Counties for the Mutual UFO Network.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The center and MUFON work together to train UFO investigators,
|
|||
|
|
discuss cases and plan field trips for investigations. Joint meetings
|
|||
|
|
are under the acronym PULSE --Project UFO Landings, Sightings and
|
|||
|
|
Encounters -- so the two organizations can maintain separate
|
|||
|
|
identities.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"The goals are to share information and ferret out bad, distorted
|
|||
|
|
information," Petri said. "So the organizations don't mind
|
|||
|
|
communicating."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Ten members are training to be field investigators. Three have been
|
|||
|
|
trained. Most are professional people with skills such as photography,
|
|||
|
|
computers, legal investigation and medicine.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Membership is by invitation. The center seeks people with
|
|||
|
|
professional expertise that could be of use in UFO investigations.
|
|||
|
|
Though it costs nothing to join, members must subscribe to the MUFON
|
|||
|
|
UFO Journal.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"We're not here to make converts but to collect evidence," Petri said.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**********************************************
|
|||
|
|
* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
|
|||
|
|
**********************************************
|