132 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
132 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
==============
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INSIDE UFOLOGY
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August 1988
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TENSIONS MOUNT OVER GULF BREEZE
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ParaNet Alpha 08/10 -- Depending on whom one chooses to believe,
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Gulf Breeze gadfly investigator Robert D. Boyd was/was not
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kicked out of MUFON.
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Boyd, who had concurrent titles of Investigations Coordinator
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for CUFOS and Alabama State Director for MUFON, was definitely
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asked to resign from the latter organization by its chief,
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Walter Andrus. But in a July 14th press release, first picked up
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by James Moseley's Saucer Smear, Boyd claimed that Andrus
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informed him "that he was no longer a member of MUFON." Andrus
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flatly denied the charge, saying "the subject never came up."
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Andrus, in a phone conversation from MUFON headquarters in
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Seguin, TX, told ParaNet that Boyd had been told to resign due
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to "unprofessional investigative techniques" in his work on the
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Gulf Breeze, FL, photographic case. He said he had asked Boyd to
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come along on the investigation last January, as a gesture of
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cooperation between the two organizations; but that since that
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time, Boyd had conducted a "smear campaign" against "Mr. Ed,"
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the chief witness in the case. Andrus said Boyd had "gone off
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half-cocked," going on talk shows as a MUFON representative with
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faulty and downright false information about the case. "I
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demanded his resignation, and he refused," said Andrus. "I
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relieved him of his duties [as State Director] anyway. But I
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never told him he was out of the organization." Simple MUFON
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membership consists mainly of a subscription to the
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organization's Journal.
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"I'm telling you that he lied to you," said Boyd in response.
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"What's in my [release] is just what happened." Boyd's release
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expresses "complete disgust" with the Gulf Breeze investigation,
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and cites "suppression of all facts, collaboration between
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investigators and/or witnesses, and a four-month campaign to
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discredit [me]." In a phone call, Boyd cited further instances
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of what he called "shoddy" techniques on the part
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of the primary investigators, Charles Flannigan, Donald Ware,
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and Andrus. In one conversation, Boyd asked Flannigan
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if one of the photos turned out to be a hoax, would it destroy
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the case in their minds? "ALL the photos would have to be proven
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hoaxes," Boyd quotes Flannigan as saying.
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Boyd still has the support of the Hynek Center, according to Don
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Schmitt, one of CUFOS' directors. And the Center is none too
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thrilled with an article in the latest MUFON Journal, in which
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Andrus made it sound as if CUFOS members were on bended knee,
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begging for forgiveness for having written several anti-Gulf
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Breeze articles. He charged that Schmitt, George
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Eberhard and others had "unwittingly accepted the distorted
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information supplied" by Boyd. He claimed that the two seemed
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"shocked by revelations of the truth," referring to information
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Andrus provided them at the MUFON Symposium at Lincoln.
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"Obviously," says Andrus, "they were embarrased for the
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premature article in the CUFOS Bulletin and the International
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UFO Reporter."
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"Nonsense," says Schmitt. "Obviously, there is a lot of
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information in this case, and some of it we have not been privy
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to. But we stand fully behind our basic premise, which is that
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of calling for an independent investigation and analysis of the
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evidence by a non-UFO entity, such as a government agency."
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Ware said that such an analysis might be in the works, but
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declined to give details.
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"We also still decry the premature publicity given the case by
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MUFON, and the premature declarations of authenticity" by such
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people as Andrus, Budd Hopkins and Donald Ware. "This case
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stands or falls on the evidence, and the evidence isn't all in
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yet."
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Generally, reaction to Boyd's alleged removal from the ranks of
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MUFON was surprise. "Does this mean we all have to agree with
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Walt in order to keep our positions?", one MUFON officer asked.
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"I thought this was a scientific organization."
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But Andrus was unruffled. "My action [regarding Boyd] was due to
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his spreading false and grossly irresponsible information about
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Ed in the name of MUFON. I would never ask anyone to resign
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simply because they didn't agree with me. But we have a certain
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standard of responsible investigation that needs to be adhered
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to."
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Boyd, in the meantime, is continuing to "research" the case from
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his home in Mobile, Alabama. He says he is offering copies of
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all his Gulf Breeze correspondence to anyone interested, for a
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small fee to cover copying and postage. And he continues to be
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outspoken about his conviction that "Mr. Ed" is a hoaxer. "I'm
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95% convinced that this is bogus," he muses. "But I'm willing to
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leave the other 5% open, just in case."
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<<>>
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COMMENTS:
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Initially, I praised Boyd for expressing the same reservations I
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had with the GB case. But as one independent researcher asked
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me, rather plaintively, "What exactly is it that Boyd is
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pointing to, regarding the evidence itself, that makes him say
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its a hoax?" I had to agree, Boyd's main contentions are with
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the quality of the investigation and the attitudes of the
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investigators. He points out very little with regard to the
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photographs, deferring instead to Dr. Willy Smith of UNICAT, who
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published one paper critical of the case. Part of that paper was
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based on weather information supplied by Ray Stanford, which was
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later discredited.
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Boyd also points to gaps in our knowledge of Mr. Ed's
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background, and rather freely bandies about the suggestion that
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Ed has done hard time at some point in the past. He offers no
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evidence except hearsay. I believe I was not supposed to print
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that; but then, Boyd didn't know me from Adam, and therefore he
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was not supposed to say that. It may very well be an example of
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the "irresponsibility" Andrus spoke of.
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As Boyd said, there's politics, ego, and wishful thinking at
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work here. However, without solid evidence, we have not the
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slightest reason to call this an outright hoax.
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As the independent researcher said, poor investigative
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techniques "are not Ed's fault." However, without a high
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standard of investigative thoroughness, we have not the
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slightest reason to call this "proof of extraterrestrial
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visitation."
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Our ParaNet rating remains: S5/P2.
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