textfiles/ufo/insd0988.asc

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INSIDE UFOLOGY
September 1988
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GULF BREEZE UPDATE

        ParaNet Alpha 09/14 -- There seems to be no end in sight to the
        turmoil being stirred up by the already-legendary Gulf Breeze,
        FL photographic case. If the matter were settled tomorrow one
        way or the other, it will still take years to repair the rifts
        it has caused in many ufological camps.

        Several resignations have reportedly come in the wake of Walt
        Andrus' firing of Robert Boyd. At least one, that of National
        Public Information Director Marge Christensen of Tucson, was
        headed off at the last minute by Andrus, who reportedly promised
        her he would cease and desist from further "unscientific"
        statements in the MUFON Journal, which statements implied
        all-out endorsement of the case as real. In the monthly MUFON
        Newsletter, a semi-private organ circulated to State Directors
        and other key researchers, Christensen complained of being
        "dismayed by what I consider to be unprofessional and certainly
        unscientific conduct...and comments in print...in regard to
        speculation about privately held views of members of CUFOS." But
        after speaking with Andrus and Deputy Director Dan Wright,
        Christensen agreed to a leave of absence until after the
        November Presidential elections. But privately, she holds out
        little hope of rejoining the organization. "Walt seems bound and
        determined to make this case a cause celebre," she told ParaNet.
        "I hope he is really listening to reason, and not just
        sweet-talking me to keep me in MUFON."

        But other resignations may follow. Richard Hall, Deputy Director
        for Publications and author of the recent "Uninvited Guests,"
        told ParaNet he is "spearheading a campaign" to get MUFON to
        look more closely at its Gulf Breeze investigation, and to be
        more responsible in its public statements about the case. Hall,
        one of Ufology's savviest practitioners, reportedly called for
        an "extraordinary meeting of the Board" of MUFON via
        Teleconference, and it is said he will resign if the group
        continues its present course. According to various sources, that
        course may include a major media thrust in the near future,
        possibly including a press conference timed to coincide with the
        upcoming TV documentaries that will showcase the UFO situation.

        At least one of those documentaries, the NBC program "Unsolved
        Mysteries," to air on October 5th, is said to be "very pro-Gulf
        Breeze." The other will apparently be more balanced, but one of
        the producers of that program, Tracy Torme, is very taken with
        the case. "I went there [to Gulf Breeze] 85% convinced that its
        real, and after talking to Ed for two days, I'm now 99%
        convinced. I'm leaving the door open for the slight possibility
        that all of the witnesses, including Ed's wife and teenage
        daughter, are lying." Torme will appear in a live nationwide
        computer conference on CompuServe Sept. 18th.

        In other developments:

        - UFO debunker Phil Klass got wind of the fact that ParaNet was
        snooping around to find out whether CSICOP was behind the Gulf
        Breeze affair. He called us to deny any knowledge of such a
        "constructive hoax." "Certainly CSICOP has nothing to do with it,
        and, while [fellow debunker Amazing] Randi DOES live down there,
        I highly doubt he has anything to do with it either."

        - Klass has found a flaw in one of the photos that may be
        significant. While a streetlight in the shot can plainly be seen to
        be blurred in such a way as to indicate camera movement, the UFO
        remains perfectly focused and sharp-edged. Photoanalyst Bruce
        Maccabee explains that Ed was "tracking" the moving object with
        the camera; however, Klass doubts that such can be done so
        clearly with a one-second time exposure in low ambient light.

        - ParaNet spoke with the Mayor of Gulf Breeze, the honorable
        Edward Grey. Grey, a long-time friend of "Mr. Ed," the main
        percipient, claims the whole thing is a hoax. "Ed is a heck of a
        nice guy, very charming, but it is totally consistent with his
        personality to pull off a stunt like this." When asked if it was
        also consistent with the personalities of Mrs. Ed or Ed's
        daughter, the Mayor replied, "Well, I wouldn't know about that."
        When asked about the other 135 witnesses reported to have seen
        the object, Grey is doubtful. "When you have a lot of publicity
        attached to something like this, people are bound to look up in
        the sky and report any strange thing. They may have seen UFOs,
        but to my knowledge no one is seeing or experiencing the things
        that Ed is supposedly seeing. And in all this time, no one on
        Ed's block has seen a thing." The Mayor seemed unaware that Ed's
        across-the-street neighbors have reportedly had a sighting of an
        object very similar to Ed's -- despite the fact that they don't
        know that their neighbor Ed is the famous UFO witness being
        talked about.

        - Grey complained that neither of the two documentaries had been
        in touch with his office. Nor, for that matter, had any of the
        MUFON investigators. We understand now, however, that the
        producers of "UFO COVER-UP" (Oct. 14th) have made an appointment
        to interview the Mayor live during that broadcast (partially,
        perhaps, at our urging).

        For some undefinable reason, it seems many people are looking to
        October, the month of the TV expose's, as the time when the case
        will be resolved. Perhaps because it would be a perfect time for
        a debunker, or Ed himself, to jump up and yell "Gotcha!" Or
        perhaps because, with the increased scrutiny such national
        exposure will bring, a competent investigator will stumble
        across the "string in the photos" -- or the smoking gun that
        shows it to be genuine. Whatever the reason, the general feeling
        seems to be that this "can't go on much longer."


MORE ON THE OCT. 14TH EXPOSE'

        Although we have been in constant contact with the producers of
        "UFO COVER-UP: LIVE," sad to say we cannot divulge much of what
        we have been told. We can, however, pass along two exclusive
        tid-bits. First, a host has been chosen: it is Mike Farrell, he
        who portrayed B.J. Hunnicut in the "M*A*S*H" TV series.

        Second, one particularly fascinating segment will feature a live
        interview with Col. William Coleman of Indian Harbor, FL. Col.
        Coleman is a retired Air Force bomber pilot and former Public
        Information Officer of Project Blue Book. As reported in this
        column two months ago, Col. Coleman is also a witness to a
        high-strangeness UFO encounter, back in the early fifties -- an
        encounter he was forced, by dint of his position, to DENY for
        many years. Sit back and think for a second...a former Air Force
        Officer, once charged with custody of the government's public
        UFO study, will go on the record as having sighted a metallic,
        saucer-shaped object that maneuvered at speeds of up to 25,000
        mph. And he will do it ON LIVE TV TO A NATIONWIDE AUDIENCE. Is
        the dam starting to break?


MEANWHILE, BACK AT MJ-12...

        Citizens Against UFO Secrecy is going to print an item in their next
        issue dealing with Prof. Ronald Westcott. You may recall that
        Westcott is the highly-touted "linguistics analyst" from
        Princeton who checked out the Eisenhower Briefing Document (the
        main MJ-12 document) and concluded it could indeed have been
        written by the Admiral. The Moore team, which is pushing the
        documents as possibly real, made a big to-do about Westcott's
        credentials and impartiality. Well, the credentials are in
        place, but according to the CAUS story, the impartiality may be
        in question. Westcott's name is alleged to be connected with
        Brad Steiger's Star People movement, and supposedly he has
        written on several New Age issues in the past.

        Stan Friedman is not impressed, however. "I recall [Westcott]
        writing some less-than-complimentary things about the ET
        Hypothesis," says the MJ-12 researcher. He also told us that the
        Hillenkoetter document is now in the hands of a questioned
        documents analyst, for further verification.

                --Jim Speiser