249 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
249 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: MACABBEE REFUTES TOMMY SMITH/ED GREY FILE: UFO1686
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The following text is a letter to the editor that appeared
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in the July 5, 1990 issue of the Gulf Breeze Sentinel. It is from
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Dr. Bruce Maccabee and disputes recent UFO hoax charges made
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against the Walters family.
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Dear Editor:
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Ed Gray may know how to govern the town of Gulf Breeze, but he
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obviously knows little about the UFO subject.
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He claimes that he knew early on (over two years ago) from
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"logic and common sense" that the Walters sightings were a hoax,
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yet he admits that he had "no conclusive proof the sightings of Ed
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Walters were fabricated." However, the lack of conclusive proof
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did not prevent him from making, about two years ago, a public
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statement that he believed the sightings to be a hoax." He does
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not explain the "logic and common sense" that led to his statement.
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However, I suspect that what he really means is that, so far as he
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knows UFOs don't exist and hence photos of them must be fakes.
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If he had studied the subject more, or had paid more attention to
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the reports of many of his own constituents, he might have been
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less positive in his conclusion. Perhaps he should talk to Ken
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Fortenberry, the Managing Editor of the Pensacola News Journal
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regarding the reality of UFOs.
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He claims that the "many other sightings by well respected
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citizens," sightings which he couldn't dispute, were a result of
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"the power of suggestion and the very real occurrences of so much
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air traffic in our area." As experienced UFO investigators know,
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this sort of explanation can account for some sightings of the
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"nightlights" or "daylight disc" type in which the witness' description
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is vague or differes only slightly from the descriptions of
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conventional objects in the sky. However, this cannot explain
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sightings of distinctively unusual objects with strange flight
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dynamics (e.g., able to hover silently at low altitude), nor can
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it explain reports of daytime or nighttime sightings, sometimes
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by many witnesses at once, of structured objects which are
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distinctively shaped UNLIKE conventional objects.
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Mayor Gray says that during the two years between his first
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public statement and the present time he was dismayed to see
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the Walters sightings had been turned into a book since he knew
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it was a hoax. He claims that he received numerous phone calls
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about the subject and either mentioned his opinion that it was a
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hoax or else he "declined to discuss it because I was fed up with
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the topic." Perhaps being "fed up with the topic" prevented him
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from reading any of the generally available literature on the
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subject and thus informing himself about the nationwide and
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worldwide occurrences of sightings by all sorts of people. If he
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attends the MUFON symposium he will learn how seriously
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this subject is treated by scientific invesitgators from around
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the world.
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Mayor Gray says that the first "break" came with the discovery
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of the model. He attempts to explain how this discovery came
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about by suggesting that Ed "miscalculated how safely buried
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under insulation in his former residence's attic the model of the
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UFO would be. He didn't want to chance the model being discovered
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should he move it and thus left it there, or he carelessly forgot
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about it since it had been several months since he had used it.
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That the Mayor should try to "rationalize" the discovery of the
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model is understandable (he must have some justification for how
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it happened to still exist and be found), but his rationalization is
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silly. If Ed's sightings were a hoax based on that model then he is
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a "genius" in carrying it off thus far. It is hard to imagine that
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this genius would be so stupid as to silmply hide incriminating
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evidence under insulation. It is much more likely that he would
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destroy it. Even Tommy Smith, the formerly anonymous witness
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against Ed, realizes that (assuming Ed hoaxed the photos) Ed would
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not let any incriminating evidence be found. He states in his
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testimony (the truth of which is not proven) that "Ed was pretty
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careful with that stuff. Anything he was worried about he
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usually burned." But as Mayor Gray listened to Mr. Smith he
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somehow missed this clue that Ed would have burned any
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models.
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We now know that the model is not evidence against Ed. Not
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only is it clearly not what appears in Ed"s photos, but it didn't
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even exist before September 1989, about two years after Ed's
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first photos. (I don't expect the mayor to now claim that Ed made
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a model in September 1989, nearly two years after his reported
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sightings, and then hid it in the house which he hadn't lived in
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since December 1988.)
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Apparently the testimony by Tommy Smith was the "last straw"
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for Gray who decided to once again, and forcefully this time, state
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his position.
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Although this testimony was convincing to Gray, I have found ten
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items that are discussed in the testimony which have technical
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errors. I will mention just three. I would not expect Mayor Gray
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to have realized the errors in the first two of these items, but I
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should think that one or both of the reporters would have realized
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there was something "fishy." On the other hand, even the Mayor,
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I should think, would have questioned the third item.
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The first items were the subject of a letter I sent on June 18th
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to the Pensacola News Journal. One item has to do with the
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explanation of how the model was supposedly supported while
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Ed photographed it. According to Mr. Smith, and more or less
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as illustrated in the PNJ (Sunday, June 17), Ed had a "tripod
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set up with a flashlight pointing straight up," and sitting on the
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flashlight "was part of a PVC pipe that was black and he had it
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sliced at an angle, and he would tape the spaceship on top and the
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flashlight would shine up and illuminate the spaceship." This
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method of mounting the model would block the back side of the
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"power ring" at the bottom of the model from the direct view of the
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camera. Hence every one of Ed's photos, if made this way, would
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show a rather wide black gap in the more distant part (the lowest
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portion in the photos) of the "power ring." I suggest the reader
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look at the pictures in Ed's book to see in how many cases the
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complete ring is visible. The light coming up through the pipe
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would directly illuminate the top of the model leaving the bottom
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relatively dark (depending upon the exact size of the pipe relative
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to the model), in contrast to the actual photos which have a very
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bright bottom.
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The second item involves the Nimslo stereo camera. According to
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Mr. Smith, "from what he (Ed) told me, he went out and took a
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picture of an airplane landing at night." This explanation is
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completely contradicted by the photographic data. First, the
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images recorded by the camera do not at all look like an airplane
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at night. Second, the stereo effect (parallax) created by the two outer
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lenses of the camera show that the photographed object was no
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more than 100 ft. from the camera (the actual range estimate is
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40 to 70 feet). At that range the length of the object, as determined
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by the length of the image and the camera optics, was less than
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6 feet. An airplane full of micromidget UFOnauts perhaps? The
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above information on the results of the analysis of the Nimslo
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photos has been available for two years in a document published
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by the Fund for UFO Research entitiled "A History of the Gulf Breeze
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Sightings." More importantly, the size information was immediate
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available to the reporters for comparison with Smith's testimony
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because it is on page 301 of The Gulf Breeze Sightings by Ed and
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Frances Walters. (Reporter Myers told me he had read the book.)
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The third item is one that almost anyone who has a lawn can
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understand. When asked about how Ed created the circle on dead
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grass in the field behind his house, near the high school, Mr.
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Smith said, "If I remember correctly, he told me that he turned a
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small trampoline upside down for a while and jumped up and
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and down on it." This is patently rediculous. Aside from the fact
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that a 13 foot diameter circle would require more than a "small"
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trampoline to cover it, the grass in that circle was somehow
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killed during the winter (the circle was discovered in February
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1988) and remained dead for several months as the grass around
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the circle turned green and grew during the spring. I have a
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photograph taken in May showing the circle still brown. At the
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time that the circle was found there was a suggestion that some
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chemical was used to kill it, but no residue was found. One would
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think that as silly an explanation as this would have at least raised
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the eyebrows of all who were listening.
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What led Mr. Smith to claim, in all seriousness, apparently, the
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latter two explanations for the Nimslo photos and the circle?
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According to Mr. Smith Ed TOLD him. Yet these explanations
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(airplane and trampoline) CANNOT BE TRUE. Hence there must
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have been fabrication on someone's part. There are several
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possibilities, two of which are: (a) Ed admitted to Smith that he
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(Ed) faked the Nimslo photos and faked the circles, yet Ed lied
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to Smith about how he faked them; (b) Ed told the complete truth
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to Smith but Smith, for some reason, didn't tell the complete
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truth to the interviewers; (c) Ed told the complete truth to Smith
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but Smith forgot what Ed had told him and made up explanations
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on the spot to satisfy the interviewers.
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None of these explanations for Smith's statements makes any
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sense. If he didn't remember what Ed had said, why not simply
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say, "I don't know." If Ed trusted Mr. Smith so explicitly as to
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admit to him that he faked the Nimslo photos and the circle,
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then why wouldn't Ed tell him exactly how the fakes were done?
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(Why hide the true explanations from Mr. Smith who, according
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to Smith, had watched Ed create double exposure fakes?) On the
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other hand, if Ed told Mr. Smith how the fakes were done, then why
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wouldn't Mr. Smith tell the investigators?
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There is, of course, at least one other possible reason for why Mr.
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Smith told the investigators about the "airplane and trampoline
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explanations." I suppose that the reader can imagine what it is.
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Mr. Gray says that he wrote the published letter while "in route
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back from meeting an accomplice to Ed Walters...", Hank Boland.
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Hank was the only non-Walters family member mentioned by
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Smith as being involved in the hoax. Hank has vehemently denied
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any involvement in a hoax and instead has testified that he, too,
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saw the UFO. This testimony was first recorded by the MUFON
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investigators in February 1988. His testimony was "voice
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stress analyzed," with no stress being found at key points in his
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testimony.
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One would think, considering the gravity of this matter, that Hank's
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rejection of Mr. Smiths's testimony (which leaves Mr. Smith as the
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only person claiming to have first hand knowledge of the hoax)
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would at least give Mr. Gray some cause to question Smith's
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testimony. However, it apparently didn't phase the Mayor. He
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simply got around Hank's testimony by accusing him of being
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one of Ed's accomplices. Furthermore he explains Hank's being
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"dragged deeper into Ed Walters' ploy" as the "greed factor". Mr.
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Smith had already testified that Hank was "to get all movie or
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TV rights." But if this is so, where is Hank's money (I'm sure
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he'd like to know)? One would think that Hank, if he had made a
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deal with Ed and Ed didn't follow through, would be WILLING to
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testfy against Ed.
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According to Mr. Gray, Hank was not the only accomplice; Ed's
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whole family was involved. I expect that Ed's family members
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will have something to say about this.
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Mr. Gray is confident that the news media will report the fine
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details of how the hoax was carried off because "they must
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save face in the fact that they were taken in by the scheme as
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were so many others." No doubt the newsmedia will publish all
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sorts of details, including those which support Ed's testimony.
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Mr. Gray criticized the MUFON investigators for "being so
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wrapped up and biased in pursuit of the story that they fell
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headfirst into that trap." He is clearly not aware that this
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investigator, at least, started off assuming that the photos were
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faked and that the whole story was a fabrication. He could read
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the last chapter in Ed's book (or even the first few pages of that
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chapter) to find out how I approached the case. The MUFON
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investigation required many hundreds of man hours of analysis
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and study of the photographic evidence testimony and a similar
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intensive study of Ed and his activities over a six month period
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(Nov. 1987 -- May, 1988). The MUFON investigation included the
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reports of over a hundred other witnesses in the area. Only after
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all of this exhaustive effort did MUFON officially endorse the
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case. By way of contrast, the Mayor relied on "logic and reason"
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(unbiased of course) and the testimony of one person, Smith
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(who is contradicted by another person, Boland!).
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The Mayor's "unbiased" approach comes through forcefully in
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the transcript of the conversation with Mr. Smith, which has been
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published by the Sentinel. At the very beginning the Mayor
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thanked Mr. Smith for coming forward ("I can't tell you how
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much I appreciate.......you getting with us....") and then said he
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wanted to "get to the bottom of this whole issue and this whole,
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in my opinion< hoax." The Mayor then said "....but right now we're
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trying to deal with the facts." Mr. Gray criticized the MUFON
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investigators for having "no expertise in investigating." On the
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other hand, the interview of Mr. Smith is not exactly a model
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of good investigatory technique.
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Mr. Gray is a courageous man and a clairvoyant. He knows he is in
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for an argument and he correctly predicted in his letter that his
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statement would bring forth an avalanche of comments from
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"Ed, his supporters, and MUFON members aimed at discrediting
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not only persons who are coming forth, but me as a skeptic in the
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public eye." What Mr. gray should realize is that information which
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deserves to be discredited will be discredited. Those who loudly
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proclaim discredited information will have to suffer the consequences.
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At the beginning of his letter the Mayor says he is thankful that
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he has been fortunate to serve in public office as Mayor for the
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last six years. I suggest that if he wishes to remain in that
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position for another six years he should stick to the city budget
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and ignore the UFO controversy raging around him.
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Bruce Maccabee
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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