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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