SUBJECT: MYSTERY OF ROSWELL HOT TOPIC AT UFO GATHERING FILE: UFO2178
Daily News, Ft. Walton Beach, Fl-July 8, 1990 Cr: R. Reid
By Kris Wheeler
Daily News Staff Writer
PENSACOLA-Unraveling the mysteries of unidentified flying objects drew more
than 1,000 UFO enthusiasts to the Pensacola Civic Center on Saturday for
day two of the Mutual UFO Network's 21st annual International Symposium.
Among other topics Saturday, they heard about one of the long-debated UFO
mysteries, a supposed crash landing of an alien craft in Roswell,N.M., in
July 1947.
Donald R. Schmitt, MUFON's state director in Wisconsin, has long been on a
trail to expose what he and many others believe is a government coverup of
epic proportions regarding the recovery of the bodies of four aliens and a
UFO wreck at Roswell.
"Roswell appears to be the target of a disinformation program," Schmitt
said.
That accusation is nothing new among those who have made it their business
to investigate UFO sightings.
St the time of the crash near the Roswell Army Air Force Base, military
officials initially idnetified the object that crashed as a UFO. But later
the military changed its official version of what the object actually was,
identifying it as a miguided weather research balloon.
Schmitt and many of his colleagues say there is overwhelming evidence
proving otherwise.
Schmitt and other UFO investigators have relied on testimony over the years
from military intelligence officers who were at the crash site, their
family members, and relatives of a rench hand who discovered the crash
site, to peice together their version of the Roswell UFO mystery.
Schmitt said he and a colleague recently interviewed two men who were once
stationed at RAAFB and who were involved in the recovery operation at the
crash site.
Most of the military personnel who had first-hand knowledge of the crash
are now dead, Schmitt said.
The men interviewed, the chief of security at the crash site, and a
military intelligence officer, are two of the few crash-site witnesses
still alive, he said.
Schmitt said the former chief of security refused to comment about the
matter, saying he was sworn to secrecy.
Schmitt questioned why information on a crashed weather balloon would be
kept secret.
"Why the need to conceal the recovery of a weather balloon?" Schmitt asked.
The other man interviewed was an intelligence agent who was also involved
in the recovery. Schmitt said the man would only say that, "Something came
down and was recovered."
MUFON officials selected Pensacola as the sight of their annual
international UFO symposium because of the magnitude of reported UFO
sightings in nearby Gulf Breeze-more specifically, those photographed by
Gulf Breeze residents Ed and Francis Walters in November 1987.
The Walters have written a book about their experiences called "The Gulf
Breeze Sightings."
The photographs and the Walters' stories have been challanged recently by
some critics and UFO investigators who say it is a hoax.
One Gulf Breeze man has said publicly that he was shown by Ed Walters how
the UFO photos were faked.
Walters has denied all of the allegations.
MUFON has reopened its investigation into Walters' matter. MUFON
officials, however, say they believe Walters' photographs are authentic
until proven otherwise.
The Walters were scheduled to speak to the MUFON delegation and hundreds of
its guests about the matter late Saturday night.
The three-day MUFON symposium began Friday and will conclude with an open
forum slated for 4 p.m. today.
**********************************************
* THE U.F.O. BBS -
http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
**********************************************
