Newspaper report on UFOs 14

Daily News, Ft.  Walton Beach, Fl-July 8, 1990  Cr: R. Reid

MYSTERY OF ROSWELL HOT TOPIC AT UFO GATHERING

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.


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