Ortk1995
Protest-UFO
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.By DANA CALVO
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mindy Gerber said the last time she was transported by a disc in the sky she underwent a physical examination and a mind probe by aliens who were attempting to create a hybrid breed of
earthlings.
"Hypnotic regression is the only way to access these experiences," she explained.
Gerber, 34, a registered nurse from Windsor, N.J., is a member of
Operation Right to Know, which believes the military has covered up evidence of alien life. The group protested Wednesday outside the
General Accounting Office to raise awareness about an examination being conducted by the GAO into the whereabouts of official documents about a weather balloon crash at Roswell, N.M., in 1947.
The military collected the remains of the craft and originally described the downed craft as a flying disc. Later that description was retracted and the craft was described as a weather balloon gone astray.
A report released by the Air Force last August concluded that the
balloon was part of a then-classified project. "That's all it was," said Air Force Maj. David Thurston. "The purpose of the project was
reconnaissance of the Soviet Union for their nuclear tests. It involved nothing extraterrestrial."
Operation Right to Know believes that the "weather balloon" was actually a vehicle from another planet.
At the urging of the group, Rep. Steven Schiff, R-N.M., has asked the GAO, Congress' investigative arm, to release information on the records kept about the crash.
Barry Bitzer, Schiff's press secretary, said the congressman became suspicious when his request for more information resulted in a
bureaucratic runaround.
"It was his opinion that the government was not as forthcoming as it should have been with information," Bitzer said. "He's not after UFOs.
He's after answers."
Schiff sits on the Science, Space and Technology Committee and is a member of the congressional space caucus.
Elaine Douglass, Operation Right to Know's organizer, hopes
congressional hearings on the Roswell crash will take place in the
summer of 1996. "The Roswell case tells us the government knows," she said.
Operation Right to Know boasts hundreds of supporters, although only 25 showed up for Wednesday's protest. The group has an on-line computer address (alt.alien.visitors), and it costs only $15 to join.
"If you break this one, everything will come to the surface," said Steve Farelli of Washington, an electronics student and member of the
operation. But Farelli, 30, said the group has to stress "facts" about alien life rather than talking about blinding flashes of light and
brainwashing. "I have to measure my words. I want to keep this real rational," he said.
Dee Hushak -- whose husband, Chris, 37, claims to have seen three UFOs, the first when he was 8 years old -- said it is unfortunate that
extraterrestrial believers have been characterized as a fringe element.
"Ninety-five percent is bunk, but five percent needs to be looked into,"
she said.
Cleve E. Corlett, a spokesman for the GAO, said the office was examining the Air Force's records about the Roswell crash, but that the audit was not any sort of truth commission.
"The General Accounting Office is not investigating the so-called
Roswell incident of 1947 nor have we been asked to do such an
investigation. We are conducting an investigation into the record
management practices of the Air Force and other relevant federal
agencies to determine what records were kept following the crash of what the Air Force said was a weather balloon and what their policy was in keeping those records," he said.
"This is not one of our highest priority jobs, but we've agreed to
look," said Corlett. He said the report should be out sometime this summer.
Posted by Unknown
|
at
5:12 AM
