SUBJECT: RESEARCHERS SAY PHOTOS SHOW UFO FILE: UFO1252 DATE OF ARTICLE: January 30, 1989 SOURCE OF ARTICLE: NEWS LOCATION: PARKERSBURG, WV BYLINE: NONE (UPI) ======================================================== THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE ======================================================== LOOK, UP IN THE SKY ... FLORIDANS SURE PHOTOS PROVE ... UFOS VISITING PANHANDLE AREA Gulf Breeze, FLA. (UPI) -- Photographs of an eerily lit cylindrical object drifting through the night sky have scientists debating whether unidentified flying objects are visiting the Florida Panhandle. More than 135 Gulf Breeze's 6,000 residents have reported seeing a strange craft hovering in the skies over the past one and a half years, the Tampa Tribune reported Sunday. One resident, asked to be identified only as "Ed" to protect his anonymity, has produced startling photographs of the alleged UFO. Those pictures, showing a cylindrical craft ringed with lights and what may be windows, lie at the heart of a simmering battle between two UFO investigating groups. The Mutual UFO Network, a 20-year-old group of scientists and layman researchers, believes Ed's pictures are real. But the Center for UFO Studies, a non-profit group found by the late astronomer, J. Allen Hynek, does not. The network cites a 90-page study done by Navy physicist Bruce Maccabee. Maccabee said Ed could not have made such perfect fakes, and that the pictures are real. "A professional magician would have a difficult time doing this," he said. Maccabee also cites circumstantial evidence in Ed's favor, including sightings by others who described UFOs identical to those in Ed's photos. The center relies on its own researchers and on Robert Nathan of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Nathan, who conceded he had not studied the pictures as completely as did Maccabee, said the photos show glaring inconsistencies typical of double exposures. Mark Rodeghier of the Center for UFO Studies said the Gulf Breeze case had "deteriorated into a shouting match" because his group was forced to play devil's advocate when the network endorsed the pictures. That endorsement biased Maccabee's study, he said. "Except those intimately connected with the network, 90 percent of serious UFO researchers think Gulf Breeze is a hoax," Rodeghier said. For many Gulf Breeze residents, what the experts think is beside the point -- they know what they saw. "I was exhilarated," said Brenda Pollak, a City Council member who said she saw a large, lighted craft twice in one night in spring of 1988. Ms. Pollak said she watched the craft hover over Pensacola Bay while, unknown to her, Ed shot pictures of the UFO from only a few blocks away. "I can tell you now -- for every one person who has reported seeing the craft, there are 10 who talk about it but don't want anyone to know," Ms. Pollack said. "I'm not saying that I believe it's from another planet, but it's something I had never laid eyes on in my life," added Shirley McConnell. Mrs. McConnell and her husband, who is the medical examiner for Florida's District 1, say that last June the craft hovered within 75 yards of their house for nearly four minutes before drifting off. "People can say whatever they want about me, but I know what I saw. Ed didn't make this up," Mrs. McConnell said. ================================================================= ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************