From: Terry Evans <tevans@tranquility.net>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:34:38 -0500
Fwd Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 15:59:38 -0400
Subject: Re: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos


 >To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
 >From: Jerome Clark <jkclark@frontiernet.net>
 >Subject: Re: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos
 >Date: Wed, 22 Sep 99 22:33:51 PDT

 >>Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 12:14:35 -0500
 >>From: Terry Evans <tevans@tranquility.net>
 >>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
 >>Subject: Re: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos

 >>>Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 23:31:54 -0600
 >>>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
 >>>From: Don Allen <dona@amigo.net>
 >>>Subject: Re: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos

 >>>>Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 12:43:56 -0400
 >>>>From: Bruce Maccabee <brumac@compuserve.com>
 >>>>Subject: Re: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos
 >>>>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>

 >>>>>>From: Jerry Black <blackhole60@hotmail.com>
 >>>>>>To: updates@globalserve.net
 >>>>>>Subject: Bruce Maccabee and Gulf Breeze Photos
 >>>>>>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 22:13:35 PDT

 >Patient and gentle listfolk:

 >>And speaking of jokes. I recently read an article by a woman who
 >>was on the staff of the newspaper down there when it was all
 >>going on. She claims that she and another woman knew Walters and
 >>the editor... what was his name?... were pulling a hoax and she
 >>claimed that she was told by the editor to make sightings of
 >>non-UFOs into UFOs to keep the hysteria going.

 >Now, let me get this straight.  Isn't Evans the same guy who was
 >just trashing somebody for taking "anecdotal evidence"
 >seriously? I guess one standard applies to him, another to
 >everybody with whom he disagrees.  The above doesn't even rise
 >to "anecdotal evidence."  "Unverified rumor" is a lot closer.
 >But hey, if you're trashing somebody, unverified rumors will do.

 >Jerry Clark


Her name is Kimberly Blair.  The articles are in the Pennsacola
Independent Weekly.  July 8, 1999. Vol.1, No.2.  Its quite a
lengthy article.  6 pages.

Briefly she says that shortly after Walters claims of seeing
UFOs she joined the paper.  She was open to the possibility of
ET life. A colleagues of hers, Diane Hansen (no relation to
Walters aka Hanson) had been writing about the UFOs in Gulf
Breeze but had stopped writing about them because she thought
they were hoaxed. "When she spoke out, she got harassing, even
threatening, phone calls. So fearing for her safety and her
children's, she went silent."

Blair goes on to say that soon she began to question Walters and
Cooks involvement.

"I could not chase away the nagging question, how was it
possible for a UFO the size and proportion Walters claimed to
drop from the sky and hover over his house without dozens if not
hundreds of even thousands of people seeing it? Our geography -
surrounded on water on three sides, bordered by two bridges that
give drivers a bird's eye view of Gulf Breeze makes that
impossible."

She goes on to say that she was directed by Cook to write
whatever came in without authenticating any of it.  Everything
she had learned about reporting was being tossed out the
window... "and we became a propaganda machine for Walters' story
and the book he later published. The paper played a big role in
perpetuating the illusion."

She talked to more people and found out about Walters' "knack
for hoaxes". She brought this up at the paper, but was
disregarded.  "It became clear that there was no newspaper
investigation, or any real desire, to reveal the truth of what
was happening in Gulf Breeze."

"One of the most significant clues was in Walters himself. Here
was a man who said he was being stalked by aliens who were
trying to suck him up in a blue beam.  Yet nearly everyday he
be-bopped into he Sentinel with a smile like a Cheshire Cat's as
he headed for Cook's office."

She goes on to say that her desk was close to Cooks office and
she often heard them laughing.  "Never did I pick up fear or
concern. Walters behavior raised the bar on my suspicions -
especially when so many people were gripped by the fear of his
claims, everyone except Walters that is."

She ends the article recounting a night when she was sent out to
sky watch with people who claimed they were seeing Ed UFO. She
was excited and waited with anticipation. It turned out that
what these people were watching, night after night, were
planets. She was very disappointed.  "The next morning I
reported my findings to Cook. I laughed as I told him that I
could not believe that the group thought the planets were UFOs.
I remember the look on his face and the tone he used... he
leaned forward in his desk chair, stared me in the eyes and said
firmly, "Write it up as a UFO report".

"I was stunned! Confusion and realization washed over me on the
way to my desk.  I sat down and re-thought the conversation. Did
I not make myself clear? Confusion gave way to relief. Now I
knew... this was all a scam and the paper was playing along."

She ends by saying that this was the worst moment in her career
as a journalist.  She wrote the story the way Cook wanted it
written to keep her job, but she had to compromise her ethics.
And, as she says, if she had written the truth, Cook could still
change it when it left her hands. Damned either way.

End.


No doubt these are some of the reports Dr. Maccabees uses in his
statistics for sightings in Gulf Breeze.


Is this enough for you?

Terry Evans