From: Frank Warren <frank-warren.nul>
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:39:37 -0700
Fwd Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 12:03:12 -0400
Subject: Aztec To Premiere UFO Documentary



Source: The Daily Times

http://www.daily-times.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=3D484&num=3D=
13519

08-22-04


Aztec To Premiere UFO Documentary

By Debra Mayeux
The Daily Times

AZTEC -- As research continues into the infamous, yet unproven
Aztec UFO crash of 1948, a Canadian film company has released
the first full-length documentary about the event.

The Aztec Public Library, sponsor of the annual Aztec UFO
Symposium, recently received a copy and plans to premiere it at
7 p.m. Thursday at Aztec City Hall.

"This video elevates the story to a national level of
discussion," said Leanne Hathcock, librarian and founder of the
symposium.

It was her research, along with the help of North Carolina
resident Scott Ramsey, that led to a renaissance of interest in
the purported crash in March 1948 in Hart Canyon north of Aztec.

Ramsey has completed countless hours of research and
successfully declassified material pertinent to the incident.

"We're working very hard in trying to identify two law
enforcement officers at the scene, and at the same time trying
to be respectful to the families," Ramsey said.

New Mexico and UFOs have become synonymous since the surging
popularity of the Roswell crash in July 1947, but Aztec is
coming into its own, according to Hathcock and Ramsey.

"I think the documentary puts Aztec in a positive light," Ramsey
said.

City Commissioner Jim Rubow agreed, saying the film was well
done.

"I thought it was fairly open minded," he said. "They did a good
job of integrating local history giving (the story) a better
understanding of anything I've seen to date."

The film begins with a view of San Juan County's high desert
landscape and film producer Paul Kimball telling the story of
Aztec.

It was a quiet evening north of the county seat, when an oil
well fire broke out on a mesa above Hart Canyon. The fire led
people to something much more interesting =97 a crashed UFO
containing charred bodies, Kimball tells in the story Ramsey
continually attempts to verify.

It has been the researchers desire to locate all living
eyewitnesses, but Ramsey said he has missed many due to their
untimely deaths.

He has spoken to a number of people in Cuba about a former
resident who may have been at the crash site. He learned from
them that in March 1948, the Air Force paid that small town a
visit.

Dr. Lincoln La Paz and a high-ranking military official came to
Cuba to investigate strange sightings, Ramsey said.

"At the end of a few days of investigation, La Paz wrote it off
as meteor showers, including rock samples that he tried to pawn
off on locals as meteorites," Ramsey said.

The researcher, who is most prominent in the documentary,
believes this incident might be tied to Aztec.

This information will not be found on the video because it was
only recently discovered.

What viewers will see is a potpourri of ufologists including
Stanton Friedman and Nick Redfern and skeptics like Karl Pflock.

Ramsey, however, is the center of attention, having done most of
the updated research on Aztec.

"He was going on the paper trail and the evidence," Hathcock
said, adding Kimball used "talking heads" to tell the story to
provide a basis for credibility.

"I feel like it was well done," she said.

"(Kimball) is a purist when it comes to doing a documentary,"
Ramsey said. "It has to be based on as much fact as possible."

The facts are played out with scenery and "Dick Tracy" graphics
for an enjoyable yet informative film that will soon be for sale
with all profits benefiting the Aztec Public Library.