[meteorite-list] UFO Buffs Sue To Obtain Data on Pennsylvania Fireball

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:45 2004
Message-ID: <200312121717.JAA03571_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lorain/1071225414279160.xml

UFO buffs sue to obtain data on Pa. fireball
Michael Sangiacomo
The Plain Dealer (Ohio)
December 12, 2003

Elyria- Were the fiery objects that crashed into Elyria 38 years ago Tuesday
part of an unidentified flying object that crashed near the western
Pennsylvania town of Kecksburg?

Inquiring minds want to know.

A group of UFO enthusiasts, backed by the Sci-Fi Channel, filed a lawsuit
Tuesday seeking full disclosure of NASA records regarding the crash of a
large, fiery object near Kecksburg.

According to a front-page story in The Plain Dealer on Dec. 10, 1965, smaller
fireballs also crashed in the Elyria area, setting 10 small grass fires.

Mrs. Ralph Richards of West River Drive in Elyria told the newspaper she
saw a "flaming object about the size of a basketball" crash into a field.

Government officials at the time said the main fireball and the smaller pieces
came from a meteorite that broke up on entering the Earth's atmosphere.

But the Coalition for Freedom of Information, a group seeking more
government information about UFOs, said witnesses reported watching the huge
fireball maneuver through the sky before impact, suggesting it was "either a
highly advanced space probe" or some other unknown object from outer space.

"Calling it a meteorite does not explain why the U.S. Army cordoned off the
area and kept townspeople out of the site," said Larry Landsman of the SciFi
Channel headquarters in New York. "The area was practically under martial law.
People have reported seeing something hauled away from the scene, but
this was always denied by the government."

The suit was filed in Washington, D.C., by Leslie Kean, of San Rafael, Calif.,
the investigative director of the Coalition for Freedom of Information. She
asked that NASA be forced to release all information it has gathered on the
Kecksburg crash.

The coalition was formed last year to concentrate on the "government
operations relating to the investigation of unidentified flying objects."

According to the lawsuit, Kean filed a Freedom of Information Act request in
January for information and was told that no such records exist.

A spokesman for NASA in Washington, D.C., said the agency had heard about the
lawsuit but would have no comment.
Received on Fri 12 Dec 2003 12:17:38 PM PST