[meteorite-list] Chehalis another article

From: joseph_town_at_att.net <joseph_town_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jun 3 14:04:25 2004
Message-ID: <060320041804.14422.40BF6823000894540000385621603762230299019BA1089F0A9C0106_at_att.net>

> AP Meteor Crash Report Was a Hoax
>
> By Joe Strupp
>
> Published: June 03, 2004 12:20 PM EST
>
> NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to
> retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have
> hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after
> discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster,
> claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated
> a hoax.
>
> "An early report that a meteor might have hit turned
> out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It
> looks like a version (of the story) was killed because
> it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was
> reviewing how the error occurred.
>
> The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m.
> EST, stated that someone identified as Bradley
> Hammermaster, and purported to be a University of
> Washington astronomy instructor, had told KIRO Radio
> in Seattle that a piece of meteor "about the size of a
> small car" had hit just before 3 a.m. PST.
>
> The radio station also quoted the man as saying "a
> team was being assembled to head for the area where
> the object was believed to have hit near the tiny
> southwestern Washington community of Chehalis."
>
> This version was picked up by dozens of news sites,
> most of which later deleted the Hammermaster
> references.
>
> The bogus report followed genuine reports of bright
> lights being seen along a 60-mile stretch of the Puget
> Sound, which National Weather Service and U.S. Coast
> Guard officials were investigating as either a
> streaking meteor or other outer space activity, AP
> reported.
>
> An AP advisory sent out at about 7:23 a.m. EST stated,
> "The AP story Meteorite-Washington ... has been
> eliminated. The identity of the source of the story
> cannot be confirmed."
>
> Later versions of the AP story revealed the hoax.
>
> "An early report that a meteor might have hit near
> Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out
> to be false, a University of Washington scientist who
> specializes in meteorites said," AP reported. "A man
> who identified himself as University of Washington
> astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO
> Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area
> where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that
> call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said."
>
> The story added, "No one by the name of Hammermaster
> is known to the astronomy department, and the
> description given by the caller to the station of the
> object -- an automobile-sized piece of a small car
> from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor -- was
> clearly bogus."
>
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