[meteorite-list] 911 Call for "just a meteorite" - don't miss this story!

From: Kevin Kichinka <marsrox_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:30:36 -0600
Message-ID: <5bb98d570811141630n69a1bd92y6dacd4d676be4e1b_at_mail.gmail.com>

This morning's online edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer posted an
article (linked below) about a falling object seen by several
witnesses. The paper contacted an "expert" at the terrific Cleveland
Museum of Natural History who didn't quite get his facts correct
regarding meteorites. I sent a message with better information and the
paper emailed me for a further discussion. In the last few minutes
they added three 911 calls from witnesses to the article- fabulous!


Nininger wrote that witnesses to these types of events are unprepared
for what they see and then can't correctly describe what they did see.
He called most eyewitness accounts "useless" (see Nakhla Dog,
Carancas, et al). The keyword here is "most." The first two 911 calls
seem to fall in that realm. Listen in and see what I mean.


The third call is golden. Don't miss it. She draws a road map to the
rock. Here's an excerpt:


"It looked like it hit a tree right about where (the police) you guys
are. It knocked off a branch. When it hit the ground it left some
white smoke, but the ground is wet so I thought it was "going out".
Anyway, I thought its probably just a meteorite."


I'm here in my Costa Rican home, but it looks like I've managed to get
three parties to hunt for the rock. Wouldn't it be great if something
is recovered?


It would be the closest a meteorite has ever fallen to Cleveland,
Ohio, my home town, where the "Tower's Terminal, and the Lake is
Erie."


Here's the fresh link to the article:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/police_and_highway_patrol_sear.html

Kevin Kichinka
www.theartofcollectingmeteorites.com
Received on Fri 14 Nov 2008 07:30:36 PM PST