Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 1

TPENSACOLA f.j 4 i a f- ft i. 4 4 tov.ii;n about tho fr-i-rtrr(n r-f but now ho specking out, 1E State officials will pJurr-o into an ocean of arguments for and against Gulf Power's request for a rate increase, 1 VV-t 1 iU i i JJJlCui Gannett Newspaper Pensacola, Florida Sunday, June 10, 1990 EscambiaSanta Rosa TO DuuGJ i hhkmm Photographer: Critics! out to discredit him i By Craig Myers News Journal Copyright 1990 GULF BREEZE A model spaceship resembling the UFOs reportedly seen above Gulf Breeze was found in a house once occupied by the man whose photographs started a UFO craze that focused worldwide attention on this community. Ed Walters, the enthusiast who co-wrote a nationally published book about the UFOs, denied any knowledge of the model Saturday and said someone who wants to discredit him must have put the model in the house. "They will do whatever necessary to debunk a case," said Walters, who refused to take a lie detector test but signed a sworn statement denying any knowledge of the model UFO. Gulf Breeze Mayor Ed Gray III, whose 4 city has become the focal point for UFO enthusiasts from around the world, said the model confirms what he has been suspecting all along: Walters' UFOs are a News Journal file photo This small UFO model was found in a house where Ed Walters lived, hoax.

The model, constructed of four plastic foam plates and some drafting paper, was found by the resident of a house at 612 Silverthorn Road in Gulf Breeze. The man who found the model also signed a sworn statement saying he did not know who made it. 1 he resident asked that his See UFO, 8A Jerry Kovach, Gary McCrackenNews Journal News Journal photographers were able to use the model to nearly duplicate some of Ed Walters' UFO pictures. ics debate evidence sleep i Believers, mmiiiUL im iii.iuuiiuiu.ujuiiu.m-.l .1.1. ii closely." But three of Walters' critics Willy Smith of Altamonte Springs, Phillip Klass of Washington, and Robert Boyd of Mobile, scoffed Saturday at Walters' explanation.

The three vehemently denied involvement in the model and said they would take lie detector tests and sign sworn statements to that effect Ed Walters profile UFO sightings chronology Commentary Model description By Craig Myers News Journal GULF BREEZE Critics and supporters of; Ed Walters' photographs drew their battle lines Saturday over a model of a UFO found at Walters' former home. The model was found by the current resident of 612 Silverthorn Road in Gulf Breeze. Walters, who owns the home, lived there until December 1988, during the period he claims to have photographed UFOs. Walters said Saturday he didn't make the model. He had used double lampshades and other devices to simulate UFOs for researchers, he said, but he never made a model like the one found last week.

Walters suggested that his critics and debunk-ers may have planted the model in the attic. "There's no logic in me leaving the object up there," Walters said. "If I were trying to pull a hoax and I'm not then it would have been stupid to leave it there. "But it's logical to think that someone, a debunker, went into that house between the time I moved out and the new residents moved in and planted the object. That's what makes Smith, a UFO investigator, said any attempt to blame this on Walters' critics is arrogant.

"The man believes he can do no wrong," Smith said. Boyd, the Alabama director of the MUFON in 1987 to 1988 when Walters' sightings were being investigated, helped with early checks into Walters' photos. He said the discovery of a model at Walters' former home casts doubt on the reliability of the photographs. "It simply confirms what I previously reported after our investigation," said Boyd, who is administrator of Aerial Anomalies International. "It is my opinion that full refunds should be made to all purchasers of Ed's book, and a public apology be issued." Boyd said he was forced to leave MUFON in June 1988 because he concluded the See BELIEVERS, 8A sense to me," he said.

Don Ware, eastern U.S. regional director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), agreed with Walters' explanation Saturday. "It is highly probable," said Ware, of Fort Walton Beach. "Debunkers would go to great lengths to discredit Ed. But the evidence is far too overwhelming for this thing to be a hoax." Ware said he has investigated 35 UFO sightings in Gulf Breeze, and that five other people have reported objects they described as being very similar to the UFO Walters claims to have photographed.

"We have too many people seeing the same thing," Ware said. "I don't know of any other (UFO) case that has been investigated as This is one of the photographs by Ed Walters that started a UFO craze that attracted worldwide attention. Threat of flooding forces 10,000 to evacuate Torrential rainstorms pour through Ohio and Pennsylvania Gulf tanker blast kills large oil spill not feared I ARK. OKLA. NM.

kJ TEXAS f7 Gov. Richard Celeste visited Buckeye Lake after declaring a state of emergency in the county. He said he would ask President Bush to declare Licking County a federal disaster area. Licking County Sheriff Gerry Billy said officials took steps to reduce pressure on the weakened earthen wall by opening floodgates on the spillway at Buckeye Lake. Water levels had reached the top when rains ended at midmorning.

Flooding also forced the evacuation of about 3,000 people in south Newark living near the Licking River and campers at a racetrack, authorities said. As many as 5,000 other Licking County residents may have been displaced temporarily, said Randy Spiker, deputy director of the county disaster services agency. Twelve miles of Interstate 70 were closed. barns burned and chimneys damaged by bolts of lightning. The thunderstorms crossed the state at 50 mph, meteorologists said.

About 10,000 households in Pittsburgh were without power for more than an hour Friday night because of high winds, officials said. In Bethlehem, electrical storms knocked out power to more than 45,000 people Friday and Saturday. In Licking County, the evacuations began shortly before dawn, but people were allowed to return by afternoon. The weather service said 2 to 4 inches of rain fell overnight in central and north central Ohio. About 50 Ohio National Guard soldiers helped volunteers reinforce the wall with sandbags and assisted with evacuations of about 2,000 residents of the town of Buckeye Lake, about 30 miles east of Columbus.

'BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio (AP) Heavy rains drove up to 10,000 people from their homes, and National Guard troops hoisted sandbags on an earthen wall at Buckeye Lake. I Authorities said the evacuees in Licking County were forced to leave their homes because of the flood threat. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, citing possible dam failure. Flooding also was reported farther south in Perry County. County Disaster Services Coordinator Dorothy Sidwell.

said residents were evacuated from sections of New Lexington and Crooksville, but the number of people affected was not known. In Pennsylvania, a fast-moving storm system drenched some of the state's central and eastern counties Saturday, leaving behind pockets of darkness from power outages and rzr-. Galveston (i 1 Culfcf Mexico MEXICO 700 fflileg Vw-J WEATHER New Jersey spill2A GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -Explosions and fire rocked a Norwegian oil tanker Saturday in the Gulf of Mexico and killed two, but authorities did not fear a massive oil spill. Two crewmen were confirmed dead in the 1 a.m. explosion and, authorities said two others were missing and presumed dead.

Of the 41 crew members, 17 were injured, officials said. The Coast Guard said the 853-foot supertanker Mega Borg was hauling about 38 million gallons of light crude oil when the first blast occurred, 57 miles southeast of Galveston. The fire continued to burn out of control Saturday afternoon, as two fire boats sprayed water on the flames. The flames shot hundreds of feet high as thick, black smoke, visible from 40 miles away, rose from the ship. The first explosion occurred in the engine room while the 15-year-old tanker was transferring its shipment to the Italian tanker Framura.

The Mega Borg had transferred 70,000 barrels of its 980,000 barrels of crude oil when the blast occurred, Coast Guard Capt. Tom Greene said. 1 "We don't know what caused the spark or the fire or whatever, but there were explosions and, while our helicopters were on the Southern Baptists falling apart, historian says before convention Partly cloudy skies Rain chance, 50 percent. High 91. Low 73.

WeatherTrak hot line: 1-900-370-8400 Details back of this section AP they witnessed another explosion so it's a pretty hot fire," Petty Officer George Wilson said. Two more explosions occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, Petty Officer Rich Muller said. Greene said about 7,000 gallons of crude oil or ship fuel spread on the water, creating an oil sheen about 11 miles long. Coast Guard officials speculated that the fuel poured into the water from hoses used to transfer the oil to the Italian tanker, or that it poured out the top of the tanker as the fire heated up the oil and caused it to expand.

"If all goes well, I really don't expect much more pollution than is out there," Greene said. Greene said the biggest fear was that the fire, which apparently was being fed by burningengine oil, might cargo tanks, which hold abouinlS' mU Uiott gallons of the1 INDEX classic Christian beliefs while allowing varied interpretations has held together. But now with the diffusion of Southern culture and steps by the controlling fundamentalist wing to "draw narrower lines of thought," the old inclusive coalition is crumbling, he said. i About 35,000 "messengers" from churches across the country were expected for the convention opening Tuesday in the Louisiana Superdome, preceded by rival pastors' conferences running through Monday. Leonard foresaw no abrupt denominational breakup, regardless of how voting turns out between fundamentalist and moderate factions.

But he predicted spreading fragmentation of the 14.9-million-member See SOUTHERN, back of section By George W. Cornell Associated Press NEW ORLEANS As polarized Southern Baptists converge for their annual convention, a church historian said the "grand compro- mise" that has held the denomination together for 145 years is falling a' "It's amazing that the denomination has lasted as long as it did intact, considering its heritage of individualism and diversity," said Bill J. Leonard, a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "Denominationalists have been masters at maintaining the balance" despite repeated attempts through the years to upset it ever since the denomination was founded in 1845, he said. Since then, the broad compact that affirmed Money Movies Alabama i 9B Ann Landers 2E Classified 10-20O Crosswords 10C, 10E Florida 4U, -u Horoscope 2E Nation News 2A.4-9A Obituaries 2B Opinion 18, 19A Public Record 2B Sports 1-9C Stock Markets 2D World News.

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