Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 49

Bad luck has haunted UFO dean John Reeves John Reeves (1977 photo) shows a model he made of the flying saucer that landed and left behind messages. 'Some nights when I get the urge I wake up at 3 t.m. and look out the window and there 'II be three of 'em, flying in shape over the top of the i JohnF. Reeves for 10 minutes. 12 weeks before U.S.

astronaut Ed White did the same thing for 21 minutes, retired roller rink music composer John Frank Reeves ran into an outer spaceman in the woods near his Brooksville home. THE SPACEMAN gave PETER D. cnnnciiEn BROOKSVILLE There rtv -Sir? Si. Ptf tburg Timet was time when hi name skyrocketed across the world. Front page.

Walter Cronkite mentioned him on the TV news. The United States gov-ernment sent agents to his front door. So did the Kremlin. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines clamored for the right to interview him. A man walked into his house and slapped $65,000 on his table, trying to make a deal: Next time the spacemen come, call my wife and I.

We just want to hitch a ride to the moon to pick up a few rocks. John Frank Reeves, indignant, turned the money down: "I don't think the spacemen would appreciate that sort of thing." But that was 1965. It was really John Reeve's last good year. The space program was accelerating into high gear. The race for the moon was on.

The collective consciousness of this nation was spilling over with new incredible outer space knowledge. On March 2, 1965, 16 days before Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov floated in space Reeves a peek inside his spaceship and left a few sheets of paper inscribed with strange hieroglyphics. This country, the world, took John Reeves' close encounter seriously. It was one of the first widely publicized UFO reports. Even today, Reeves is referred to by the science Action world as "The Dean of American UFO Contactees." The glory only lasted a few weeks.

The Air Force (and every other official agency that looked into the matter) declared Reeves' report a "hoax." He failed a Life magazine lie detector test Respected scientists associated with the growing UFO-ology trend discredited his report He admitted himself, "There isn't a week gone by that someone doesn't come up to me and do this He swirled his index finger around his ear. But John Reeves stuck to his story. He never changed a single word. He continues to relate long, incredibly detailed reports, which include two other encounters. On Aug 6, 1968, responding to an unexplainable urge deep within him, Reeves said he went into those same Brooksville woods, met a group of spacemen and traveled to the dark side of the moon.

He even brought back a rock and the news that the Earth, when viewed from the moon, was egg-shaped. On Oct. 5, 1970, responding again to that same urge, Reeves said he met spacemen who carried him to a hero's ceremony on Venus. There he was given a vial of "Moniheya" medicine which would cure cancer. For every person who thought Reeves was staging elaborate UFO hoaxes, there were 10 others who believed him, agreeing with Reeves' contention the government was "suppressing" the truth.

He kept up a correspondence with UFO freaks around the world and regularly appeared in UFO publications. ALTHOUGH THE tremendous "urge" to go back in the woods remained with him, John Reeves never went to meet the spacemen again. His life, he claimed, had been irreversibly changed and irreparably ruined by the encounters. People around town generally considered him a "nut." He was the victim of vandalism. Pranksters crept See REEVES, 6-D When you're 3 or 4 years old, energy and enthusiasm supersede technique in learning the ballet.

The young performers can't yet maneuver their delicate limbs to pirouette, but with heels together and toes pointed out, they are learning the basics. And that's where it all begins. The pre-schoolers parade to the classroom, pink ballet slippers in hand. The youngsters are clad in leotards and tights, long hair tied back with ribbons. After seating themselves in chairs lining the walls, they walk one by one, pointing their toes with each stride, to the bar.

Once at the bar, it's time for more strenuous activity. All ballet dancers must warm up their muscles first position demiplie, straighten your knees then releve, lower your heels right where they are and do a simple port de bras. When feet, legs, and backs have been flexed and are limber, the budding ballerinas are ready to perform some moves across the floor and test their stage presence. They skip, hop and glide from corner to corner, occasionally with ease but more often not. "This is difficult for little girls," said ballet teacher Sherry Deal, of the Judith Lee Johnson Studio of Dance.

"I have 7- and 8-year-olds who start ballet class and can't even skip. Their balance just isn't there." The challenge is to help them learn to use feet and arms together and make it fun. "We don't stress technique but just try to develop some coordination," she said. "1 -tv- y. -i torn, if J(u I I I i 1 if 1 III I tS i I I I Alii vi i In i I I 1.

4 i I A Hi h'A i i -i -JUT I IS 1 -jii --A f-n. A I (( Pictured in these photos are Laura Dick, Mica Starr, Courtney Harrington and her mother (in the doorway) and Kim Holloway -r i ii. minium ii i -ut-aauu, I fXf' J- 1, ll I LMw1 1 j)ir-r nj fc tS- Photos by RICARDO FERRO Of The St. Petersburg Times Staff -j- i-. i i- ,,4.