DATE OF ARTICLE: January 30, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE: NEWS
LOCATION: PARKERSBURG, WV
BYLINE: NONE (UPI)
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
SERVICE
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LOOK, UP IN THE SKY
...
FLORIDANS SURE PHOTOS PROVE
...
UFOS VISITING PANHANDLE AREA

Gulf Breeze, FLA. (UPI) -- Photographs of an eerily lit
cylindrical object drifting through the night sky have scientists
debating whether unidentified flying objects are visiting the
Florida Panhandle.

More than 135 Gulf Breeze's 6,000 residents have reported
seeing a strange craft hovering in the skies over the past one
and a half years, the Tampa Tribune reported Sunday.

One resident, asked to be identified only as "Ed" to protect
his anonymity, has produced startling photographs of the alleged
UFO. Those pictures, showing a cylindrical craft ringed with
lights and what may be windows, lie at the heart of a simmering
battle between two UFO investigating groups.

The Mutual UFO Network, a 20-year-old group of scientists
and layman researchers, believes Ed's pictures are real. But the
Center for UFO Studies, a non-profit group found by the late
astronomer, J. Allen Hynek, does not.

The network cites a 90-page study done by Navy physicist
Bruce Maccabee. Maccabee said Ed could not have made such
perfect fakes, and that the pictures are real.

"A professional magician would have a difficult time doing
this," he said.

Maccabee also cites circumstantial evidence in Ed's favor,
including sightings by others who described UFOs identical to
those in Ed's photos.

The center relies on its own researchers and on Robert
Nathan of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Nathan, who conceded
he had not studied the pictures as completely as did Maccabee,
said the photos show glaring inconsistencies typical of double
exposures.

Mark Rodeghier of the Center for UFO Studies said the Gulf
Breeze case had "deteriorated into a shouting match" because his
group was forced to play devil's advocate when the network
endorsed the pictures. That endorsement biased Maccabee's study,
he said.

"Except those intimately connected with the network, 90
percent of serious UFO researchers think Gulf Breeze is a hoax,"
Rodeghier said.

For many Gulf Breeze residents, what the experts think is
beside the point -- they know what they saw.

"I was exhilarated," said Brenda Pollak, a City Council
member who said she saw a large, lighted craft twice in one night
in spring of 1988. Ms. Pollak said she watched the craft hover
over Pensacola Bay while, unknown to her, Ed shot pictures of the
UFO from only a few blocks away.

"I can tell you now -- for every one person who has reported
seeing the craft, there are 10 who talk about it but don't want
anyone to know," Ms. Pollack said.

"I'm not saying that I believe it's from another planet, but
it's something I had never laid eyes on in my life," added
Shirley McConnell. Mrs. McConnell and her husband, who is the
medical examiner for Florida's District 1, say that last June the
craft hovered within 75 yards of their house for nearly four
minutes before drifting off.

"People can say whatever they want about me, but I know what
I saw. Ed didn't make this up," Mrs. McConnell said.

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