By Kevin D. Randle, 26 July 2014
(A Different Perspective, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Quote from the article:
“As should be obvious, I have spent some time looking
into the November 1957 UFO sightings, especially those in the desert southwest.
I have been through what I can find, including the original reports that appear
in The A.P.R.O. Bulletin, the NICAP UFO Investigator, the Project Blue Book
files, and the skeptical end of these cases including Watch the Skies! by
Curtis Peebles.
What I find interesting is how the Project Blue Book
investigators seemed to miss basic facts, made allegations that were never corroborated
(which is a nice way to suggest they just made up stuff), and wrote off cases
based not on the evidence but on their own personal bias. The James Stokes case
of November 5, 1957, proves the point.
What prompted this is what I read in Watch the Skies!.
The information is right out of the Project Blue Book files, reported as if
this was an unbiased search for the truth, the only credible source for
information and dismisses Stokes as a liar. That allegation is based on trivia,
much of it coming from the mistakes made by the Air Force which could have been
corrected if they had cared anything for the truth.
The first point is the claim that Stokes, after his
sighting and before he did anything else, called the media, in this case the
Alamogordo radio station to describe what he had seen. But the evidence, available
at the time, is that Stokes first called his superior, Major Ralph Everett, at
Holloman Air Force Base to ask if he could talk about the case. When he
received the affirmative, he didn’t call the radio station. He called his
friend, Jim Lorenzen. But the radio station news director, Terry Clarke, having
learned Stokes’ name from Everett, was looking for Stokes so that even if
Stokes hadn’t called Lorenzen, who then called radio station, the story would
have gotten out. So, Stokes story can’t be criticized for his the media contact.”
(ufocasebook.com image)