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                                 INSIDE UFOLOGY
                                   July 1988
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                   CUFOS MEMBERS DO ABOUT-FACE ON GULF BREEZE

ParaNet  Alpha  07/03  --  "History  tells  us  that  [UFO]  pictures  that look
fake...ARE  fake." Those words, written by ufologist Jerome Clark, may come back
to  haunt  him.  Clark edits the International UFO Reporter, organ of the Center
for  UFO  Studies,  and is a longtime contributing editor to FATE Magazine.  His
words  were  part of an editorial for the March/April issue of the IUR, entitled
"Ill  Breeze,"  and  referred to the series of photos taken by "Mr.  Ed" in Gulf
Breeze,  FL,  of  an object that Clark said resembled "something that you use to
cover a lightbulb with."

      Clark  was  echoing  the  view  held  by many CUFOS staffers that the Gulf
Breeze  photos  just look too "hokey" to be real.  Indeed, sentiments seem to be
running   along   almost  strictly  organizational  lines:   Don  Schmitt,  Mark
Rodeghier,  Michael  Swords,  George Eberhardt, and Robert Boyd, CUFOS mem- bers
all,  have each expressed extreme doubts about the case and its inves- tigation,
while  most  MUFON  higher-ups,  including  Dennis  Stacy  and Walt Andrus, have
maintained  a  "wait  and  see" posture -- at least, in the case of Andrus, when
they  weren't  gushing about the case being the "most sig- nificant in history,"
etc.   This  schism  gave  the  appearance  of signifying a chill in the usually
friendly  relationship  between  the two groups, an appearance that Schmitt told
ParaNet was illusory and unwarranted.

      Feud  or  not,  a thaw is most definitely in the air.  Shmitt told us that
the  problem seems to have been one of miscommunication.  "There's a lot to this
case  we  hadn't seen before," he said.  And now, ParaNet has learned that Jerry
Clark has changed his mind and is expressing "support" for the case.

      The  turning  point seems to be the presentation by Dr.  Bruce Maccabee at
the  1988 MUFON Symposium in Lincoln, at which he showed the results thus far of
his  photo  analysis  work.   "We can only learn from this case," said Maccabee.
"If  its  a  hoax,  we  will  learn about a new kind of hoaxer, one who seeks no
notoriety  for himself, who is well-established in his community, who cooperates
fully  with  investigators, even going so far as to build a special camera mount
to  our  specifications,  and  who  is so con- fident in his work that he uses a
special,  sealed  3-D camera provided by investigators.  Obviously, if its real,
we will learn a tremendous amount about the nature of the UFO phenomenon."

      Among  other things, he had determined the object in at least one photo to
be  around 18 feet in diameter and 14 feet tall.  Use of the special dual-camera
mount  referred  to  earlier  had  determined  that  the  image  is not a double
exposure.  And triangulation of the two images showed it to be not less than 150
feet from the photographer, out over the bay that separates Gulf Breeze from the
mainland of Florida.

      One  by  one,  Maccabee either refuted or clarified objections to the case
raised  by,  among  others,  Robert Boyd of CUFOS...27 points in all.  Even Phil
Klass  was  impressed  enough to compliment Maccabee, and seemed to be at a loss
for major objections.

      In the meantime, Schmitt is not letting MUFON completely off the hook.  He
still  objects  to  the  comments  of  some  of the principals in the case, most
notably  Andrus, Don Ware, and Budd Hopkins.  He maintains they were "hasty" and
"unprofessional"  in  their early exposure of the details of the reports, and in
some  of their positive, seemingly over-credulous comments.  And he wishes MUFON
had  shared  some  of  the  more positive details of the photo-analysis earlier,
before either group had published in their respective journals.

      And  Jerry Clark?  Well, he's changed his mind before.  His address at the
symposium  was  on  the return of the nuts-and-bolts theory of UFOs, and how the
"paraphysical"  and  "psychic" explanations were just cop-outs.  This from a man
who  had  co-written a previous tome, with Loren Coleman, on the psychic aspects
of the UFO phenomenon.

      [For  the  record,  the  ParaNet  rating of the Gulf Breeze case stands at
S5/P5,  Highly  Strange,  Data  Unreliable/Probable  Hoax;  however,  whereas it
previously  bordered  on  P1,  it is now very close to becoming a P3.  Fur- ther
photoanalysis  results,  if in any way conclusive, will have a great in- fluence
on the rating.]

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AND NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY....