TZUTC: -0400   
   MSGID: 309.fidonet_ufo@1:3634/60 2d65d787   
   PID: Synchronet 3.19b-Win32 master/a2a9dc027 Jan  2 2022 MSC 1928   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 master/a2a9dc027 Jan  2 2022 MSC 1928   
   BBSID: RICKSBBS   
   CHRS: UTF-8 4   
   SUBJECT: NATIONAL UFO REPORTING CENTER DETAILED              FILE: UFO1175   
      
      
      
      SEATTLE (AP) -- Robert Gribble has never  seen a UFO himself, but he   
   believes others who say they have and has investigated thousands of UFO   
   sightings for about 30 years.   
      Gribble runs  the National UFO Reporting  Center from a  cramped but   
   tidy office in his home.   
      "Even though  I've never seen one,  there's not the  slightest doubt   
   they're there," said  Gribble, a retired firefighter  recognized as one   
   of the country's foremost authorities on unidentified flying objects.   
      "Either that or we've  got a lot of notorious liars  from all around   
   the globe," he said.   
      He pays $1,200  a year from his  own pocket to keep  the center open   
   and fields an average  six calls a day from people  who think they have   
   seen unidentified flying objects.   
      All  seek an  explanation.   Gribble  records their  comments,  asks   
   questions and takes their telephone numbers  in case he gets additional   
   information.   
      "If people realize  we are not alone  -- as we have  been taught for   
   hundreds of years -- man's outlook as  to how we treat each other would   
   change," he said.  "Now  we think of ourselves as citizens  of the U.S.   
   If we  thought of  ourselves as  citizens of  the planet  Earth, things   
   would change for the better."   
      Gribble's office contains  a large map of the  United States studded   
   with  3,500 shiny  red pinheads,  each representing  a so-called  close   
   encounter sighting of a UFO.  Some of the sightings date from 1946.   
      A witness  must be within  500 yards of an  object to classify  as a   
   close encounter.   
      Gribble  said he  wasn't surprised  by the  recent UFO  report of  a   
   veteran  Japan Air  Lines pilot  who said  his plane  was followed  for   
   nearly 400 miles  over Alaska by one gigantic and  two smaller aircraft   
   in mid-November.   
      The  Federal Aviation  Administration later  confirmed  that an  air   
   traffic controller spotted the unknown  aircraft.  But agency spokesmen   
   say  their  investigation has  been  hampered  by a  radar  recording's   
   failure to show the aircraft's signal.   
      From the  thousands of  calls he  has investigated  over the  years,   
   Gribble says most of the craft are described as disc-shaped, spherical,   
   oval, triangular  or cigar-shaped.   People reporting  close encounters   
   say a humming sound emanates from the object.   
      The  government is  covering up  the  existence of  UFOs to  prevent   
   panic, said Gribble, who cites as evidence his own research and reports   
   from declassified government documents   
      
                    
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   Ty Holder   
   telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23   
   http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080   
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