More sightings
Residents remain puzzled by lights
By WHITNEY WHITE-ASHLEY
Staff Writer
Whitney.ashley@empiretribune.com
Questions and reports of new sightings continue to flood into the Empire-Tribune office. For nearly two weeks, area residents have been glued to the night skies and have witnessed, taped and photographed mysterious lights flashing across the sky.Theories about the lights have ranged from military tests, to atmosphere phenomenon, to otherworldly visitors. But stories are starting to come in from across the state and from all types of people.
Lonnie Hammonds said he saw the lights in Hamilton County on Oct. 28 and 29. “It was right on top of the mountains and it looked pretty close,” Hammonds said. “It has to be something military.”
Hammonds also said when the object started to move, it sounded like the sound barrier was broken.
“I’ve never seen anything like that and I’m 83,” said Jimmie Butler of Dublin, who saw the lights on Oct. 23. Butler doesn’t believe what she saw was any kind of plane.
Tarena Major, who has started watching the Stephenville skies since spotting the lights last week isn’t buying into the F-16 story either.
“You can see the fighter jets, but that’s not what we’re looking at,” Major said.
Keith Aikens lives in White Settlement, where he’s been busy deer hunting. He said he saw something while he was sitting in his deer stand that made him think he was crazy until a friend showed him reports in the E-T.
Aikens said the object hovered just above his stand. He was so frightened that he called 911.
“It was huge,” Aikens said. “I had no idea other people were seeing it too.”
He also saw a video on the WFAA Web site that he said looked like what he saw - and he doesn’t believe it was a plane.
“I live right next to Carswell (Air Force Base), about a block from the runway, and they weren’t planes. I’ve seen the stealth; I’ve seen the space shuttle land out here and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Aikens said.
Cody Miller of Dublin said he has seen something like it before, last fall. He was mowing on a “beautiful” and clear day when he noticed something metallic in the sky.
“It didn’t have any windows or propellers. I was that close to it,” Miller said.
He also didn’t hear any sound.
Janice, a Stephenville resident who asked to not have her last name included, said she has noticed the lights since 2006.
“I have been seeing these lights for a long time. They’re very prominent here,” she said.
Janice believes the lights are coming from otherworldly creatures.
“I think they’re looking for something and they haven’t found it,” Janice said.
She also said she doesn’t think people should be afraid of what they are seeing.
The military continues to explain the sightings as nothing more than F-16s moving from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth to the Brownwood Military Operation Area.
Alejandro T. Rojas, Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) director of public education, said they are continuing to evaluate the situation in Stephenville.
“We do have several witnesses,” Rojas said.
MUFON has also filed for copies of radar reports from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.empiretribune.com/articles/2008/11/02/news/doc490e0bffeb6c0929779714.txt
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