SUBJECT: SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN                             FILE: UFO1251


DATE OF ARTICLE:  January 27, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  American-Statesman
LOCATION:  Austin, Texas
BYLINE:  NONE
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                     SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN

     Private   citizens  who  have  reported  UFO  sightings   to
government  officials sometimes complain of secrecy,  frustration
and laughter.
     Floyd Petri founded the Center for Instrumented UFO Research
in Bastrop in part to circumvent such bureaucratic hassles.
     "Our  purpose is to confirm the existence or nonexistence of
the UFO by scientific means," said Petri, a retired police chief.
     "Before  organizations such as this existed,  an  individual
was  nothing more than a UFO buff or  a  witness.   Often,  after
people  made a report to the authorities,  that was the last they
heard  of  it.   Any physical evidence they offered  went  up  in
smoke."
     Petri said the 10-year-old center is accumulating  equipment
and  personnel  to set up a monitoring station and a field  unit,
probably  in a van.   Both will be equipped with devices such  as
radar,  mangetometers,  cameras,  video equipment,  radiation and
sound detection equipment, and chart recorders.
     "There  are  many  Americans who are funding  this  kind  of
research  right out of their own pockets," he said.   "Just  like
there  are people who spend thousands of dollars a year  fishing.
This is my hobby.   This is where my money goes.  There also have
been donations and benefactors interested in our research."
     The  scientific instrumentation -- much of which the  center
owns  -- sounds  impressive.   But  some  of  the  most  fruitful
research -- retrieving government documents pertaining to UFOs --
forces  the private UFO investigator to use simpler  but  equally
powerful tools such as typewriters and the mail.
     "The Freedom of Information Act is one of the nicest  things
that  ever  happened to us," Petri said.   "There is a  world  of
information  in the hands of the government and individuals.   If
it  was  gathered,   studied  and  disseminated   properly,   the
information would shed some light on the UFO enigma.  Many groups
are trying to do that now."
     Petri's   organization   is  interested   in   investigating
suspected  landing  sites and trace materials from all  kinds  of
encounters -- from cattle mutilations to indentations thought  to
be  made by saucer landing pods.   And the center is involved  in
the  computer  enhancement  of photos showing UFOs  to  determine
their validity.
     UFO  abduction  cases also draw the  center's  attention  if
there's evidence in addition to an abductee's account.
     Petri  also serves as state section director of Bastrop  and
Travis Counties for the Mutual UFO Network.
     The   center   and   MUFON  work  together  to   train   UFO
investigators,   discuss   cases   and  plan  field   trips   for
investigations.   Joint  meetings are under the acronym PULSE  --
Project  UFO  Landings,  Sightings and Encounters -- so  the  two
organizations can maintain separate identities.
     "The  goals  are  to share information and ferret  out  bad,
distorted information," Petri said.   "So the organizations don't
mind communicating."
     Ten members are training to be field  investigators.   Three
have  been  trained.   Most are professional people  with  skills
such as photography, computers, legal investigation and medicine.
     Membership  is by invitation.   The center seeks people with
professional   expertise   that   could   be  of   use   in   UFO
investigations.   Though it costs nothing to join,  members  must
subscribe to the MUFON UFO Journal.
     "We're  not here to make converts but to collect  evidence,"
Petri said.

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