SUBJECT: UFO SIGHTINGS GENERATE ZANY REPORTS                 FILE: UFO1274


NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE

DATE OF ARTICLE:  March 8, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  Times Journal
LOCATION:  Fort Payne, Alabama
BYLINE:  Dennis Benefield
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TABLOID REPORTS LIBERACE SEEN IN FYFFE UFO

UFO SIGHTINGS GENERATE ZANY REPORTS

By Dennis Benefield
The Times Journal Managing Editor

     A  British tabloid reported Tuesday that residents of Fyffe,
Alabama,  saw  entertainer Liberace descend from an  unidentified
flying  object  and  perform Hollywood showtunes  on  a  floating
piano.
     A physician in Kansas claims that extraterrestrials say  UFO
sightings will in Alabama.
     And  a  New  York resident believes that UFO  sightings  are
actually alien spacecraft.
     Those are among the more bizarre reports sparked by a series
of UFO sightings near Fyffe that began on February 10th.
     Fyffe policeman Fred Works was interviewed by the BBC -- the
British Broadcasting Company -- on Tuesday.   Such interviews are
routine since he reported seeing a UFO.
     "It does get wild sometimes," Works said.   In between phone
calls, he scheduled two television interviews Tuesday.
     "I  stay  on  the phone all the time when I  come  into  the
office," he said.  "I try to talk to anybody if they are serious.
I hate to refuse to talk to people."
     What  Works and fellow Fyffe police officer  Junior  Garmany
saw Feb. 10 remains unexplained.  Both watched a large object fly
over them.  It had lights on it and did not make any sound.
     "It was huge and it was moving on," Works said.   "It passed
over our heads and we watched it go out of sight.   But there was
no noise.  That is what surprised me."
     Others  in  the area reported similar unexplained  sightings
that night and on subsequent nights.
     Since  then  the town has become a popular place  on  Friday
nights, as sightseers come to watch the skies.
     Newspaper, radio, television and magazine reporters are also
interested  in  Fyffe,  seeking out anyone who  might  have  seen
something.   Some  reports exaggerate the sightings and many  are
unflattering to the rural south.
     Works  was particularly disappointed with a TV report on the
nationally  syndicated  show "Inside Edition," which  aired  last
week.
     The crew had Works and Garmany re-enact a reported sighting.
But the video was fastforwarded during the report,  which  showed
the officers racing off with blue lights flashing in pursuit of a
UFO.
     But other reports are even more zany.
     A British tabloid,  The Daily Star,  had a half page article
on the Fyffe UFOs in its March 7 edition.
     The paper reported that thousands were flocking to the "tiny
town  of Fyffe,  Alabama" in hopes of seeing the late entertainer
Liberace.
     The  tabloid  reported  that residents  of  Fyffe  had  seen
Liberace, dressed in a "sparkling gold lame suit," descend from a
movable staircase and perform "Singing in the Rain," and "Laura's
Theme" on a floating piano.
     "He  had a lovely,  serene smile," the paper  reported,  and
"flexed  his  long,  bony"  fingers at Fyffe  residents.   A  BBC
spokesman  said  the report was not taken  seriously  by  British
readers.
     Works doesn't take such reports seriously either.
     But  the  calls do disrupt the routine at Fyffe  City  Hall.
"When  we`re  not  here the ladies in the  office  have  to  take
messages,"  Works  said,  adding that the callers "will  talk  to
anybody," whether they have seen a UFO or not.
     The result,  according to Vicki Cooper,  of UFO Magazine, is
that  rumors  and  hype get confused with  fact.   She  said  her
magazine attempts to take a serious look at sightings.   She said
sighting reports were accelerating nationwide.  "This is not just
an isolated case," she said.
     She said it may be coincidence,  but sightings increase when
the  economy  worsens or in times of national crisis.   She  said
that most sightings remain unexplained.
     Works  would  like an explanation of what he  saw.   But  he
knows it was not Liberace.  "It was really Elvis," he said.

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