Long before now, assuming you haven't cheated by reading these blog entries out of chronological order (shame on you if you didn't start at April, 2007, where some really good stuff lurks), you probably believe that all the letters I wrote to members of Congress over the decades concerned only the UFO subject. It sure looks that way.
But I also have files sprinkled with copies of letters to and responses from public officials about other topics, covering energy, the environment, crime, punishment, politics and a number of other common topics. Nevertheless, they aren't nearly as fascinating as those one-in-a-million UFO-related letters one sometimes finds in the mailbox from a congressman writing candidly -- using words that simply astonish.
For a brief time, one term I think, Central New York was represented by yet another member of Congress, Gary Lee. I wrote him about several issues at one point, and received a July 23, 1979 response of a seemingly typical nature. There's nothing surprising on page one, as you can see here, but page two presents another story of an obvious eye-popping variety. The Air Force -- the non-UFO, goodbye Project Blue Book Air Force -- looking into the UFO issue in some renewed, generally unknown manner? What? What? Had this tidbit appeared in a shady tabloid magazine, I would have relegated it to the trash heap, but this was coming from a member of Congress, and the wording was just too intriguing to pass up.
Taking Congressman Lee at his word, I immediately notified APRO and others, but decided not to identify him as the source out of concern that he might be priviliged to information that might ultimately be withheld from him, should he be publicly named. Instead, I wrote a short article for APRO to print as a tip-off to other researchers. Coral Lorenzen was eager to publish it (see letter) and the piece appeared in the October, 1979 issue of The A.P.R.O. Bulletin.
However, things aren't always what they seem. Or are they? In the next blog entry, I'll offer more about this situation and my further inquiry -- and I wonder to this day whether there was indeed more to this story than we'll ever know.
