HI GROUP,I WAS SENT THIS TODAY :ph43r:
UFO LANDING STRIP GETS MAYOR'S SUPPORT IN THE SMALL PUERTO RICAN TOWN OF
LAJAS,... WELCOME ET,... AND YOU MAY PHONE HOME! –
Associated Press,
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
LAJAS, Puerto Rico – People in this sleepy hamlet are so sure they
have been receiving other-worldly visitors, they want to build a UFO
landing strip to welcome them.
A bright green sign along a lonely country road in southwestern Puerto
Rico proudly displays a silhouette of a flying saucer and two words:
"Extraterrestrial Route."
Most Puerto Ricans laughed when a horse farmer installed the sign on his
property at the request of Reynaldo Rios, a local elementary school
teacher who says he's been communicating with alien visitors to this
U.S. territory since he was a child.
Rios, a 39-year-old with a goatee and a shock of dark hair, won't be
ignored. With the blessing of a local government desperate for tourist
dollars, he's dedicated himself to building the UFO landing strip.
"I can't say exactly when they will come, but I know it will happen,"
Rios said. "I want to keep believing in my dreams."
Lajas Mayor Marcos Irizarry's support for the idea has provoked outrage
among islanders who complained it would be a waste of money at a time
when the government is encouraging thousands of employees to shorten
their work week to cope with a staggering fiscal deficit.
"What nonsense," said Luis Arocho, 47, sipping coffee with friends in a
cafe in historic Old San Juan. "This country is in crisis, and since
politicians are incapable of creating jobs, they create fantasies."
Irizarry quickly clarified that his municipal government would not
invest in the project. Instead, he has promised to help Rios get the
proper building permits.
UFO BELIEFS WIDELY HELD
The mayor insists his goal is to attract tourists to his small town. But
he is also among Lajans who believe they have seen UFOs in the area.
"It's a very mysterious place," said Irizarry, who says he once saw red
lights zigzagging above the hills. "A lot of people have seen things."
Francisco Negron, the farmer who put up the sign and allows UFO watchers
to gather at his ranch, volunteered his property for the landing strip.
He and Rios estimate the project could cost up to $100,000 and are
looking for money from private companies.
Negron, a soft-spoken grandfather, has applied for a permit to build a
road to Indian Hill, the chosen site for the strip. Negron and others
say a UFO crashed on the hill in 1997. They claim they heard a boom and
saw the hill go up in flames.
Rios, who leads a group called "UFO International" that holds nighttime
vigils to search for signs of alien life, lets Negron worry about
details like investment costs and permits while he envisions the design.
The landing strip would be 80-feet (24-meters) long and have pyramids as
control towers because aliens are attracted to the shape.
The mayor hopes that UFO enthusiasts will flock to Lajas as they have to
Roswell, New Mexico, the site of a supposed UFO crash in the 1940s.
Hundreds of visitors have come to check out the Extraterrestrial Route
since the sign went up, Irizarry said.
Puerto Rico is known for its Arecibo Observatory and its 1,000-foot
(304-meter) parabolic receiver that astronomers really do use to search
for extraterrestrial life. The huge dish, in northern Puerto Rico, made
a cameo appearance in the 1997 film "Contact," starring Jodi Foster as
an astronomer who picks up a signal from extratraterrestrials.
What's blimp looking for?
But it's a little-known aerostat off the Extraterrestrial Route that
inspires UFO lore in Lajas. The U.S. military uses the aerostat, a
tethered blimp with a radar system, to detect low-flying drug smuggling
planes.
But many Lajans don't believe that. Even Irizarry has suggested that the
aerostat's true purpose is to detect UFOs. A paved road leading to the
blimp curves out of sight between two hills. Two signs warn against
trespassing. Rios claims he was once briefly detained while trying to
see the aerostat.
The school teacher says he first encountered aliens at 13. He says white
lights burst into his bedroom, entered his body and cured him of a back
injury he had received during a basketball game.
In Lajas, people who have grown up hearing reports of UFO sightings seem
more open to his scheme.
"If we have the technology to reach the moon, there could be others who
have the technology to come here," said Ronaldo Barea, 26, a sandwich
shop owner.
CHEERS
UFOHARRY :alien:
