Travis Walton Encounter: George Knapp C2C 1-29- 2012

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Kevin Randle joins the debate about Phil Klass' bribe with his blog post.

Also Billy Cox was a guest on Eckers' Dark Matters Radio---subject…hist recent article on Phil Klass.
Info about a show here:
http://www.theparacast.com/forum/thr...illy-cox.9921/
You can listen episode with Billy here:
http://www.dqrm.com/programs.php
(Scroll to Thursday, and then press play button at „DARK MATTERS RADIO“ in „THIS WEEK“ column.

And now Randle's post:

Source: http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012...lip-klass.html

Friday, February 24, 2012
Billy Cox and Philip Klass
Billy Cox, over at the Herald-Tribune has written a short piece called, “Klass act, no principles,” (see http://tinyurl.com/8793hjt). In it he suggests that Steve Pierce, a buddy of Travis Walton, he of Fire in the Sky and abduction fame (see here at the 2011 Roswell Festival), had been offered, by Klass, ten thousand dollars to say that they had hoaxed the whole thing.

My first reaction was to reject this idea because, even for Klass, it seemed a bit excessive. And then I thought back to the long article I had posted here about Klass and his attacks on witnesses and researchers and his attempts to make their lives miserable. For a full analysis, see my September 11, 2011 blog entry about Klass’ letter writing campaign.

(more at link...)

[Doc]

Kevin Randle also engages in some back and forth with commenters at his blog. Some are still defending Klass, or more particularly, the weakness of teh evidence against Klass in their opinion. Funny, no considerations ever seem to stop Klass from firing accusations and condemnation at anyone who disagreed with his point of view. The bigger question to me is how Klass got away with his crap for so long. Why did he get a pass from his public opponents? Was he that valuable as an adversary?


http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012...lip-klass.html

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Latest piece from Randle:

Source: http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012...and-steve.html

Saturday, March 03, 2012
Philip Klass, Travis Walton and Steve Pierce, Part Two
Once again Philip Klass has stirred controversy and he didn’t even have to do anything himself. All of this started, for me, with a column by Billy Cox in which he mentioned the story that Klass had offered Steve Pierce, one of the witnesses of the Travis Walton abduction, ten thousand dollars to say the case was a hoax.

Some have been angry at me for accepting the story. As I mentioned then, my first reaction was to reject it, but then I remembered some of the other things that Klass (seen here with his fans) had done in his efforts to debunk everything UFOlogical (yes, it is hyperbole, but what the heck, it’s not the first time that one side or the other has engaged in hyperbole).

I took a stroll over to “Bad UFOs: Skepticism, UFOs, and the Universe” hosted by Robert Sheaffer so that I might read the other side’s take on this (though saying the other side here is something of a misnomer since I’m not a big fan of tales of alien abduction).

<snip>

More at link...

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Tim Printy shortly comments the affair in his latest SUNlite issue that can be downloaded here:

http://home.comcast.net/~tprinty/UFO/SUNlite4_2.pdf

Comment is at the bottom of page 2 in the section "Who's Blogging UFOs?"

[Gemeos]

I don't know if any of you saw this. I saw it on TV.
Video with Portuguese subtitles. In my view he was framed.

[Doc]

Latest piece from Randle:

Source: http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012...and-steve.html

Saturday, March 03, 2012
Philip Klass, Travis Walton and Steve Pierce, Part Two
Once again Philip Klass has stirred controversy and he didn’t even have to do anything himself. All of this started, for me, with a column by Billy Cox in which he mentioned the story that Klass had offered Steve Pierce, one of the witnesses of the Travis Walton abduction, ten thousand dollars to say the case was a hoax.

Some have been angry at me for accepting the story. As I mentioned then, my first reaction was to reject it, but then I remembered some of the other things that Klass (seen here with his fans) had done in his efforts to debunk everything UFOlogical (yes, it is hyperbole, but what the heck, it’s not the first time that one side or the other has engaged in hyperbole).

I took a stroll over to “Bad UFOs: Skepticism, UFOs, and the Universe” hosted by Robert Sheaffer so that I might read the other side’s take on this (though saying the other side here is something of a misnomer since I’m not a big fan of tales of alien abduction).

<snip>

More at link...

Kevin Randle is a decent guy and an honest researcher, I believe, so I expect he would try to see all sides of an issue. I always thought the UFO researchers were too easy on Klass while he was alive while Klass never cut anyone the slightest bit of slack. Good men disagreed with Klass. Klass slandered them in return. I've known some real lice in my time but I reserve a special contempt for anyone who would write a letter to someone's new employer to try to damage his ability to make a living. People can be wrong without being charlatans and snake oil salesmen. Somehow Klass the brilliant debunker failed to make that distinction.

The bottom line for me in this case is that this is not a rumor. This is an accusation by a witness that a bribe attempt was made on more than one occasion by Klass or someone acting on his behalf. Anyone who has a problem with that should attempt to disprove or debunk the accusation. Just don't try to talk to me about besmirching a fine fellow like Klass. He showed exactly who and what he was over the years.

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<snip>

The bottom line for me in this case is that this is not a rumor. This is an accusation by a witness that a bribe attempt was made on more than one occasion by Klass or someone acting on his behalf.

<snip>

I am having the same impression that everyone is talking about some "strange rumor". Reading all those internet articles and their debates, it sounds that noone actually followed the latest moment and listened the audios in question - at least I am having that impression. I do agree with Doc. The point here is that the whole story is not a second hand story any more that was made via Mike Rogers or Walton. The point here is that the statement was made by the 3rd witness himself directly - it is not a retelling by Rogers or Walton this time. Of course, we can't be for sure here what is the objective truth in the final analysis, but there is a valid reason why new disccusions were started about the alleged affair. It would be interested to hear Pierce's reaction to those latest articles.

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Steve Pierce and Travis Walton at International UFO Congress:

From 2,43 minute mark. Klass is briefly mentioned around 3,47 minute (no reference to alleged bribe).

And another podcast show (Kate Valentine UFO Show) with Pierce and Walton available for download here (Klass alleged affair is not mentioned during the interview but I am providing link to audio anyway for archival purposes:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheKa...A/11-11-11.mp3

Kate with Pat Marcattilio,Travis Walton and Steve Pierce
Posted: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:55:49 -0500
Pat Marcattilio, Pat had his first UFO sighting 1963 and has been a UFO buff ever since. Pat hosts the New Jersey / Pennsylvania / Hamilton UFO Study Group which has been running continuously for 18 years. Actually, the name of the group is longer than some of the meetings.
Plus Surprise on air guests abductee Travis Walton and witness Steve Pierce.

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Robert Sheaffer strikes back:

Source: http://badufos.blogspot.com/2012/02/...al-ufo_24.html

<snip>

Travis made a big thing about the accusation that Philip J. Klass had offered Steve a bribe of $10,000 to say that the 'abduction' was a hoax, that I recently wrote about. That accusation originated with Travis' pal Mike Rogers back in 1978. When Klass read the book where that claim was made, he phoned Pierce, who told him that he thought the abduction was a hoax, but he could not prove it. Klass recorded this phone interview, as he did every significant interview, and later sent a copy to Karl Pflock upon request. Pflock quoted other comments made by Pierce suggesting a hoax. But that was not Steve's story today: absolutely yes, Klass tried to bribe me. He flew out to Texas to wine and dine me and try to persuade me. He kept following me, I had to move to like three different states, to get away from him. Of course, there is no proof that this 'new version' of Pierce's story is correct, no photos of Klass and Pierce together, no documents of any kind to back up this implausible tale.

<snip>

more at link...

[Chris]

I have responded in that email string with the following:

Robert Scheaffer follows the debunker's guide book as established by Phillip Klass - mischaracterization, distortion and outright lies - in order to support an otherwise untenable position in the debate.

Case in point - Steve Pierce never states that he had to move to three different states to get away from Klass. Pierce's actual statement about moving around was an answer to a question concerning the pressure and attention placed on the three of them by the local media and people. Pierce goes on to say that he tried everything to avoid the unwanted attention including hiding and telling people that it was all made up - just so they would leave him alone. When then didn't work he moved away to avoid it all.


Now that's an entirely different picture from what one would be led to believe from the disjointed quotes leading to an erroneous conclusion, isn't it. If one is doing so deliberately, then doesn't that constitute lying???