From: jdr@starflight.Corp.Sun.COM (Jon Roland)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,alt.paranormal,sci.skeptic
Subject: Korresponding with Klass
Date: 21 Aug 92 03:25:32 GMT
Reply-To: jdr@starflight.Corp.Sun.COM
Followup-To: alt.alien.visitors
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: starflight.corp.sun.com

The following is a letter I received from Philip Klass, and my reply to it:
---

Philip J. Klass      404 "N" St. Southwest       Washington, DC 20024

                                                      August 10, 1992

Mr. Jon Roland
Starflight Corp.
1755 E. Bayshore Rd. #9A
Redwood City, Calif. 94063-4142

Dear Jon Roland:

	A friend was kind enough to send me your excellent summary of
Budd Hopkins account of the "Linda UFO Abduction Case" at the
recent MUFON conference in Albuquerque as it appeared on an
Electronic Bulletin Board

	Two corrrections:

(1)	It was Robert Redford--the handsome, charming movie star--who
took the photos of Linda and Budd Hopkins. We are often mistaken
for one another so don't feel badly.

(2)	The letter from "Rich" was received by Hopkins in Feb. 1991,
not "a few weeks later." Hopkins misspoke when he gave the date
as "Feb. 1990"--but he corrected himself when he said "about 15
months after" Linda's Nov. 29-30 incident.

	Reference Hopkins' expressed hope that the "well-known
political figure" (the man that Hopkins was told was a 3rd witness)
will go public and confirm the incident. I am so confident that
this individual was not involved (and was home asleep at the time)
that I propose the following wager:

	I'll agree to pay you $1,000 if/when this "well-known
political figure" publicly confirms the truth of Linda's story if
you will agree to pay me $100/year for every year that passes until
he does so--with a limit of $500 maximum on the amount of your
payments. In other words, if he goes public and confirms Linda's
story within two years, you're $800 ahead; within 10 or more years,
you're $500 ahead. If NEVER, then you're out $500. If this proposed
wager is appealing, I'll draw up a one page contract for our mutual
execution.

	Regardless, my compliments on your excellent summary of Hop-
kins' MUFON talk.

	The next (September) issue of my Skeptics UFO Newsletter (SUN
#17) will carry a lengthy report on the "Linda Case" including a
number of details that Hopkins intentionally omitted. If you are
interested, I'll send you a complimentary copy.

                                             /s/ (Phil Klass)
---

                           1755 E Bayshore Rd #9A
                        Redwood City, CA 94063-4142
                                415/361-8141
                        Email: starflt@uunet.uu.net
                                  92/08/15

Philip J Klass
404 N St SW
Washington, DC 20024

Dear Phil:

Thank you for your letter and its corrections. I am taking the liberty
of posting your letter and this reply to the Net, as I am sure others
would like to share them.

However, as I recall from Budd Hopkins' talk, the third witness was
referred to only as an "important public official" -- not as a
"well-known political figure". Since you seem to know who he is, this
is further clarification that makes it easier to identify him and the
agency for whom the other two witnesses worked.

And since you do seem to know who he is, I will decline your wager. You
may know him well enough to know that he won't come forward, although
perhaps it is because he was in bed at his mistress' apartment in that
building rather than at home. But thanks for confirming that he exists,
and thus lending credence to the events he may have either witnessed or
just missed witnessing.

But I am concerned about how you are recovering from the abduction
experience you reported to me at the MUFON Symposium. You weren't 
supposed to remember the alien you had sex with as being one of the 
ugly ones. If you recalled anything, you were supposed to remember her
as a voluptuous redhead. Ah well, I suppose with all the liquor the
memory implant didn't take. I tried to get one of the beautiful aliens
to have sex with you -- really I did. But when I mentioned it to them,
well .... Their thoughts just don't translate.

I would be happy to receive a complimentary copy of the Skeptics UFO
Newsletter #17. I hope, however, if you cite any facts that Hopkins
omitted, you will also explain how you come to know those facts.
Skepticism cuts both ways.


                                                         Jon Roland
---

A question arises concerning Klass' letter: What was his real purpose
in writing it? He's clearly smart enough to know that I'm not stupid
enough to take him up on a "wager" like this, so what purpose does the
letter really serve? I have several ideas, but I would like to hear
from the rest of you.

---

jdr@starflight.corp.sun.com, starflt@uunet.uu.net
Jon Roland
Starflight Corporation, 1755 E Bayshore Rd #9A,
Redwood City, CA 94063-4142, 415/361-8141
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors