Angelia Joiner, the courageous journalist who dared break the Stephenville UFO story in the mainstream press, hit a nerve with her reports about the sightings and subsequent men-in-black style witness intimidation carried on after the fact by supposed government employees. Her articles brought national attention to the small town paper she wrote for, the Empire Tribune. She doggedly followed leads, searched out witnesses and uncovered a vile plot to silence the truth of what happened in Stephenville. Because of this commitment to the truth, the Empire Tribune (who had no problems when Joiner’s articles were raking up advertising dollars and boosting circulation) terminated Angelia. Whether the paper caved under pressure from the same conspiracy that that Joiner uncovered, or the situation just became a little to strange for a simple minded editor who would rather report on hard news like high school basketball games and Girl Scout Cookie sales (both articles appearing on the front page of the Empire Tribune’s website today), we will never know. What we will know is that the Empire Tribune aspires to the same great standard of mediocrity and spineless journalism that we have come to expect from the mass media.

I would personally like to applaud Ms. Joiner for the great reporting she gave us on the Stephenville incident and for the grace and civility that she is handling her dismissal with.

Stephenville, Texas UFO – Empire Tribune Writer Silenced!! [via About.com: Aliens/UFOs]

The phone rings. It’s you friend and he is babbling about a UFO hovering over his house, a bigfoot just ran across his back yard, a ghost is siting across the parlor having a drink with him or what ever, some weird crap is going down and chances are that if you are reading this site YOU WANT TO BE THERE NOW (I sure would)! So you don’t want to be running around getting your camera, worrying if your batteries are charged, etc. That’s why you should keep a “go-bag” handy of what ever you could possibly need to record an extraordinary event. Here are some basic items that any investigator should have ready to go at a moments notice:

1. Camera – How many UFO, cryptid, or ghost sightings have you heard of that didn’t have any photographic evidence? Tons. How many of those sightings are you apt to believe? Very few. Simple fact is a picture is worth a thousand words, and with the price of digital cameras dropping every day you can’t not afford to have one with you. I recommend a small but sturdy pocket shooter like the Olympus 770SW. It is waterproof to 33 feet, shockproof for falls up to 5 feet, crushproof up to 220 pounds, and can operate in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. With a camera that sturdy there is no reason to worry about taking out in the field and it’s quite affordable at about $300. Even if the 770SW is out of your price range, a disposable film camera always does the trick. Just make sure to store it according to the manufactures directions to make sure you get the best possible pictures.

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A little over two weeks ago, a pair of UFO shows went on the air. One on the SciFi channel, one on the History Channel – both named “UFO Hunters”, both on the same night and time (Wed. @ 10:00pm EST). The similarity between both shows ends there. I was not particularly impressed with either show’s first episode (which is why I held off on this review for another week), but in the second week the differences between the shows started to emerge.

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