angelia.joiner@empiretribune.com
Sunday, February 3, 2008 3:11 PM CST
Ricky Sorrells is frustrated and a little angry.
Since his interview with the Associated Press, Sorrells has stayed quiet regarding the daytime UFO sightings on his property near Dublin.
And, there is more than one reason for his silence.
Sorrells believes military officials have been harassing him by flying military aircraft over his property at low altitudes, at all hours of the day and night. Sorrells runs livestock on his place and said the cattle don’t react well to the disturbances. It’s also been hard to get any sleep.
Sorrells made international news along with other witnesses on Jan. 14 after the Associated Press contacted him for his story and took video of the exact spot the UFO was seen along with Sorrells’ description of the object.
Not just once, but four times, he claims to have seen the massive flying object he estimates to be the length of “three or four football fields.” He said he’s not sure about the size because the first time he saw it was the best view. At that time, the craft hovered directly over him in the woods about 300 feet above his head and his view was blocked by tree branches.
“I don’t know why it keeps coming back here,” Sorrells said.
He’s convinced that someone representing himself as a Lt. Colonel knows what it is — and Sorrells wants an explanation.
He said the man contacted him by telephone on Jan. 15, one day after his interview with the Associated Press.
“I didn’t worry about writing his name down or taking notes,” Sorrells said. “I didn’t know what was about to happen. But, I think he said he was with the Air Force.”
Sorrells said the conversation started out nice enough.
“He was sort of nice to me right off,” Sorrells said. “He asked to come and talk to me.”
Sorrells said he told the man that he needed time to think about it and then, “He (the man) became really arrogant.”
The caller told Sorrells he wasn’t taking “no” for an answer and would be out to talk to him. Sorrells again tried to politely tell the man he did not wish to have company.
After that, Sorrells said the conversation became heated and he told the man not to cross his cattle guard.
Sorrells said the man responded with, “ Son, we have the same caliber weapons as you do but a lot more of them.”
Looking back, Sorrells said he believes the man was in his area but not able to pinpoint exactly where he lived because he recently built a new home.
“I actually got up and looked out my window to see if I could see someone at the cattle guard. So I said if he was who he said he was, why didn’t he stop flying over my air space with all those helicopters,” Sorrells said. “And he informed me that it was not my air space — it was his. He told me if I’d quit talking about what I saw he would stop the helicopters.”
Sorrells said since that conversation, the helicopters have quit flying over his property but the F-16s haven’t slowed.
Before the conversation took place with the suspected military officer Sorrells related a late night experience with a large transport helicopter and three smaller helicopters.
“I get up at 2:30 a.m. to go to work and these helicopters kept flying over and I couldn’t sleep,” Sorrells said. “Because it was about time to get up and go to work, I just got up and went outside to see what I could.”
Sorrells said he has a spotlight on his pickup that he uses to look for coyotes.
“I went to my truck and turned on the spotlight and shined it up at them,” Sorrells said. “It was so close, I could see the pilot’s reaction. He threw up his arm to block the light. He was in one of the smaller helicopters.
“Then he turned toward me and I still have the light on. I started to feel uncomfortable so I turned off the light and waved and went back inside. I was thinking I had pushed the envelope.”
To top that off, Sorrells said an acquaintance, whom he would not name, and formerly a member of the military, told him, “You need to shut your mouth about what you saw.”
Sorrells said he tried to pull the man aside and asked him to explain his statement.
“He just kept saying the same thing and wouldn’t explain,” Sorrells said. “ Now he won’t speak to me.”
Sorrells said because the helicopters disappeared, he now feels the gentlemen was actually a member of the military, and was high enough in rank that he was able to stop that type of air traffic.
“If it is a military craft the American people need to know,” Sorrells said. “A lot of people have seen things around here. I know what I saw and so do they.”
On January 8, 2008 in Stephenville, Texas, one of the larger UFO sightings in the United States occurred. A few days ago the UFO investigative organization Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) released a 77-page report on the sighting. MUFON is a UFO investigative organization in the United States. Founded in 1969, it now has 3,000 members and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The MUFON report, entitled "Special Research Report Stephenville, Texas" was written by Glen Schulze and Ropert Powell. Shulze has radar experience from working at the White Sands Missile Range. Powell has a chemistry degree and has extensive experience with semiconductors from working for Advanced Micro Devices.

The report is an analysis of radar records from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Weather Service, obtained through several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and comparing them to witness accounts.

Shulze/Powell concluded that the radar data confirms the witness observations of an object, as well as the Air Force's statement that said ten aircraft were operating in the area. They say that it is too difficult to say what the witnesses saw, but that there was something there. Twice, they say, radar picked up an object travelling at nearly 2,000 mph, and at other times it showed a slow moving object.
George W. Bush and Germany's Angela Merkel in front of Prairie Chapel Ranch in November 2007.
Much media attention has been focused on the report's observation that radar records show one of two objects moving directly toward the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford. This is the home of United States President George W. Bush, which has been nicknamed the Western White House. They did not draw any conclusion as to why such movement was observed.

The authors also concluded that military air activity was heavy at the time, but that the radar records show no overt action toward the unknown object. They express concern about the possibilty that this could have been a terrorist aircraft with no transponder.

Shulze/Powell stated that they felt that they had been stonewalled in some of their FOIA requests by some government agencies. They encouraged the government to more readily provide more information about the incident.

Location of Stephenville within Texas.
The Stephenville incident on January 8, saw dozens of witnesses reporting a large object in the evening sky that hovered above the community before it took off at high speed. Steve Allen, a pilot, observed the object from the ground and described it as being a half-mile with flashing strobe lights. He also said that it was pursued by two fighter jets, when it disappeared at a speed he estimated to be 3,000 mph.

"I don't know if it was a biblical experience or somebody from a different universe or whatever but it was definitely not from around these parts," Allen said. 

Another witness was local law enforcement officer Leroy Gateman  who reported it as a red glowing object suspended 3,000 feet in the air. "It was so fast I couldn't track it with my binoculars," said Gateman.

Rick Sorrells says he saw the object while deer hunting in the woods. "You look at the trees, and it was right here," he told ABC News. He estimated it to be the length of "three or four football fields," though he could not be entirely sure due to his vantage point.

Sorrells has later claimed that military helicopters have since overflown his property at low altitude and that he has been getting strange phone calls. He also claims that an unknown man came to his door, even once told him that,"Son we have the ''same'' caliber weapons you have, but we have more of them.", after Sorrells grabbed his rifle, and, "You need to shut your mouth about ''what'' you saw."

"I'm trying to decide whether or not to open the door," Sorrells said to the ''Empire-Tribune''. "We're just standing there face to face looking at each other. I'm thinking he's dressed for the elements and the dogs are raising such a ruckus he must know he's in danger of being caught. That's when I realized he wanted me to see him." The man then turned away and walked into the woods.

The United States Air Force initially said witnesses must have seen reflections coming from commercial airliners. However, they later clarified that ten F-16 Fighting Falcons had been on a night-time training mission in the area on January 8.

"In the interest of public awareness, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs realized an error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft," said the statement.

According to Air Force spokesperson Karl Lewis, the aircraft were from the 457th Fighter Squadron and the error in the initial report was due to an internal communications problem between offices at the base.