Harrington News

The Harrington Chamber of Commerce canceled their January meeting, making their next meeting February 5. Members were reminded that it is time for dues to be turned in. Election of officers was postponed until the February meeting. Chamber president Cassandra Pfaffle-Dick wished the community at large a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on behalf of the Chamber.

School class learns about

UFO Reporting Center

Monday, December 16, Peter Davenport, Ufologist, spoke to the Harrington High School astronomy class taught by Justin Ikehara. Six members of the class were absent, mostly member of the high school basketball team, but the remaining three students appeared attentive and enjoyed the video presentations of the eyewitness reports of unusual phenomena.

Davenport introduced himself and told of his responsibilities to the National Reporting Center, then began his presentation with “Are we alone in the universe?” He addressed three questions: 1) What is a UFO? 2) Are they real? and 3) How long have we known about UFOs? He discussed criteria for case selections that qualify as UFO sightings out of 250,000 reports: the case must be a dramatic event, there must be multiple and independent witnesses of the same event, and witness reports must be similar. Students seemed most intrigued by “local” sightings, such as the LaCrosse, Wash. case on December 29, 1994.

The Seattle Space Needle was said to be patterned after a UFO which was perceived as a flying saucer. Davenport said most UFO reports describe them as triangular. He posed questions for the students, such as “Do UFOs ever malfunction?” and “What U.S. government agency would cover UFOs if the government admitted they exist?” Davenport gave an interesting short history of sightings by astronomers in 1913 and by Puget Sound fishermen in July 1893. He also mentioned a potential UFO crash January 8, 1995 that was reported to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, which then contacted the Air Force Recovery Agency for recovery of downed planes. Another example was in McMinnville, Tenn., where objects were seen descending slowly and one blew up or perhaps burning fragments blew out. The fireball phenomenon began being reported in Bedford, Penn. on August 25, 1995. The fireball was seen in Canada, across Lake Erie and into Pennsylvania. As recently as November 4, 2008, a car was mutilated, with the photo showing the whole side of the car caved in but with not a scratch on the surface of the car. Davenport gave the students considerable information but also left them with questions to ponder.

Ikehara video-taped the presentation. This is his first year of teaching at Harrington, and he commutes from his home in Reardan.

Santa’s Workshop

Kindergarten through 12th-grade students of the Harrington School District made gifts to give to their parents, and Santa made his appearance. Photos were taken by Grace Moeller for frames that had been made by students.