MUFON Louisiana Newsletter

History

W. L. "Barney" Garner edited the LAMUFON Newsletter from 752 Daventry Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808. Publication ran "as required by LAMUFON activities," normally every other month during odd-numbered months. Contributors of $15 or more per calendar year received the newsletter for the remainder of that year. The newsletter was also distributed to cooperating university and law enforcement officials. By 1996, the publication had reached Volume 8, indicating a start date around 1989.

The July/August 1996 issue (Volume 8, Number 4) reported on the 1996 MUFON UFO Symposium and documented the organisation's structural challenges. With over 5,000 members and operations in all 50 states plus 41 foreign countries, MUFON had "outgrown its britches." The newsletter described growing frustration: UFO incident reports and membership were dropping, there was a lack of feedback on submitted reports, and headquarters was diverting resources to outside inquiries and media demands. State directors at the symposium "finally faced up to an increasingly obvious problem" and began working on solutions.

Scientific content from the 1996 Symposium included V. DiPietro's computer analysis of the Face on Mars (estimated one billion years old; he found smaller, more damaged faces but did not believe in ruins on the Moon) and Dr. R. K. Leir's detailed presentation on surgical removal of alleged implants from abductees. Leir reported operating on six people with laboratory results still incomplete. Louisiana maintained State Section Directors across multiple regions, with the State Director assisting on materials and organising meetings that ranged from informal discussion groups to formal presentations.