MUFON Pennsylvania Newsletter

History

John Ventre launched the PA MUFON Newsletter in January 2008 (Volume 1, Number 1) after taking over as State Director in 2007. Sigmund "Butch" Witkowski served as Chief Investigator and State Section Director, with the chapter operating through pamufon.com. The newsletter ran monthly through 2009, carrying sighting statistics, conference reports, cold case updates, and recruitment appeals for the state's extensive network of field investigators. Pennsylvania ranked among the top 11 states for UFO reporting, with 112 sightings logged in 2007 and the NUFORC database recording 1,254 reports from the state between 1947 and 2007.

The chapter's geographic challenge was considerable. Membership concentrated in eastern Pennsylvania (the Philadelphia corridor) and western Pennsylvania (the Pittsburgh region), with the vast central highlands largely uncovered. The newsletter regularly sought field investigators for rural counties: Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Clinton, McKean, Clearfield, Clarion, Elk, Warren, Mercer, Erie, Bedford, Blair, Indiana, and Greene. The chapter discussed splitting into eastern and western section meetings to reduce driving distances, and eventually ran sky watches, mock training exercises on sighting and landing sites, and a recruitment drive planned for 2010.

PA MUFON ran ambitious public conferences. The 2009 season included events at Montgomery County Community College and Westmoreland County Community College, drawing a combined 700 attendees. Speaker lineups brought heavy names: Stanton Friedman, Richard Dolan, Bill Birnes, Tom Carey, Peter Robbins, Dennis Balthaser, Dr. David M. Jacobs, Dr. Barry Downing, Carl Feindt, and Pennsylvania researchers Stan Gordon, Eric Altman, and Patty Wilson. The chapter gave presentations to outside groups through the Spirit Society of PA and maintained a table at the annual Flatwoods Festival in West Virginia. Ventre also connected the chapter to the X-Conference in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Monthly sighting statistics ran in every issue. September 2009 logged 54 reports; the newsletter tracked these numbers consistently to identify flap periods and geographic concentrations. A Pennsylvania sightings concentration map accompanied the data, showing clustering patterns across the state.