Star-Telegram staff writer
Stephenville’s newfound fame has not come without a price.
First, one of the most-quoted UFO “experts” in town last week turned out to be a Cleburne man who staged a 1998 armed standoff in Waco.
Now, one of the Stephenville city leaders who wanted UFO hobbyists to come investigate weird lights is having second thoughts about his city’s intergalactic notoriety.
“I don’t want us to get a reputation like Roswell,” said Mark Murphy. Murphy, a City Council member, invited hobbyists to come interview witnesses who saw what is now described as a military training exercise.
Sixty years ago, spokesmen at the air base in Fort Worth said the silvery wreckage found near Roswell, N.M., was a weather balloon.
This week, their successors said the weird lights in the sky were jets from the 457th Fighter Squadron.
“I didn’t expect this to become such a media circus,” said Murphy, a college science lab manager interviewed on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“I wanted to get some serious answers and find out what people saw. I didn’t dream it would become anything like this,” he said.
If Stephenville is embarrassed in any way over its new reputation as the Flying Saucer Capital of the World, neighboring Dublin isn’t. The rival town wants to beam down more TV attention.