- Bulkley Valley officials preparing for midnight landing
in Smithers.
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- North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) has confirmed
that the Bulkley Valley is the projected touchdown point for an unidentified
flying object.
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- At an emergency press conference on Saturday, Smithers
Mayor Jim Davidson said he has been informed by NORAD that the object will
enter Bulkley Valley airspace at precisely 12:01 a.m. PDT tomorrow.
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- "We better watch out," Davidson said. "(The
object) is coming to town."
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- Last week, routine satellite reconnaissance of the polar
ice caps spotted what NORAD called a "high-confidence sighting"
of an airborne object. Although moving too fast for immediate confirmation,
a highly placed source inside NORAD told The Interior News, that they have
been monitoring what the call an annual phenomenon, since 1955. Using four
separate detection systems and new technology, NORAD has been able to piece
together enough information to now plot a course.
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- "We've seen this test ---- I guess you could call
it a flight ---- every year around this time. From what we've learned over
the years, we are highly confident with our projections ---- the Bulkley
Valley and the Hazeltons and Kispiox Valley is directly in its path. But
we've still at a loss to completely explain this phenomenon... it's almost
like it knows when we're sleeping and when we're awake," the NORAD
source said.
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- In the wake of the NORAD confirmation, Davidson convened
an emergency meeting with all Bulkley Valley first responders.
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- Smithers RCMP Staff Sgt. Sheila White has also mobilized
her force and a staging area has been set up at an unspecified location.
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- "Our officers are checking their lists twice to
find out who has been naughty and who has been nice," she said. "But
so far it has been a silent night, there's not a creature stirring."
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- As of 6:00 a.m. NORAD switched to a second mode of detection
to track the object, using the same satellites in geo-synchronous orbit
that provide warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America.
The satellites' infrared sensors have picked up a small, but radiant heat
signature at the nose of the object. The discovery has divided analysts
at the Canadian Space Agency into two camps. Some insist the craft simply
has a very shinny nose, others have argued it even glows.
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- Brian Vike, a renowned ufologist in Houston, B.C., told
The Interior News the object is more thoroughly documented than the government
is admitting to. He claimed to posses blurry video footage of what occurs
when the object arrives.
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- "Most of the stuff we see in the sky is explainable,
but there are sightings that I cannot figure out, like this one. It's just
one bright red light, but there's structure to it. It's tracking very quickly
across the sky and has a kind of comet spray behind it. Sometimes it comes
to a hover, or it may make a wide loop around and drop down into the trees
or onto a rooftop."
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- Environment Canada forecasts limited visibility in the
Bulkley Valley tonight, which may hamper visual sighting of the object
as it approaches.
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- Mayor Davidson appealed for residents to continue with
their holiday plans uninterrupted.
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- "It will be one foggy Christmas eve that will go
down in history," he said. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all
a good night."
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- Front page graphic: http://hbccufo.org/videos/Smithers_News_Impact.jpg
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