>From Mr. Blanton > BTW, I don't have a lot of respect for Schmitt. > Are you aware of his falling out with Dr. Kevin Randall, > his former partner?
... More than I had wished! I had many private email exchanges with Mr. Randle back in the 90s in regards to the aftermath of this sordid affair. Needless to say, he was pretty upset. There wasn't much I could do about it, not that it was any of my business. ;-) BTW, another critic on another discussion group had this to say concerning Mr. Schmitt's faults: > "Schmitt claimed he had a bachelor's degree, a master's degree > and was in the midst of pursuing a doctorate in criminology. He > also claimed to be a medical illustrator. When checked, it was > revealed he was in fact a letter carrier in Hartford, Wisconsin, > and had no known academic credentials." This is outlined in the following "wiki" entry: See: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_Incident#Shoddy_research_revealed.3 B_witnesses_suspected_of_hoaxes My Comments: Regarding Wikipedia articles having to do with "Shoddy research revealed:", as we all know, one should take some of the conclusions drawn there with an extreme grain of salt. It has been claimed by certain researchers that Wiki has acquired a gang of individuals who seem to bask in the limelight of how many personal entries they can make. Compounding matters is the fact that their true identities can be obfuscated, allowing them to post with impunity. I have heard conjecture that many of these individuals keep scores amongst each other - a kind of one-upmanship. They are also opinionated, intolerant of those who might differ from their own POV, immediately removing any counter opinions that might be posted. --------------------------------------------------- It's appropriate that I now share some of my own perspectives in regards to a colorful incident that occurred in the annals of UFO "soap opera", back in the 1990s, the "falling of grace" of Mr. Schmitt and his subsequent rehabilitation. I should start with a brief excerpt extracted from a recent publication (2009) concerning the continuing Roswell investigation, titled "Witness to Roswell". In the latest book published by Thomas C. Carey and Donald R Schmitt, the following is stated about Mr. Schmitt's background: --------------------------------------------------- Donald R. Schmitt resides in his native Wisconsin on a 45-acre ranch locate just outside of Milwaukee in a little hamlet called Hubertus. Don possess a bachelors degree from Concordia University and has taken graduate courses in criminal justice at John's University. He has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for the past 23 years. A talented artist, he has also freelanced as a medical and commercial illustrator. Possessing a fine baritone voice, Don also sings public for special occasions in the Milwaukee area. Don is the former director of special investigations and co-director of the J. Allan Hynek Center for UFO studies (CUFOS). He teamed with Kevin Randle in 1988 to investigate the Roswell Incident, a collaboration that resulted in many published articles and two best-selling books. UFO Crash at Roswell and The Truth About the UFO cCrash at Roswell. The critically acclaimed movie, Roswell, to which Don was a consultant, was based on the first book. Most recently, Don has appeared in a National Geographic Special about Roswell, Larry King Live!, and the CNN Morning Show. He continues to give presentations about Roswell at conference around the country. Teaming with Tom Carey in 1998, Don has vowed to continue a proactive Roswell investigation until the ultimate truth is learned. Don and his wife, Marie, have been married for four years. http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Roswell-Unmasking-Governments-Cover-up/dp/1601 630662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249333864&sr=8-1 http://tinyurl.com/mec9tn ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the specific details as to what I'm about to comment on I have rarely spoken in public about. Back in the 90s when Mr. Schmitt teamed up with Mr. Randle a terrible thing happened. Don Schmitt lied to his partner Mr. Randle. Mr. Schmitt denied that he worked for the Post Office to his then partner Mr. Randle. Compounding Schmitt's "sin" Mr. Randle then went to bat for Mr. Schmitt in an attempt to squelch rumors that his partner worked for the Post Office. One can only imagine the shock, disbelief, and sense of betrayal Mr. Randle must have felt when he discovered that his partner, the one he thought he trusted, the one he want to bat for, had lied to him. Needless to say, the Randle-Schmitt partnership did not survive this kind of abuse. Even I, myself, got temporarily caught up in Mr. Schmitt's lie. Of course the question most of us should be asking ourselves is who gives a frack whom one works for to pay the mortgage. I suspect this was one of the most painful lessons Mr. Schmitt had to learn, that it doesn't really matter. Mr. Randle could have cared less that his then-partner worked for the Post Office. It was the LIE that pissed him off, and rightly so. For various convoluted reasons Mr. Schmitt wanted people to believe he was an artist/illustrator, that most of his income was generated from the more rarified atmospheres of art/illustration work. I will spare the Vort Collective Mr. Schmitt's many convoluted reasons for lying to Mr. Randle. >From what I surmised, it was fertile ground for soap opera fodder. Despite this transgression, over the past fifteen years I (and other close friends and associates) have enjoyed spending many enriching hours with Mr. Schmitt, typically at informal pot-luck meetings. It was during these close informal associations that Mr. Schmitt talked and worked through a knotted tangle of issues that caused him to make such a catastrophic miscalculation of professionalism, the one that cost him a great partnership. He confessed his faults to those he trusted. He is quite aware of the catastrophic miscalculation in personal judgment he made of his own volition. He knows quite well how he should have conducted his actions. I have several recorded audio tapes of some of these conversations. Nobody's perfect, certainly not Mr. Schmitt. Nevertheless, it is my view that Mr. Schmitt has performed sufficient "penance" for his miscalculations. No doubt, certain individuals who will remain nameless might feel that he hasn't performed sufficient "penance", that he will never be able to perform sufficient penance for his transgressions, but that is not up to me to pass judgment on. All I know is that I, too, have done things in my life that I'm not proud of. Perhaps it is one of the reasons it is important for me to state here, for the record, that I continue to hold Don Schmitt in my heart as long enduring friend, one that has survived a few untimely disasters along the way to the battle front. Mr. Schmitt is older now, and wiser. I suspect his own close encounters of the catastrophic kind have helped transform him into an even better UFO investigator than perhaps the original "model of perfection" that he so desperately wanted to project onto a fickle public. Incidentally, Mr. Schmitt has moonlighted as a free-lance illustrator outside of regular post office hours. For example, he was commissioned to produce a series of illustrations for a medical binder. I verified this fact. If others wish to maintain their sense of disrespect of the likes of Mr. Schmitt that certainly is their prerogative to do so. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
