From the _Skeptics UFO Newsletter_, Nov. 1997:
MUFON UFO Journal Criticized By Members For Not Being
Sufficiently "Pro-UFO," Prompting Editor Stacy to Resign
     The 15-page article by Kent Jeffrey in the June issue
of the _MUFON UFO Journal_ -- published just before the
MUFON annual conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., "infuriated"
many MUFON members, and triggered the resignation of Dennis
Stacy, who has edited the Journal for the last 13 years. In
the article, which was approved for publication by MUFON's
top director, Walt Andrus, Jeffrey cited new evidence that
had prompted him to change his views and conclude that the
Brazel ranch debris was not a crashed ET craft. One might
think MUFON members would want to learn what had prompted
Jeffrey's action.
     According to Andrus, "the Kent Jeffrey article
infuriated the membership in general, since it was too long,
full of apparent errors in reasoning, and debunking in
nature," Andrus candidly admitted in his "Director's
Message" column in the August issue of the _Journal_.
"Members want to hear about UFO sighting reports, not
arguments between writers." Andrus said that for many years
the publication had been "the voice of UFOlogy," but it now
faces competition from both print and electronic media and
"no longer holds that distinguished position." MUFON's Board
of Directors, which met on the last day of the conference,
decided to include a survey questionnaire in the September
issue of the Journal, seeking members' views on the content
of the publication. Andrus admitted that MUFON has suffered
"as significant decline" in membership over the last two
years. Although Andrus gave no figures, current MUFON
membership is about 4,300--down more than 15% from its peak
--which has cut MUFON's income. Stacy promptly submitted his
resignation, and by mid-September it had been accepted. He
will be replaced by Dwight Connelly, who edited MUFON's
monthly magazine in the mid-1970s.
     Based on _SUN's_ occasional communications with Stacy
and his writings in MUFON's journal, it is evident to SUN
that he has himself become skeptical about the "Roswell
Incident" and wild UFO-abduction tales--which have become
the cornerstones of UFOlogy. This skepticism was evidence in
some of Stacy's reviews of some wilder UFO books.  It was
Stacy's moderation that made the MUFON publication the
"voice of rational UFOlogy." But Andrus needs to please the
majority of MUFON's members if the group is to survive
financially.
--- msgedsq 2.0.5
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