Page 5 - 201001 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - January 2010

January 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 02/02/2010 8:33 AM Page 5 Xmas UFO Sighting Questionable 5 Huge UFO seen from the most of the time, Miller said, and did not cause March 10, 1998 rear on Christmas night, any more damage after the initial break-in. Police negotiators have said Leigh made it clear 12/25/2009 from the beginning he did not want to hurt Copyright 1998 by the Waco Tribune-Herald. May not be reproduced in any fashion without anyone, only to air his grievances against the Continued from Page 4 VA. crediting the Waco Tribune- Herald newspaper. Leigh had called the Waco VA office at Jason Leigh liked to put a Ph.D. behind Angry vet in Waco standoff some point during an appeal for his veteran's his name. says he got his point across benefits, which may have been why he chose But his phony doctorate fell away in the site, negotiator Pat Swanton said Sunday UFO buff sought to air night. court Monday as the man who held police at bay Leigh's driver's license shows he lives in grievances against VA Cleburne, at the same address as his 71-year-old outside Waco's Veterans Affairs Regional Office for 14 hours Sunday told U.S. Magistrate 03/10/98 mother. He has numerous postings on the Dennis Green that he's still shy of his associate's Houston Chronicle Internet about UFOs in which he claims to hold degree. Leigh, 49, is not quite who he seems to a doctoral degree and a job history with network television news, none of which could be be. WACO - A disgruntled veteran involved confirmed. In fact, he used to be Randal Leigh in a 14-hour standoff with authorities at a His claim of sighting a cigar-shaped Brown, born Nov. 30, 1948, in Corsicana. Veterans Affairs office faced a federal UFO in Cleburne was reported in the Waco During his court appearance Monday magistrate Monday, while police removed newspaper. morning, he told federal officials he legally barricades erected during the Sunday siege. "He's a gentle man as far as I'm changed his name in 1980. Jason Leigh, 49, a Vietnam veteran, concerned," said Lori Elmore- Moon, a former On his Internet web page, Leigh claims UFO enthusiast and unpublished poet, was reporter and editor for the Cleburne Times- to have a "degree in electronics" and appends arraigned on felony charges of possessing a Review who has known Leigh for several years. "Dr." or "Ph.D." to his name. But Monday he firearm in a federal facility while committing "He needs help." said his "electronics education" at Delgado extortion. Leigh had asked for $1 million for The UFO sighting allegedly occurred on Community College in New Orleans did not veterans as a condition for his surrender, a June 11, 1995, at 1:22 p.m. He saw a silver, result in a degree. He said he attended several demand he later dropped. silent cigar-shaped object floating above the other universities. Outside the federal courthouse Monday, golf course, according to a 1995 Times-Review Leigh apparently spent a good deal of Leigh said he had made his point. story. Leigh contacted the Mutual UFO time online. An Internet search of Leigh's name "There's no other way to get them to Network, a group that investigates strange turns up scores of references to UFOs and the listen," he said. "I tried letters, I tried e-mail, I sightings, and local television stations trying to paranormal, but not a single reference to tried phone calls, I tried friends - I tried alert the public about the presence of UFOs, veterans' issues. Even fellow believers appear to everything I possibly could." according to the Times-Review. question Leigh. Leigh rammed a white Jeep Cherokee Elmore-Moon, now a news anchor for The Ufomind Paranormal Research through a wrought iron security gate and into a an AM radio station in Cleburne, said she met Index web page lists Leigh among the "UFO back entrance of the Waco Veterans Affairs Leigh years before his UFO sighting, when he researchers and witnesses whose educational Regional Office about 6: 45 a.m. Sunday. He used to bring his poetry to the Times-Review. credentials are challenged by evidence to the called 911 on a cellular phone, told police what Over the years, they developed a friendship, and contrary." he had done and that he was armed. He also she did the first story on his sighting. On the computer bulletin boards of claimed he was carrying explosives, a claim he Though rumors floated around Cleburne ParaScope, a site featuring UFO and conspiracy later recanted before his 8:50 p.m. surrender. that Leigh claims to have been abducted by theory reports, he was criticized as "a person He was arraigned before U.S. aliens, Elmore-Moon said he never told her that who blows a lot of hot air." Magistrate Dennis D. Green on Monday and point-blank. Rather, he said he was sitting in the The director of the International UFO returned to the McLennan County Jail, where he woods playing his guitar one day and Museum and Research Center in Roswell, was held without bond to await transfer to a experienced a period of "lost time," Elmore- N.M., which gives Leigh the computer memory federal facility. The charge carries a maximum Moon said. One minute, he was playing his space for his website, said he has sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 guitar, and the next thing he knew, his guitar misrepresented himself. fine. was on the ground beside him and some time "Basically, we don't have any "We feel like he is a danger to the had passed, she said. connection to him other than that he had a UFO community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Leigh told Elmore-Moon that he sighting," director Deon Crosby said. "He Johnston said. "We don't want people coming to couldn't recall what had happened during that needed to hang his hat on someone and I Waco, Texas, thinking it's a place where you can time, but he did not rule out the possibility of understand that he has actually claimed to be a make a point." alien abduction. representative of this museum and he's not." John Hurley, Leigh's court-appointed During some of their conversations, Leigh also purports online to be "absent attorney, said he couldn't comment on his Elmore-Moon said, Leigh mentioned that he any police record," but court records show he defense because he was so new to the case. was experiencing trouble getting veterans was convicted in 1992 for carrying a 22- caliber "We'll have to see what I can come up benefits and that he was "not happy with the handgun into the Johnson County Community with," he said. government." Credit Union. He was given a year's probation Three bomb-sniffing dogs checked But, she said, she was more interested in and a $300 fine on the misdemeanor charge, every office in the two-story building early his UFO stories and didn't pay any special said Karen Alexander, chief deputy for court Monday, but the hundreds who were evacuated attention to his complaints about veterans services for the Johnson County clerk's office in from the 30-square-block area were not allowed benefits. Cleburne. back until noon. A neighbor who answered the phone at In writings found on the Internet, Leigh "I'm so ready to go home; I feel like a Leigh's driver's license address Sunday night says he is a Vietnam Veteran who served as a homeless person," said 31- year- old Alisa said the suspect was "all right" but "weird." [] military policeman and Navy SEAL. McCoy after spending a night at the city Leigh served in the U.S. Navy from convention center. "I need a bath." Man Behind Standoff Not November 1966 to May 1967, according to The VA building will reopen today, Rick DuCharme, regional director of public Police Chief Gil Miller said, though the What He Appeared To Be Affairs. smashed custom-made doors and other damage By Jen Sansbury, Waco "That's not long enough to even may take several days to repair. become a SEAL," said Lt. Cmdr. Hal Pittman, Leigh stayed in the building's cafeteria Tribune-Herald Staff Writer director of the news desk, (Contd on Page 6)