(Originally published in -- and copyrighted by -- the October 2004 issue of the monthly newsstand magazine FATE ( http://fatemag.com )

By Larry W. Bryant

"The Roswell Dig Diaries (A SciFi Channel Book) --
SciFi DECLASSIFIED," edited by Mike McAvennie
(Pocket Books (New York); 2004,
Trade Paperback, 264 pages)

When the news broke that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently had
authored the foreword to this classic of Roswell-ana (in which he asserts
the desirability -- nay, the need -- for reopening a formal, in-depth
investigation of the Roswell Incident (R.I.) of July 1947), I
instinctively recalled a prescient moment of commentary in post-R.I.
time.

It occurred a few years ago in St. Louis, on the weekend of a special
UFO-reality "disclosure conference" at which several seasoned UFO
researchers had gathered to hold forth on their latest projects/findings.

For my part, I'd joined Stanton T. Friedman and Richard Dolan as special
guests of radio talkmeister George Noory in a live broadcast from the
local AM station, KTRS. At one point in the discussion, I turned to the
ever-avuncular Stan and referred to the R.I. case as "the dead horse that
never dies." His wry chuckle revealed a hint, as if to say, "There's
more to come of Roswell, fella!"

And, indeed, if you can judge from this liberally illustrated chronicle
of the archeological "testing" conducted near Roswell, N. M., during a
1-month period by experts from the University of New Mexico at the behest
of cable TV's SciFi Channel, then Stan's tacit promise of "more to come"
has been far from empty. The tie-in brainchild of a documentary series
called "SciFi DECLASSIFIED," The Roswell Dig Diaries rounds out my
collection of several books, videotapes, and numerous articles about R.I.
events, controversies, and personalities -- an instant collector's item
as well as a launch pad for further research.

In particular, I find the book's Introduction ("Digging up the Truth" --
by Roswellian researchers Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt) to be
especially useful -- to both the R.I. aficionado and the tyro amongst us
-- as an insightful tone-setter and field guide for the detail-laden
content to follow. In Carey-Schmitt's words: "[The UNM archeologists et
al.] agreed that the dig should be undertaken, given its historical
import to the state of New Mexico as well as its potential payoff -- the
definitive answer to one of the great mysteries of all time, and the
possibility of proof that we are not alone in the universe."

Also especially useful for any reader trying to gain (and retain) an
overall picture of the what/why/where/when/who/how aspects of the Roswell
story and its ongoing aftermath will be the post-Intro section called
"The Story So Far . . . a Time Line" -- which occupies the next 17 pages
of the book.

Then ensues a chronology from the SciFi DECLASSIFIED staff, tracing the
dig project's progress from its inception in the spring of 2002 to its
conclusion that fall. For me, the most interesting part of this section
consists of background correspondence (including various
behind-the-scenes e-mail messages) from the project's planners,
executors, and documentalists. Along the way, the chronology highlights
relevant official UNM documentation and key federal paperwork generated
during the planning/execution stages. (Some of this material, by the
way, remains quite familiar to me, since I'd acquired it via
freedom-of-information requests sent to UNM records officials and to
their counterparts at the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (which has
oversight authority on anything occurring at the reputed UFO-crash debris
field on what used to be called the Foster Ranch, in Lincoln County).)

Those who revel in vicariously reliving historical events -- and the R.I.
scratching-around certainly will add to New Mexico's history -- will find
especially appealing the series of first-person accounts that spawned the
book's very title: the dig's selected participants' diaries. Here's an
excerpt from volunteer Chuck Zukowski's notes:

"Today starts as usual -- in front of Wal-Mart by 6:30 a.m. This time,
however, the SciFi crew stays in town to tape interviews. After a cup of
Joe and gas for the vehicles, we make pretty good time getting to the
dig; Dr. Bill [Doleman, UNM-based project chief] likes to drive fast."

Even for the most casual reader, the R.I. dig saga offers other levels of
interest, such as --

-- The reported results of a SciFi-commissioned Roper national poll
conducted in August 2002 to ascertain "Americans' Beliefs and Personal
Experiences" as regards "UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life." The percentage
of those "who believe government does not tell everything it knows about
UFOs" came in at 72.

-- The SciFi Channel's commissioning of a public-service initiative to
use the U. S. Freedom of Information Act for ferreting out suppressed UFO
data from such USAF operations as Project Moon Dust and Operation Blue
Fly. Included in the initiative was a high-profile statement of the case
against official UFO secrecy, delivered at the National Press Club in
Washington on Oct. 22, 2002, by Pres. Clinton's former White House chief
of staff, John Podesta.

-- The TV-broadcast milestone of the Nov. 22, 2002, SciFi Channel's
"original special," titled "The Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence"
(as based on the R.I. dig project).

-- Dr. Doleman's "Final Report" on the R.I. "archeological testing"
project, as submitted, in July 2003, to the SciFi Channel. For some (as
yet-to-be explained) reason, BLM FOIA officials have yet to send me a
copy of the report in response to my months-old request for it.

Of course, for me the most compelling level of neo-R.I. interest happens
to be that anti-secrecy initiative supported by Podesta with input from
his brother's public-relations firm in Washington. In that regard, I've
taken a cue from Gov. Richardson's comment quoted on page 169: "I don't
think the U. S. government has fully disclosed everything they know
[about the Roswell Incident]."

Indeed, governor -- and that's why, on Aug. 18, 2004, I sent to you an
"open letter" reminding you of New Mexico's constitutional provision for
the empaneling of a state grand jury upon a given county district court's
receipt of the requisite several hundred citizens' signatures on a
petition calling for that empanelment. In the case of Roswell, this
specially empaneled grand jury in Chaves (or Lincoln) County would
exercise its investigatory-and-reporting function as a sort of Truth
Commission focusing on various R.I.-related questions (not the least of
which would be: "What harm has come to any New Mexico citizen via any
acts of commission and/or omission on the part of any official associated
with the crash-retrieval operation?").

As the SciFi Channel continues to promote every tie-in, spin-off, and
rehash available from its initial $25k investment in the Roswell Dig,
how can we not conclude that the dead horse of Roswell remains no mere
gelding?