UFO Sightings

INCREDIBLE ALL-NIGHT POLICE CHASE OF UFOs IN OHIO
Case Covered Up Since 1994; Discovered by Accident

By Michael Lindemann
CNI News

It might never have been discovered except for a misplaced phone call. More than two years ago, Cincinnati-based UFO investigator Kenny Young called directory assistance for the number of the Liberty Police Department. He thought he was calling a small town in western Ohio, not far from Urbana. Instead, he found himself talking to the Liberty Township PD in northeastern Ohio, just north of Youngstown.

Not realizing the error, he asked about a UFO case the department might have dealt with some time back. "Yes sir, I believe that was two years ago," said the friendly dispatcher, who then began recollecting events that occurred in late 1994.

At first, Young didn't realize that this was a completely new case; but soon that became clear. It was new -- and it was very, very big.

What he now calls the Trumbull County Disturbance involved police officers from ten or more local departments around the Youngstown-Warren area of northeastern Ohio, chasing at least two UFOs during a period of more than six hours in the early morning of December 14, 1994. After more than two years of investigation, Young has acquired an audio recording from the Liberty Township 911 Central Dispatch Office that graphically details the amazing radio chatter accompanying the officers' sighting and pursuit of the UFOs. Thanks to Young's generosity, CNI News has also acquired a copy of this remarkable tape.

Following his accidental discovery of the incident in 1996, Young began locating and interviewing eyewitness participants. One police officer, Tobe Melero, said he saw the UFO up close. It appeared as a huge red light, turning the immediate area almost as bright as day (the time was around midnight); and it disrupted the electrical system of his car. Melero was shocked. Following his encounter, he told the 911 dispatcher that he had to go off air for a few minutes to "collect his thoughts."

Young knew there was more to the case, but his investigation stalled because he was unable to pinpoint the exact date of the incident. He was told he was being stonewalled.

"They are stonewalling you, because they don't want you requesting the audio copies of those dispatch tapes," one officer told him in 1996. "On those tapes, it'll tell you who all was involved in this, which implicates just about everyone."

It was another lucky break that finally got Young the 911 tape. Someone inside the dispatch office made a private inquiry, first finding out the exact date, then seeking the tapes. That person learned that the original tapes for December 14, 1994, the night of the incident, were missing. But he managed to find a backup copy, from which he made a copy for Young.

As Young later discovered, officer Tobe Melero was only one of many police officers who saw and pursued two or more UFOs that night. Young writes: "Many police departments, including the Liberty Township Department, Howland, Hubbard and Girard City Police Departments, as well as the Trumbull County Sheriffs Department, engaged in an intense, late-night vehicular pursuit of a 'red, saucer shaped object'... described by multiple police officials as an enormous, brightly luminescent object that rotated, as if on an axis. The object allegedly made no sound, and hovered directly above housetops in a residential neighborhood at a disturbingly low elevation."

Later in the chase it became apparent that at least two objects were being observed by officers in different locales. On the 911 audiotape, one officer (Unit 2223) reports, "I've got a visual on both of them, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about... OK, I've got them both. I've got Howland saying it looks like it's in the area of Warren Road, Liberty says it's down near Hubbard."

One of the UFOs was also witnessed by an Air Force base security guard in the company of a police officer. The Youngstown Air Force Base is adjacent to Youngstown-Warren Regional Municipal Airport, both in the vicinity of Vienna, east of Warren -- directly in the center of that night's UFO activity. However, personnel in the FAA Air Traffic Control Tower at the airport repeatedly told the 911 police dispatcher that they could not see anything visually or on radar.

Young was told by a "tattler" inside the local FAA office that all the tower personnel involved that night were "fired" or "reassigned" following the incident.

Understandably, most of the numerous police officers were not eager to come forward at first. But strangely, a reporter for WYTV Youngstown channel 33 news, who got wind of the story as it was breaking, chose to report nothing about it at all. To this day, despite massive eyewitness testimony and the sensational 911 audiotape, no mainstream news media have reported on this case.

The incident began in the late evening of December 13 when several citizens in the Liberty Township area called 911 to report a low flying UFO. At first, the 911 dispatcher took the reports very lightly, making typical disdainful UFO jokes with patrol officers over the radio. After four different people called 911 reporting UFOs, the dispatcher became slightly more serious. Officers agreed to check out reports of several sightings along Samson Drive.

At about 12:30 am, reporter Stacey Adger of WYTV news called the 911 dispatcher, saying a woman had called the TV station to report a UFO. From this moment on, Adger was aware of a developing story -- but she never reported it.

More calls were received from local citizens; soon the total was at least eight. Then, Officer Tobe Melero, unit 998, radioed that he saw the object, a bright red glow "bright as daylight on the ground." Soon after, Unit 429 radioed that he had the object in his binoculars. The time was approximately 1 am.

Before the night ended, patrol officers from ten or more surrounding jurisdictions participated in a complex cat and mouse pursuit. Often, the UFOs -- two at least -- were said to be no more than 50 feet off the ground. Several officers described structure. Colors on the objects ranged from brilliant red to white to lavender, blue and green. Often the objects hovered, but sometimes they moved much faster than the police cars could pursue.

The following portion of transcript from the 911 tape, prepared by Kenny Young, demonstrates the intensity of events that night:

Unknown Unit: I've got a visual on it. I'm east on Old 82 with a visual on it by the 'S' curve. I can see a large red, blue and green light. I am going east on Liberty. This thing's going so fast, there's no way I can keep up with it. When I pulled in Liberty I could see it in the distance, but I got closer and it started moving.

Voice: Which Liberty?

Unknown Unit: Liberty off of Belmont. I don't see it now. I'm on Logan now.

Voice: OK, 429, its south of Old 82, I'm moving east on it.

Unit #429: I'm still stationary at the airbase. Its pulsating.

Voice: Affirmative, I'm looking at it through binoculars. It's got something protruding out the top of it.

Voice: I'm on Belmont now.

Voice: It's over tracks now...

Voice: It's hovering now.

Voice: I see it now, too.

Voice: It looks like it's flickering more now and it's east of me now. I'm heading east on Old 82...

Voice: I've got a pretty good view from here.

Voice: I'm dead east on it, it's slightly north of us.

Voice: It's extremely bright, really bright.

Voice: It's all the way into Liberty now, into Hubbard now...

Unit #998: Is Howland reporting sightings?

[Dispatch]: That is affirmative.

UNIT #2223: I've got a visual on both of them, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

CONTROL: 10-4. We have multiple departments right now that have sightings on it.

UNIT #2223: OK, I've got them both. I've got Howland saying it looks like it's in the area of Warren Road; Liberty says it's down near Hubbard.

CONTROL: If you see anything close and can identify it, let us know.

UNIT #2223: Affirmative.

Voice: I'm past 84-Lumber, still eastbound. It's southeast of my location.

Voice: It doesn't seem like it moved at all from where I'm at.

Voice: OK, are you by yourself, or is there someone documenting the observation also?

Voice: I'm at the airbase, I've got the security guard out here. He doesn't know what to make of it either. We can see it from right here.

Voice: Did you ask Liberty Dispatch the outcome of the FAA inquiry?

UNIT #433: Last check, radar at the airport was advising nothing on their screens. They wouldn't tell us anyway if it's anything to do with the military. We've had another 'Hangar 7' happen in Trumbull County. [end of transcript excerpt]

As dawn approached, the low-flying objects ascended to higher altitude, where they took on the appearance of stars. However, several officers continued to insist that what they saw was not stars or planets. This is clearly supported by the radio chatter on the 911 tape, where it is apparent that officers in separate locations are triangulating on objects that are close to the ground. This could not happen if the officers were seeing celestial objects.

Also near dawn, jets reportedly flew through the area, though it is not clear whether they were responding to the UFO sightings.

As is often the case, this UFO incident took place within close proximity to a secretive military installation. According to Young, "the region in question is adjacent to a Defense Logistics Agency and National Defense Stockpile, one of the biggest radar/air defense installations in the United States. The Youngstown Municipal Radar Air Defense Agency is also within the locality."

Some police officers apparently suspected that secret military activity might account for the events. "Most people don't realize that this air base out here is one of the best kept secrets in the whole damn country," a Hubbard police officer told Young. "Don't kid yourself. You wouldn't believe the hardware," he insisted.

While many questions remain unanswered, what is clear is that a UFO incident of potentially enormous significance, documented on police audiotape and witnessed by dozens of personnel from ten or more police departments, the FAA, the Air Force and at least one major television station, would have gone entirely unreported but for a lucky discovery by an independent UFO investigator, Kenny Young. CNI News commends and thanks Young for his continuing pursuit of this case.

And we ask: WHY are cases like this covered up? WHO is afraid? WHAT are they hiding?

CNI News believes the foregoing information demonstrates clear, official intent to keep this case out of public view. Furthermore, it seems likely that there are many other cases of this kind that are not and perhaps never will be discovered, unless deception and denial concerning UFOs is brought to an end.