'We are not alone,' UFO investigator says / But he's skeptical of reported 'sightings'

The Associated Press 9/4/95

B4 LOCAL BOTH

SPOKANE - Jerry Rolwes has never seen a UFO, but he believes there is enough evidence to suggest they show up now and then in Earth's skies.

His serious approach to the often incredible topic has made him the region's point man on unidentified flying objects.

Rolwes has established working relationships with the National Weather Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Spokane Astronomical Society and Fairchild Air Force Base.

He's even persuaded county 911 operators to refer UFO reports to his northwest Spokane home - a link considered a coup by his peers in the Texas-based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

Rolwes is confident these alliances can help him quickly debunk most fake UFO reports. Of the 13 sightings he's investigated in the area since late 1993, most could be explained or dismissed.

Rolwes remains intrigued by a woman's report of three bat-like aircraft hovering in a triangular pattern over the Palouse, near LaCrosse, on Dec. 29. The bright lights and strange objects soon sped away.

Rolwes suspects the woman might have seen some classified military technology such as stealth aircraft.

He has no such explanation for the puzzling lights seen around Post Falls, Idaho, last year - the topic of a "Sightings" television show this year that called the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, corridor a new UFO hotbed.

Ken Holmes, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Spokane, says he calls Rolwes when he can't answer people's questions about what they saw in the sky.

"He's intelligent and informed," Holmes said. "I haven't done any real research into his credibility. All I can say is he's done some good work for us."

Spokane and Post Falls police also say Rolwes appears genuine and helpful, but they don't hide the fact they would rather distance themselves from UFO investigators.

Rolwes, 46, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. He is image conscious and strives to be seen as a credible science-based investigator.

He was initially reluctant to discuss his work with a reporter from The Spokesman-Review newspaper for fear publicity would be a magnet for pranksters and crazies.

"We don't need any wackos," Rolwes said.

Rolwes is a "hardheaded German kid from Iowa who's not given to excitability," says Ret. Col. Abe Kardong, a former Air Force pilot.

"If anything, I would say Jerry is more skeptical than the average bear."

Kardong joined the 25-member Eastern Washington chapter of MUFON a year ago.

Rolwes has been enamored of UFOs since he was a child. Later, in the Air Force, he was approached by people who told him about things they had seen but were ordered not to discuss.

"It is my judgment, because of the credible people who have crossed my life, that we are not alone," Rolwes said.

When Rolwes receives a UFO report he listens for a certain type of witness.

"I'm not going to be laughed at," Rolwes said. "I want to talk to people who are scared, people who have fear in their voices."

He heard it last year when he talked to people who said they had seen UFOs near Post Falls.

Between March and October, residents reported strange lights in the sky. A police dispatcher poked her head out one night and saw them, too. One witness videotaped an odd, bright light that appeared to hover, then shoot above the horizon