Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Posts Tagged ‘McMinnville’

At long last, the annual UFO conference line-up  in McMinnville  has been announced. And it’s a good one! George Knapp, my favorite “MSM” UFO reporter and C2C host, will be a presenter. As will Nick Pope, Linda Moultan Howe, and abductee/contactee Jim Sparks.

We’re already booked, but I was sad to find Comfort Inn booked solid, so we ended up in another chain motel, one which does not have the best of reviews. Staying at Hotel Oregon got old — while their rooftop bar is wonderful, and the place itself worth visiting for its overall joyful vibe and neat artwork everywhere, staying in their cramped rooms is not for me. Sharing a bath with someone was not a good experience either; creepy sloppy drunks hogging up the bathroom, making all kinds of noise, and leaving it a mess — gross. And management didn’t give a damn. Service was surreal — one wait person, a woman, actually said to us “Do you want to make something out of it?” when we complained about the half hour wait and cold — I mean, ice cold — food. Oh well. Still a good place to hang out and have one of their great beers.

Back to the conference. Looking forward to this one! We didn’t go last year, first one we missed in about five years. So am glad to know I’ll be returning this year.

For info on the UFO Fest visit link.

The McMinnville UFO Fest returns this May. Speakers lined up include Donald R. Schmitt, (Friday night’s speaker) author of UFO Crash at Roswell, etc. and hypnotist Yvonne Smith, (Saturday morning) who’s worked with abductees. The third speaker has not yet been decided.

I’m mildly interested in Smith, but, unless the as yet unannounced speaker is someone way groovy, I don’t think I’ll go this year. The expense vs. the line-up doesn’t even out.

But if you decide to go, have fun! The rooftop bar at Hotel Oregon and the parade are worth the visit, as is exploring the unique interior of the old hotel. More info here.

The day before yesterday all four of our cats were behaving very strangely. I even said to Jim that I wondered if there was an earthquake coming soon, because they were just so “off” — not their usual routine.Very agitated and confused, literally walking in circles sometimes. (In a weird way, not the usual that’s what cats do way.) Each cat has their own personality and what bothers one may not bother the other, but that day, they were all just crazy. Well, turns out there were earthquakes, several,  in the area: the Eugene (where I live) and surrounding area, sort of I-5 corridor, extending to the North up towards Portland area, which is about 100 miles from Eugene, and to the south, near Medford:

August 3rd: The Eugene area where I live, had a 1.1.

August 3rd, a 1.6.

August 3rd, 2.1 McMinnville area

August 4th, 2.1

August 5,th 2.2 (southern Oregon)

August 5,th 4.5 off Oregon coast 235 miles off the coast of Newport

(You can read the local news item about the earthquake off the coast, with an interesting comment by a reader who remarks his own animals were acting very strangely.)

From Jason Offut at From the Shadows: Time Slip in Oregon, about one couple’s experience at the beautiful Edgefield resort in Troutdale, Oregon. This is one of several hotels, pubs, and resorts operated by the McMennimen brothers, who also put on the McMinnville UFO Fest every May.

I’ve been attending the UFO Fest for every year for the past five years; and we spent a wonderful weekend at Edgefield’s some time ago. At the time, we didn’t know that the place has a reputation for being haunted, but we surely felt haunty vibes while there, particularly on the floor where the dorms were. Very strong.

ABC News has picked up this story (see post below) of McMinnville, Oregon  high school students who came down with compartment syndrome, a rare illness and not one that affects the triceps, or so many people at once.

Odd report from McMinnville: MHS football players recovering; mass ’syndrome’ remains a mystery. Oregon.(McMinnville is home of the world famous 1950 Trent UFO sighting and site of the annual McMinnville UFO Festival held in May at Hotel Oregon.) Several high school students, all student atheletes, have come down with an unusual illness:

Ten Mac High School football players were hospitalized this week after experiencing intense muscle pain following workouts at a fall camp conducted by their new coach.

Seven were admitted to the Willamette Valley Medical Center on Wednesday night with sore and swollen triceps, and three were admitted the following night.

Diagnosed with compartment syndrome, three of the players in the initial group underwent fasciotomies designed to relieve the pressure and avoid permanent muscle damage. That could keep them out of action for one to two months, according to the surgeon who made the diagnosis and performed the surgical procedure.

Some 28 players underwent testing Thursday to determine the level of creatine phosphokinase or CPK in their blood, as that is an indicator of the syndrome. Sixteen were sent to the hospital for additional testing, and three of them were admitted, joining the original seven.

Additional players were tested Friday, but none of them showed elevated creatine levels.

There’s more: the students were doing an intensive series of workouts, it was very hot, and they stayed on campus, sleeping there while taking part in this football camp type thing.

The illness – “Compartment syndrome” — is rare, and doesn’t appear in the triceps, according to Dr. Peter Van Patten:

Dr. Peter Van Patten treated the players. He said compartment syndrome isn’t very common, and he’s never seen it strike the triceps before.

“In McMinnville, we do not see compartment syndrome very often,” he said.

The school district is looking into this of course, and asking the community for help and support.

Dog seeks help for owner in Yamhill, Oregon. A Dachshund went to the neighbor’s house to get help, after his owner collapsed. The dog would not leave until the neighbor followed the dog back to her home, and sought help for the owner.

I was surprised to find that the skeptibunkies at the JREF have created a thread devoted to the McMinnville UFO Fest.

Among the expected and usual, is this comment from “kittynh” (who likes to play UFO researcher; explore the history, if you have the inclination) on Travis Walton:

TRAVIS WALTON is still raking in money on the UFO thing?

Yeah, he and all other UFO researchers and witnesses are rolling in the dough, as we all know. That’s how we can afford our secret underground tin foil encased villa in the Mediterranean.

“Gord in Toronto” reassures fellow skeptics that:

The UFO folks are “Mostly harmless”* and it’s not likely that you’ll be inducted into any cult.

Of course there were a few members who posted this infamous link to the Trent UFO sighting (of which the McMinnville UFO conference/fest is in homage to) that rabid skeptoid Robert Sheaffer “debunks” the Trent case. Sheaffer is not only among the most loathsome of skeptics, he’s a raging misogynist.

As I posted on UFOMystic a week or so ago, (A Ha! I Knew It; Skeptics Infiltrate McMinnville UFO Fest) the skeptics do intentionally infiltrate the McMinnville UFO conference, as no doubt they do all over the country at various UFO conferences. I hadn’t heard any skeptic questions asked during the Q&A this time, but I did leave while they were still taking questions at all three presentations. So it’s possible I missed something skeptoid wise. I know in years past they asked ponderous, pedantic and generally stupid questions, though entertaining.

Besides the skeptics not being overt this year, I also missed the religious zealots who like to sing and shout at UFO conference attendees. Maybe they were there and I missed them or maybe they decided to cool it this year; don’t know.

Related stuff:
McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes

Cross-posted at my blog <a href=”http://www.theskeptoidzone.com/”>Snarly Skepticism and Unofficial JREF Watch</a>

This weekend is the McMinnville UFO Fest, which honors the 1950 Trent UFO sighting. This year’s speakers include Colin Andrews and Travis Walton.

In June, there will be the first annual Bigfoot conference in these parts in Eugene; the Annual Oregon Sasquatch Symposium. A great line-up of speakers; Autumn Williams, Sali Shepherd Wolford, and many more. Find out more here.

I’ll be attending both of course!

Getting ready for the McMinnville, Oregon UFO Fest this weekend. I hope to do my first podcast from there — prerecorded, not live, but a podcast nonetheless — with guests Erik Stitt and Deirdre O’Leavery of Instellar Housewife. Both are writers for UFO Magazine’s blog, as well as having their own sites.

Here’s a PDF of a collection of McMinnville related pieces I’ve written, including on one McMinnville Festival I attended where Richard Dolan was the presenter.

McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes