>UFO UpDate List,

I just got off the phone to XFX. Steve Johnson wasn't around,but I did get to talk to his right-hand man Joe Fordham. Joe was cool. We talked for about 15 minutes. We talked about many things. I had lots of questions and he took time out to answer. Joe has a british accent and you can imagine how it clashed with my Texas draw,but it was a very amusing and productive conversation.

Bill, don't take this as me doubting you in ANY way, but I just got off the phone with XFX as well. I talked with Sean Taylor, Steve Johnson's Coordinator. Anyway, he stated that without a doubt it was their alien. I asked if it would be fair to say that it is XFX's offical position, and he said yes. I asked if they were going to make a press release, and he said they weren't going to take the time, it simply wasn't worth it, but to anyone who called, they would state that the alien in the Penthouse Magazine was the alien at the Roswell Museum. No doubt about it at all. So that's two verified phone calls to XFX. This is truely a dead issue.

I didn't ask him about Linda Howe, but he mentioned that someone had called (they have been fairly swamped) and had apperantly reported that they claimed it was not their alien. He denied that anyone at XFX ever stated that the Penthouse alien was not theirs. To them, there simply is no doubt. Whatever happened between Howe and XFX was clearly a misunderstanding.

The reason I called was I was following up on the Howe-Shell angle. I haven't heard back from either of them, yet.

I won't be following up on the XFX side of this issue any more. I got the answer I wanted, and since you were already trying to get a statement from Johnson himself, I'll leave that up to you. My only interest was the Howe-Shell angle, so I hope you don't feel like I stepped on your toes.

Oh, and to a little birdee on this list, Thanks for those messages. They have already come in handy. You know who you are, and I'll fill you, and the entire list, in on the whole story as it unfolds a little more.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to subtract from Bill's outstanding work. Just another, independant verification on the issue that should never have been raised.

Penthouse deserves a slap on the wrist for this one.

Michael Malone
ICAP