Ex-Valley nutjob err lawmaker wants to split Calififornia

From the Fresno Bee.


SACRAMENTO -- The revolution will begin in Visalia -- and it will be led by a man named Maze.

As in Bill Maze, a termed-out Assembly member turned rebel who is pushing for California to split in two: the conservative interior as one state and the liberal coast as another.

He's serious.

"We're looking at establishing a breakaway state," he said, with a new government and a new capital. "We'd actually be creating a 51st state."

Maze is a conservative Republican who served Visalia in the Assembly until last year. He is tapping into the anger of Valley farmers and others who say environmental rules and high taxes are sending the state into a tailspin.

"Citizens of our once 'Golden State' are frustrated and desperately concerned about the imposition of burdensome regulations, taxation, fees, fees and more fees, and bureaucratic intrusion into our daily lives and businesses," declares downsizeca.org, the movement's Web site.

Under Maze's plan, 13 coastal counties from Los Angeles to Marin would split from the remaining 45 counties, which the Web site calls "the new revitalized California."

To promote the idea, Maze has established a nonprofit group called Citizens for Saving California Farming Industries. The group is selling sponsorships that run from $1,000 to as much as $10,000 -- for a "California Gold" level. So far, they've raised "a few thousand" dollars, Maze said.

Meanwhile, Maze is selling the plan up and down the state, appearing on television and radio shows. With enough money and momentum, he hopes to put the question before the state's voters. According to the U.S. Constitution, Congress and the state Legislature would have to sign off.

The odds are against the plan, for sure.

Californians have tried to parcel the state 27 times before, with most attempts never getting far off the ground, said former Republican Assembly Member Stan Statham, who made the last serious attempt in the early 1990s.

The most famous secession movement came in 1941 when several counties in Northern California and southern Oregon tried to form the State of Jefferson -- until World War II intervened.

Statham, who represented the Redding area, got a bill passed in the Assembly in 1993 to bring a nonbinding question before voters to split the state in three. But the legislation died in the Senate.

He's still for it: "When you divide something that huge to manage into smaller parts, the problems go down in size."

But to others, "it appears on the surface to be too radical an idea," said Statham, who now heads the California Broadcasters Association. "It becomes too much of a fun thing -- and it was only really good for talk show hosts."

A 1993 Field Poll showed 60% of voters against the idea. That sentiment probably hasn't changed much, despite the state's ongoing woes, said Jim Wunderman. He is president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business group behind the effort to convene a constitutional convention to fix California's "fundamentally broken" government.

"I strongly suspect that Californians like being Californians and they would reject [Maze's] idea," Wunderman said. "The concept of California collective, I think, is still popular."

Really? This will make things better? Yeah getting rid of most of the tax payers will solve ALL of our problems. Me thinks you just want a way to somehow get back into office. Nice try guy, I don't want to be another West Virginia. Maybe you should either move to someplace like Utah if you don't like things here or think of something that will actually help the State. Not stupid bullshit like this.

More Strange Lights on Interstate 5

I had recently posted a video showing strange lights being seen on the I-5 corridor between Coalinga and Kettleman City. Some new video has come to my attention, this time it was shot about 60 miles north of Bakersfield and once again seen on Interstate 5.

The object that was shot is different than what I previously posted. Instead of three bright white lights, there are several red strobe-like lights that blink in no discernible pattern.

The video below is quite long, you may want to fast forward to 0:46 to see the object. But throughout the video you can hear the concern and fear in the witnesses voices. Note they swear A LOT so be sure you are somewhere where this won't be a problem.

Unfortunately the poster of the video doesn't allow embedding of the video so I did a screen cap and linked the video to the image.

The video is definitely different than the other one. I actually found a site that had interviewed the witnesses in 2007. You can find the discussion here and a link to the report here for those who interested.

One of the posters theorized that the lights were from F-18's since Lemoore Naval Air Station is near by. I have to disagree with this. A friend of mine used to live under the flight path for the Fresno Air National Guard and I would see them fly over at night. Now granted they fly F-16's, but all military jets (as well as civil) have a red and green marker light. The object(s) in the video had no marker lights, just the blinking red strobe lights. I doubt this was some sort of black project. If the government was testing a new type of aircraft, why have blinking red lights advertising its location? I’m almost wondering if this was just a hoax, that someone had heard about the other sightings and decided to create their own sighing. Several ultra lights could have flown in formation with a strobe attached. But the witnesses claimed not to hear any engine sound, though the highway traffic may have drowned out such noise.

But it seems like a lot of work by the hoaxers in hopes of someone just happening to video tape it. And I don’t think they witnesses were part of the hoax, they seemed generally frightened. Could this craft be extraterrestrial in origin? And if so, what is, if any, it’s relationship to the lights in the other video? And why so many sightings in low populated area? I’m working on organizing a trip to this area in the summer time. Maybe if we’re lucky some answers can be found.

My first Paranormal Experience

People ask me what got me interested in the paranormal, especially ghosts to begin with and why I used to investigate proposed haunted locations. I had always been curious about the unknown, albeit ghosts or UFO's or something else that was unexplainable. Every journey has a start and this is the story of the first ghost I ever saw. It happened to be in the house my mom owned when I was a kid.

I was up late one night watching TV when I decided to go to bed as there was nothing on. As I walked to the back of my house down the hallway to where my bedroom is at, I passed my sister's room and saw something white move from her room to the bathroom right across from her's. I also heard the rustling of fabric on the hardwood floor. I assumed it was my sister sleepwalking again so I turned on the bathroom light to make sure she was ok. Upon turning on the light I saw no one in there and figured I was just getting a bit sleepy and that maybe she just moved from the bathroom to her bedroom. I turned on the light in her room to see her fast asleep and not wearing pajamas that would make a rustling sound on the floor (she was wearing the typical pants and shirt pj's). A bit creeped out now as I knew I saw something I went straight to bed.

The next morning I told my mom what happened and she suprised me by saying that it was probably the ghost of the previous owner of the house's wife. Apparently she died in the house and my mom even said she had seen a shadowy figure several times as well as odd feelings.

Unfortunately this was the only time that anything occurred. A few years later my mom sold the house. I don't investigate any proposed haunted locations anymore as I felt I wasn't helping in any way. Though I sill am interested in the subject I don't think there are any experts out there that can really do anything to help the spirits or even the people who live with the ghost.

Interstate 5 Mystery Lights

For several years now mysterious lights have been seen in the night sky along the Interstate 5 corridor from Kettleman City to Los Banos. Witnesses have reported seeing a triangle shaped craft with a light at each point hover over the highway. The craft would fly over an overpass (it has been seen over Manning Ave) making a 90 degree bank as it would then make a steep dive as it crossed over the highway flying roughly 15’ to 20’ above traffic before making another 90 degree bank turn then descend to nearly 2’ above the ground, looking like it was about to land before ascending at nearly a 45 degree angle to start the pattern of flight all over again. Witness report that it would make the same looping pattern until they lost sight of it. They would try to get away from it as quickly as possible, afraid that the craft would crash into them when it buzzed them flying over the highway.

No red, green, or strobe light that is standard on a conventional craft has been seen. Just three bright lights are the only source of illumination from the craft. There are reports of the craft being a thin wedge shape, but this can’t be confirmed. No sound has been heard as well.

What these lights are is not certain. Sightings from as early as 2002 to as recent as August 2005 have been reported. Some speculate it is nothing more then a crop duster which would make sense since the stretch of highway cuts through agricultural land, but one has to wonder about its erratic flight patterns. One would think that the FAA would find out who this rouge pilot is before someone was hurt. But three years later and it is still spooking drivers who happen to drive along the Interstate 5 corridor between the small farm towns of Coalinga and Kettleman City.

This had been a post I had done on a blog years ago. Reason why I am reposting here is that I came across a video on YouTube that was a short clip of the same three lights described above on Interstate 5. Can't be certain, but this looks like the same craft. Judge for yourself.

I'm thinking of making an expedition to Kettleman City this summer and bring some still and video cameras and see if some evidence can be captured. If anyone else is interested let me know. You don't have to believe in UFO's, my goal is to see what is going on and to try to explain it.

Clovis Thanksgiving UFO sighting Update. Possible identification of object.

Two months ago I had posted how my sister and I had seen an orange, glowing light in Clovis at our family's Thanksgiving dinner. At the time I had no explanation for the object. But I think I solved the mystery. And unfortunately it doesn't have anything to do with little green men or secret government projects.

I was watching an episode of UFO Hunters on the History Channel. One of the sightings they were investigating was being debunked by the local authorities as nothing more than a Chinese Paper Lantern. The team team then launched a lattern for the witness to compare (the witness said what they saw was different). But what interested me is that the flight pattern of the lattern was almost exactly what I saw on Thanksgiving.

Basically what the lantern is, is a translucent paper bag (think minature hot air balloon) with a candle suspended inside. The candle heats the air up, ala a hot air balloon) and causes it to rise. Since the material is translucent, the light from the candle can be seen from the inside giving the object it's glow.

Below are two videos I found on YouTube of paper lanterns. You can see their construction before they are launched and as they fly, their flight charastics. Which is exactly the same thing I saw.






Even though I said before the object couldn't have been a balloon, I'm recanting my statement. I had no knowledge of a Chinese Paper Lantern. I though the only way it could have been a balloon was if someone had filled up a helieum balloon and hung a light from below. Given the fact that the night was Thanksgiving, and the lanterns are typically flown on holidays, most likely this was nothing more than someone launching a Chinese Paper Lantern. I'm not upset by this, as I am glad that I know what it was exactly and can now focus on other mysteries in the area.

Large black triangular shaped craft spotted in Fresno.

One of my favorite sites for getting UFO information is the National UFO Reporting Center. It's an on-line database of UFO sightings that people can contact and fill out a report. One of the great things about it is that the sightings are listed by locations, including states. Going through California the other day I came across a sighting that happened in Fresno on December 17, 2008. Here's what it said:

I saw a black triangle shaped object about 300 ft in length with a dim red light at each point traveling slowly past over me.

I saw a black triangle shaped object with 1 dim red flashing light at each point of the triangle. the size was 100 yards to 150 yards in length hovering above me about 250-350 yards above me.the object was completely silent and was traveling south very slowly when it passed over me it turned slightly to travel southeast and continued on that path until it was no longer in my sight. I got a very good look of what the object look like from under it it was all solid black with uneven surface almost half dome shaped around were the lights were.

Unfortunately no pictures or video were taken, but given the information I was able to create what I believe is an accurate reenactment of what happened. Note I don't know the location of the sighting, I was out in Fresno the other night with my camera and took these two shots. For the craft I modeled it based upon the description in a program called SketchUP.

My theory on the black triangles, is that it is some sort of military project, akin to to the stealth fighter and bomber projects from the 1980's. Some have speculated that given the large size of the craft and the slow speed they move, that they are some sort of blimp or airship that the military is creating. Conspiracy theorist on the other hand believe this is some sort of craft that the US government is using to spy on it's own citizens. And of course there is the extra terrestrial theory, that this was some sort of mother ship.

Here's the link to the National UFO Reporting Center, if anyone is interested. And here's the link to the actual report.

California's first mass UFO sighting - in Fresno

In 1896, California had it's first mass UFO sighting, and Fresno was part of it.  On the night of November 22, 1896 a massive "airship" was seen in San Francisco, San Jose, & Fresno. 

Hundreds of witnesses described the craft as some sort of airship, moving slowly through the night sky.  Some of the witnesses said they even saw figures through the windows of the craft.  Accounts became wilder as the month passed. A Colonel Shaw of Stockton claimed to have encountered inhuman beings with the airship on a country road. A man in Indio claimed to have gone aboard the craft for a flight.  

No one knows what the craft was.  Balloon flight was still in it's infancy and Germany wouldn't have the zeppelin until around 1899.  Could this have been some sort of secret government project, mirroring the ones of today?  Perhaps it was some sort of private aircraft, but this seems doubtful as if the government didn't have this sort of technology, then a private group or individual couldn't have been behind this.  Maybe, just maybe, this was some sort of E.T. encounter.  Fifty years before the Kenneth Arnold sighting up in Washington in 1947 that started the modern UFO craze.

Reports of chupacabra in Calfornia farm town cancels high school prom.

I have no idea what year this was, but it made me chuckle.

From the Chupacabra Tracker.

On May 10, a rooster fell victim in Mendota, California, and the Fresno County Department of Agriculture subsequently logged ten complaints of goatsucker activity, prompting worried parents to cancel their childrens prom outings.


I'm going to have to look into this some more. I'm not sure of the truthfulness of the prom being canceled due to a few complaints of chupacabra activity. But if this is true, I'd love to see the reports that were filed.