Debris reported after disaster
By Lenny Roberts

National Aeronautic and Space Administration officials announced Tuesday that they had sent a team of investigators to California following the reported findings of possible Columbia Space Shuttle debris that may have come off of the ill-fated flight.

The teams, according to Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Evans, have been dispatched to the San Francisco area and Edwards Air Force Base in Palmdale, where the Columbia began its 23-year career as one of an elite fleet of orbiters. The Columbia was the second of four orbiters to have been lost, following the 1986 launch of the Challenger, which exploded shortly after takeoff.

Reports have filtered in to the Ojai Valley News from concerned residents who feel that they may have found debris from the shuttle, which NASA officials say may have first experienced trouble over California's Owens Valley.

Ninety-year-old Anita Price said she was sitting in the back yard of her Creekside Condo Saturday afternoon when something flew into a small tree 5 feet from her. At the time, she suspected that it was a bird, but recalled that it made a funny sound as it crashed into the 6-foot high plant.

Knowing that shuttles typically approach Cape Canaveral over California, she decided to take a look at what was under the bush. She discovered about a dozen small pieces of what she described as charcoal.

The response to a call placed to the NASA Space Center in Houston by the Ojai Valley News was that anyone finding what they believed to be evidence of the early disintegration of the shuttle should call local law enforcement officials.

Evans, following NASA the protocol directive, first called his watch commander, who took the information and notified the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento, the agency designated to handle initial calls from California residents. If it is believed that the claim may be legitimate, law enforcement agencies are then instructed to take digital pictures of the findings and e-mail them to NASA in Houston. If NASA officials believe there is merit to the claim, then they will make arrangements to have the materials picked up.

NASA officials have been notified of the findings at Price's home, and the pieces of unknown burned material have been lockered in an evidence bag at the Ojai Police Station.

Frank Real said he found a grayish metallic dust on his San Antonio Drive upon awakening Saturday morning.

"We thought is was just from high winds. It was all over the driveway, patio and everything. We generally keep everything very clean," he said.
Others have reported a mysterious brown dust covering mostly newly washed vehicles.
Helen McClain described what she found in her Paseo de los Robles yard as "brown gritty stuff," as did others who reported their findings to the OVN.

After learning of the shuttle disaster, McClain collected a quantity of fine, grayish dust from a plastic cover in her backyard Monday morning, thinking that there may have been a connection.

"We watched a simulation of the shuttle coming through California and thought that could be what went through the air," McClain said. "We've heard that people in Ventura have seen this stuff and have friends in Meiners Oaks who said they had seen it, too."

Neighbor Eleanor Lockton said she noticed the fine, dark orange, dust-like material on top of trash cans, a portable barbecue and a plastic tarp used to cover her outdoor air conditioner.

"I called the APCD (Air Quality Pollution District) and they told me they had not heard of anything like this. Everything's been washed off by now, and all that's left is this dark, orange-colored debris," she said.
Lockton added that Sunday morning, her patio table, which had been cleaned the day before, was covered with a tan-colored dust that looked strange.

"We've lived here for 26 years, and this is something I've never seen before. It's a real phenomenon."
Another resident, Frank Real, said he found a grayish metallic dust on his San Antonio Drive upon awakening Saturday morning.

"We thought is was just from high winds. It was all over the driveway, patio and everything. We generally keep everything very clean," he said.

However, Goldenwset Avenue resident and Ojai City Council woman Rae Hanstadt believes that the grayish powder came form another source.

"It's my understanding that is is particulate matter from the erosion caused by (last year's) Wolf Fire, blown into Ojai by weekend winds," Hanstad said.
Evans doubted the findings

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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