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Show 0. IW7 THI Sund.i), Jul) Mr Pcsrce uosi't to info rep 1 8 MARTIN GRIFFITH By SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif, Jane and Fiicka Rodman never felt more alive as they entered the final leg of their 2,600-miltrek of the Pacific Crest Trail. By MATT KKLI.EY AiMKiited Prcn Writer - PHOENIX Whatever it was that caued hundredg of Arizona residents to report Booing strange lights in the sky March 13, the US, Air Force won't be investigating. But that isn't stopping some public officials, witnesses and UFO believers from persisting with calls for a probe and hints of a cover-u"I really believe someone somewhere along the line should investigate it," said Sue Krzyston, whose husband, Mike, shot amateur video of the lights that got played on national television. "I guess the Air Force probably won't, maybe because it's something in our airspace that they can't defend us against or maybe because it's some highly secret thing the Air Force is p. ents as the journey wound down, "I must try to continue to remember how precious life is even when we return because who knows how long any of ui tid streams passes, turers tjhe vyt're snow-covere- caused by a motorist who fell asleep at the wheel and drew a five-da- Barbara Perry of Elephant Butte, N.M., Flicka's mother, "You can't ask why, There's not going to be an answer to it." But in an effort to turn hud into good, the management consultant will lead a memorial backpack trip on the PCT next month from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park. d old adven- 30-ye- m i ih i i 11 InHOn jail sentence. y "It's inconceivable people so full of life can be gone from this world as we know it," said run down by a car while walking along Highway less than 138 400 mt Vom tbeir goal of the Mexican border. Nearly two years later, family and friends still are struggling to deal with the tragedy have to enjoy this, "Life is so precious! I can't see the point in wasting time. How can you be depressed when you are so very lucky to doing." The Air Force formally notified U.S. Sen. John McCain, on Monday that it would not investigate the reports of a silent string of lights that witnesses say either hovered or moved slowly over central Arizona that night. The Air Force stopped investigating unidentified flying objects in ,1969, Lt. Col. Patricia Fornes wrote to McCain. "Because of steadily decreasing budgets, the Air Force is unlikely to become involved in such a costly project in the foreseeable future," Fornes wrote. McCain plans to ask the Air Force to reconsider, not because he believes space aliens were visiting Phoenix but "because so many people in Phoenix saw the occurrence on March 13," spokeswoman Nancy Ives said Thursday. Phoenix City Council member Frances Emma Barwood, who asked McCain to request the investigation, said her constituents deserve answers. "This obviously was something, whether it's a military experiment or some type of a new stealth fighter plane. If it's a hoax or something that's truly unknown, they need to check that out," Barwood said. "This went over some very areas, very slow and very obvious and seen by many, many people, and you can't say that it didn't happen." formation of The lights has been the talk of the town in the months afterwards. Even Gov. Fife Symington got into the act, telling reporters with a straight face that he was starting a state investigation and later introducing an aide dressed in a space alien costume. Since March, local media have touted several possible explanations. The lights could have been military flares designed to hover silently over amateur An area. an astronomer says he focused a telescope on the lights and saw ordinary airplanes. Those explanations don't satisfy Mrs. Krzyston, who said the lights were so stationary she first thought they were fixed on a mountain in the distance. "I don't think it was flares, because they did not move and stayed so fixed and equidistant from each other," she said. The lack of a definitive explanation has led to wilder theories, such as secret military aircraft or visitors from another planet. Officials could be reluctant to investigate the incident for fear of being labeled a kook, Barwood said. "Either everybody's afraid or they just don't want to deal with it because they might get teased," said Barwood, who did not see the lights in the sky that night. "I'm not afraid to be teased. The thing is, it WAS something." healthy, loved and alive?" On Nov, 19, 1995, just six days after Jane wrote of her enthusiasm about life, their wilderness odyssey came to a sudden end in the Mojave Desert. 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"It's a chance to feel their presence and see the thing.-they did," Mrs. Perry said. "I want to go out on the trail and laugh and cry and who knows what else. It can't help but aid in the healing process." The tragedy, the worst in the PCT's history, was doubly difficult to accept because of the promising futures of the two, the parents said. Fiicka dreamed of being a country doctor and was in his final year at the University ol Massachusetts Medical School Jane was a veterinary LEUEL LOOP room. TV Gatti of Amherst, will take part. : j Tight level loop construction, idea! for the home office or family high-populat- a twofold purpose of honoring the couple and raising support for one of the nation's premier hiking trails, said Mrs, Perry, who hasn't backpacked in 25 years. and The Jane Fiicka Endowment Fund was established as a memorial to further the work of the Sacramento, Calif-base- d PCT Association, which asHists the federal government in the trail's management. "This hike took them to a whole different level hh far as their inner growth and appreciation for being alive," she said. "What better way to memorialize them than to save this experience for others?" More than a dozen other hikers, including friends of the couple, plan to join her on the Aiifj. 0 hike from Kcho Su nun it near South Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. Jane Rodman The Worcester, Mass., couple found grandeur and adventure on the footpath traversing the mountains of California, and Oregon Washington between Mexico and Canada. "I am really going to miss this life," Jane wrote her par- Sierra hike has The "Life is so precious! I can't see the point in wasting time. How can you be depressed when you are so very lucky to be healthy, loved and alive?" Ataociaied PrtM Writer e COPY lull Sierra trek to honor hikers killed on Pacific Crest Trail 5 ' DAILY III KALI). I'rovn, 0 m 273-580- 0 VALLEY 1 |