We are mad as hell because we are forced to watch the Wausau/Rhinelander stations.  We live 2.5 miles from Wisconsin Dells and less then an hour from Madison. WHAT IDIOT MADE THAT DECISION!!!   We made several phones calls and sent emails to everyone we were told to contact.  All we got were fingers pointing to someone else.  Then we recently heard it was because a TV station in Wausau/Rhinelander lost a ratings sweep.  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!  Now we are forced to watch news/weather/sports that is over 2 hours away.  That’s like the residents in Wausau and Rhinelander watching the Madison stations for their news/weather/sports, or Janesville watching Milwaukee, or Milwaukee watching Chicago.  We are located in SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN!!!!  Therefore we SHOP IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN!!!  NOT IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN.  This is nothing more then politics at its worst.

 

It’s amazing the sense of renewal the New Year brings.  It seems we all have our own way of tossing out the old and welcoming the new.  I made one real resolution this year: to find an outlet for my life.  No, not an electric outlet, but a place to burn off my energy, my stress, a place to find inspiration.  So, I’m running.  I hope that I can stick with it, as this is not the first time it’s been a resolution.  I hope the days don’t pass by, and I’m suddenly making excuses not to run, instead of remembering the reasons I should be. 

 

It’s funny how you feel really geared-up about resolutions as the year ends, but once you’re a week or two into the New Year the dedication wears away.  Here’s to you this 2010 and may you do what you said you would!

 

Making a conscious effort not to spoil our daughter at Christmas my husband and I vowed to stick to two gifts.  Even though it’d be her first Christmas “understanding” presents and the joy they bring, we said we’d stick to two.  I’m just of the mindset that spoiling early complicates the future.  So, with this plan in mind we set off for our two gifts: one from us, one from Santa.  I’m proud--we stuck to our guns, but what I surely didn’t take into account was the spoiling from others.  By the time we finished our 5 days of family Christmas festivities we could barely get everything loaded to get it home.  Gifts were literally oozing from our vehicle. Abby now has more toys then she knows what to do with, and I’m pretty sure she understands Christmas perfectly at this point.  Despite our best attempts, she’s been spoiled.  And while we are grateful to everyone for the beautiful gifts and love, we’ll try to make a run at an unspoiled Christmas again next year.

Do you ever have a moment when you don’t think you can do it all?  I certainly do.  Balancing life takes work.  There’s work itself, tending to a family, keeping a house.  Did I mention eating? Yeah, sometimes I forget too.  These last six months have been particularly challenging.  I’ll spare you the details.  Let’s just say it’s been abnormally crazy.  But with all new experiences in life come opportunity.  For me, there have been several.  I would say the experience that has had the most impact is the new relationships I’ve made.  A few days a week, I’m surrounded by a new group of women who are absolutely inspirational.  Most juggle work, a home and most importantly a family.  Get us together and there are a few comments about how stressed we are, but mostly there’s kind words and encouragement.  For me, it’s refreshing to be around a group of women who are striving to be the best they can and willing to help others do the same.  I feel lucky to know them and even luckier to have them as role models.

 

I can’t pretend to know how every wife, every family feels, when a loved one is deployed.  I only know how I felt when my husband, Todd, left shortly after we were married.  He was in the inactive portion of his contract with the National Guard.  He only had three months left when he was called to duty.  I’ll never forget the Friday the 13th he got the orders.  He did not flinch.  He signed up knowing that it was a possibility, and he was ready for that possibility until the day he was discharged.  I think Todd got that from his Dad – a strong, proud Marine who served bravely in Vietnam.  You don’t flinch, you move forward. 

 

I can’t pretend to understand what he and his unit went through in Iraq.  They were responsible for securing a major route.  They were blown up by IEDs many times.  It was a long 18 months.  For me, it was just hoping to hear from him.  For him, it was protecting his country, his unit, his mission and himself.

 

I know that Todd made great friends over there.  Some I have met, others I’ve just heard stories about.  They keep in touch through phone calls and the internet.  Some stayed in service and are on second and third tours.  Others have bought homes, gotten married, had kids.  Still others are suffering the lasting effects of war.

 

I am reminded of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women on Veterans Day.  I am also reminded of the sacrifice families bravely make as they wait at home.

 

I’ve had my share of sickness this past week.  As a person who is usually not superstitious, I’m knocking on wood that this is it for me for the flu season.  It started with a warm feeling that turned to a prickle that escalated to a full-blown assault of my senses; coughing, sneezing, headache, runny nose.  Just typing it makes me reach for the Kleenex.  While I tell viewers about the H1N1 virus on a daily basis lately, I didn’t think that I’d be assessing my symptoms to figure out if that’s what I’m sick with, but that’s what I’ve been doing the past week from the confines of my home that seemed like a cage some days. 

Which leads me to the guilt that comes with sickness:  I know it’s in everyone’s best interest for a sick person to stay away, but, for me, it’s not that easy to rationalize.  I’m always busy with something, there’s always a To-Do list to go with another To-Do list.  Forcing me to slow down takes effort.  Being relaxed while I’m slowed takes even more effort, especially when I know others have to adjust their busy lives and schedules to pick up my slack. 

After several days of private suffering, I decided I was ready to take myself to the walk-in.  The planner that I am, I called ahead.  The receptionist kindly told me there was a 2 hour wait there, mostly people with H1N1 symptoms.  The question became is it worth it to sit in a waiting room with all the sick people, when there’s a chance I don’t have H1N1.  The answer for me, however ill advised, was no. 

So here I am, back at my desk, catching up on a week’s worth of work and blogging to you.  I feel better.  Not 100 percent, but better.  Good luck to you this flu season.

Intrinsic Difficulty


        A Preface...


     In order to maintain a successful balance of career and happiness, one must first establish a core set of virtues and values in his or her own life.  To accomplish this, one has to dig deeper than the literature they read.  Exposure in the social realm is vital in creating the observation necessary to see the true street values.  These values or virtues can not be pulled from a Bible or other literature of esoteric nature alone to be understood - they must be introduced through experience before they can become relevant in one's life.  Something to remember is that it is impossible to choose a belief - beliefs can only be accepted or denied.

        A Values Statement...

     My life is a continuum of experiences, some successes and some failures.  My values system is what determines the choices I make.

     My spiritual beliefs are the most important aspect of my life.  Although not a value in and of itself, my spiritual beliefs construct the backbone of my values system.  My values system consists of the following components...

Integrity - Integrity is the quality or condition of being whole or undivided, and complete

Integrity encompasses all values as a complete whole.  This value is one that is affected by all others.  Consistency in our actions in both public and private life is what determines the type of people we will become.  For this reason alone, this is the most important value or virtue that anyone can have, and I place it at the top of my list.

Faith - Faith is the confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea or thing.

Logical thinking and material proof are excellent when they are evident, when they are not, however, one is oft left searching.  Faith is rather important to me, as I can come to it whenever I need to, and wherever I am.  I don't need to worry about trusting my my faith, it is always there, and always true.  Faith is what keeps me going when life events come knocking, and my life turns into a downward spiral.  When I am confused and lost at , Faith is the lighthouse in the distance - whose light never dims. Fog may come and dim or even block the light with its opaqueness, but that doesn't change the fact that the light is still shining bright.  We need Faith - without it, we would all just give up when faced with life's challenges.

Hope - Hope is to look forward with confidence and expectation

Perhaps the most misinterpreted value of all is Hope.  Milton said, "He wished, but not with hope."  Hope is to desire and expect a future good.  People often confuse wishing for something as the same thing as hoping for something.  This value has an important place in my life when it comes to an overall optimistic view on myself and the world as a whole.  I use Hope to keep myself focused and confident in the future.  Hope and Faith go hand in hand as far as my values system is concerned, entirely different - but equally important.

Dignity - Dignity is quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect.

Self respect is essential in living and maintaining a happy and good life.  to be forthright, if you do not respect yourself, you will not respect others.  It is my opinion that only a humble person can be truly dignified.  A careful self examination of Dignity in one's life is essential.  I have to ask myself, is this Dignity or is this conceit?


Humility - Humility is the quality or condition of being humble.

A recent addition to my personal values system is humility.  Being humble is rather hard, and yet very, very important.  Pride and arrogance can become a consuming fire that virtually eats up our entire life, and the values we strive to live by.  Humility is one way of keeping pride under our control.  Believe it or not, humbleness can actually turn into pride if one starts to be careless.  I try to humble myself in certain areas of my life without actually doing them simply for the act of being humble.


        A work in progress...

    I would be lying if I said that I didn't have to work on any of my values.  I have to work on all of them, and always will.  Values and virtues are living entities that we display in our daily lives.  We must keep ourselves in check, if we don't - we are destined to fail.

The two most important values that need work in my life are humility and integrity   Pride has a way of sneaking up on me without me being aware.  Maybe it's in the things I buy, or perhaps simply the words that leave my my mouth.  I see all the possessions I have, and take them for granted.  If I can become more humble, I can put things in a better perspective and maybe someday give more than I receive.  If one value falters, so does Integrity.  Integrity is the value that one can never stop improving upon - it means so much, and is quite vast.  If I am struggling with any value or values, then I am struggling with Integrity.

A values system is a way of life, which is to be lived day to day.  There is no definite beginning or end.  What matters most is how we integrate our personal values system into the life we were given.

Often times, we’re asked to go out on stories and find a topic of interest related to it.  That was the situation a few years ago, when we had exhausted many of the traditional stories covered at the fair.  We’d been through the setup, rides, games and animals.  I thought I’d zero in on fair food.  After all, who doesn’t love it and then feel guilty after?  So, let’s just say the goal became eating as much of it as I could (I like to call it taste testing) in the two hours my photographer, Tom Zurawski, and I were there.  I think it was Tom’s idea because he’s had a lifelong love affair with food.  Fast forward those two hours, and I had eaten, among other things, cheese curds, a gyro, an elephant ear and chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick.  The total intake: 2500 calories in two hours.  And, you know what?  I didn’t feel guilty one bit.

Happy Fair Going!

Death-based Faith Prayer Killer Trial
by Mark Neumann (aka Syntax2600)
Follow me on Twitter

With all the local, regional, and even some national news coverage the Neumann Trail has been receiving, this author believes you have come across your fair share of the same.

When Bruce Dickinson needs more cowbell, he comes out and says "I gotta have more cowbell!"  One could only assume that media producers are similar with what they require of their reports, "I gotta have me some catchy titles!"  Or some varietal thereof.

Here are some examples of the Good, Bad, and Ugly news articles pertaining to the Neumann Trial.

The Good...

Title:    State rests case in Neumann Trial
Source: Colby Robertson, Fox 55 WFXS
Link:    http://bit.ly/TileT

Note:    What more do you need?  Good work Colby, and WFXS - thank you for simply stated the facts and not applying that stain of spin.


Title:  Faith-healing mom defends actions
Source:    Wausau Daily Herald
Link:    http://bit.ly/FaithMom

Note:    Not perfect, but relevant enough and to the point.  


Title:  Father's interview to be played at trial
Source:    WAOW
Link:    http://bit.ly/prayerdad

Note:    Again, great work.  Keep it up.  Also, I should point out the WAOS's coverage on the news has been portrayed in a respectful, professional manner as well.  Good work Colby Robertson, Pamela Warnke, and also to Brian Niznansky for emotional support.


THE BAD...

Title:    Prayer father says he didn't consider medical help
Source:    Marshfield News Herald
Link:    http://bit.ly/2UWi2x

Note:    Why are we using "prayer" as a prefix to these news articles?  I understand where they writer came up with it, I am not THAT naive.  What I want to know is where will they draw the line?  If I were writing on a hot story such as the Neumann Trial, I would include the topic, NEUMANN TRIAL, in the title!  I wonder if Dale Neumann ate at Taco Bell.  Could we then include that relevant fact into the title as well?  

Don't mind if I do partake in such an endeavor:

    "Area Chalupa Eater's Prayers for Gidget = Fail"

    "Slipper Wearer Neumann to Testify at Noon"

    "Smokers - Barack Obama, Dale Neumann both Make News Today"


THE UGLY...

Title:    A prayer death trial update
Source:    News Radio 55 SAU
Link:    http://bit.ly/PrayerDeath

Note:    News Radio 55 uses ancient HTML 1.0 technology, and therefore a direct to the article cannot be provided.  As of July 29th, 2009 @ 7:48 PM CST, the latest article is titled: "A prayer death trial update".   Prayer Death Trial - that sounds like a band that I will never let my son listen to.

Don't you just find solace in associated the words "prayer" and "death" together?  Good times.


If news media really wanted to get our attention, they'd start using creative, unique titles like this most awesome example:

    http://bit.ly/BestNewsTitle


What are your thoughts on these article titles?  Are they over the top? Relevant? Do they even make sense?

I admit, I am not a journalist.  I have no background or experience in journalism.  I am a commoner with an opinion - if you don't agree with me, well - I will PRAY for you.  ;)


Thank you,

     - Mark


Oh, I am no relation to the newsworthy Neumann's.

July 27th, 2009

Dear Human Resources Department

Thank you for your letter of rejection July 28th.  After careful consideration I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me employment with WAOW. This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters.

With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite the WAOW's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time.  Therefore, I will initiate employment with WAOW immediately.  I look forward to seeing you on Monday, August 3rd.  Please have my desk and paper work ready, as I will be busy.

Best of luck in rejecting future candidates.

Sincerely,

Mark Neumann
The New WAOW Sales Guy


Fox - if you play your cards right, you just may receive one of these too!

(Seriously though - I hope this made you all smile!)

I feel like I have a personal stake in Brett Favre’s decision.  It’s ridiculous, I know, but it’s true.  After all, I grew up very close to Lambeau Field.  Close enough to hear Sunday games, fans and all, from inside our house while we watched on tv.  The years Favre spent in Green Bay were glorious.  I can list stats from the team he led to the Superbowl with the best of them.  Robert Brooks, Dorcey Levens, Gilbert Brown, Antonio Freeman-- they were magic. And, who could forget Desmond Howard (who I loved at Michigan, btw) and his huge return that day.  When they came home we lined the streets as city buses, with the windows out, carried them to a celebration at Lambeau.  We cheered them on, shook their hands, we even gave them hugs. 

My point is those were happy days in a city where much of its identity is wrapped in its hometown football team.  Brett Favre brought rain after a long drought.  He let many of us feel excited again about the game.  He allowed us to regain some pride. 

There are many stories I could share about the Packers and my time growing up in Green Bay.  There are many memories--ask me how my cousin ended up in his legacy book if you see me sometime.  So, it’s sad to see this legacy of his dragged through the mud as he debates, or we debate, his future.  Any team would be lucky to have Favre, but in my mind he’ll always be a Packer.

Just wanted to let you know what a pleasure it is to watch you on FOX55.. I switched to FOX a few years ago because 10pm is just too late for me.. Could not get used to some of the other anchors, but you do such a great job..

Stick around.

President Obama held a prime time news conference Wednesday night to discuss healthcare.  What are your thoughts on his proposal?

 

 

New reports today say transportation officials kept the dangers of driving while using a cell phone quiet because they feared losing taxpayer money.  In the story we aired Tuesday night, experts said the research would have likely discouraged drivers from using phones while driving and possibly saved lives.

Would that kind of information have changed your cell phone habits while driving?  What are your thoughts on the story?

 

I apologize for the long delay since my last entry.  As you can see, some major things have changed on the Fox 55 website.  Take some time to explore what this new site has to offer.  The "Offbeat" news tab on the homepage is always a personal favorite.  Don't forget to talk back on our blogs and message boards!

There haven't been a lot of studies performed about the love at first sight phenomena , but countless books have been written on the subject, and I oftentimes feel surrounded by couples who feel their unions were decided upon exceptionally early into their relationships. eHarmony commercials tout married folks who openly state they "just knew" when they met that they'd get married, Arielle Ford's The Soulmate Secret pretty much relies on the concept to sell its premise, and one of my siblings recently celebrated her eighth year anniversary with the man she married three months after their first date.

As for me as a dating tips? I'd like to think that love at first sight is possible. There is an innate romanticism attached to the thought of meeting someone and having them hitting enough emotional triggers immediately to just know. Now, Have I ever had it happen? Not the love bit, but I've met three folks over a span of twenty years where I just knew they'd be a huge part of my evolution as a person; I just wasn't sure how initially. One became a great friend, another a very emotionally charged but short lived relationship (although we still stay in touch), and one recent, and still playing out. Not one have told I love them, although admittedly love all three very much. And thus, in my head, no love at first sight for me. A strong hunch, and a driving need to get to know someone better? Definitely.

But what about you? Do you believe in love at first sight? Why or why not?

Resource: Do You Believe in Love at First Sight?

Nearly one in three US homeowners owe more on mortgage than their home is worth

The downturn in home prices has left about 20% of U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, according to one new study, signaling additional challenges to the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The increase in the number of such “underwater” borrowers comes amid signs that falling prices are making homes more affordable for first-time buyers and others who have been shut out of the housing market. But falling prices also make it more difficult for homeowners who get into financial trouble to refinance or sell their homes, and for others to take advantage of lower interest rates.

For instance, fewer will qualify to take advantage of a key component of the Obama administration’s plan to stabilize the housing market. Under the plan, announced in February, as many as five million homeowners whose loans are owned or guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can refinance their mortgages, but only if the mortgage loan is a maximum of 105% of the home’s value.

Government officials are considering an increase in that limit. “It’s a question that we’re looking at,” said James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

Real-estate Web site Zillow.com said that overall, the number of borrowers who are underwater climbed to 20.4 million at the end of the first quarter from 16.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. The latest figure represents 21.9% of all homeowners, according to Zillow, up from 17.6% in the fourth quarter and 14.3% in the third quarter.

“What’s going on here is that you don’t have any markets that have turned around and you have new markets, like Dallas, that have joined the ranks” of communities where home prices have fallen, said Stan Humphries, a Zillow.com vice president.

Borrowers who owe far more than their home is worth may also be less likely to participate in another part of the government’s housing plan, which provides incentives for mortgage companies to modify loans to make payments more affordable. Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist, said borrowers who owe 30% more than their homes are worth are far more likely to walk away from their property than those who owe just 5% or 10% more and expect prices to rebound. More than one in 10 borrowers with a mortgage owed 110% or more of their home’s value at the end of last year, according to First American CoreLogic.

There are some recent indications that the housing market could be beginning to stabilize. The National Association of Realtors pending home-sales index, for instance, increased 3.2% in March.

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Just how many borrowers are underwater is a matter of some dispute, with the answer depending in part on assumptions regarding home values and mortgage debt outstanding. Variations in home-price estimates can make a major difference in the number of borrowers who are underwater. In addition, borrowers who are already in the foreclosure process may be counted as being underwater if the title to their property hasn’t changed hands.

Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said underwater estimates can be too high if they use price data that includes a large number of foreclosures. Foreclosed homes tend to sell at a discount, he said, making it appear that prices have fallen more than they actually have.

Moody’s Economy.com estimates that of 78.2 million owner-occupied single-family homes, 14.8 million borrowers, or 19%, owed more than their homes were worth at the end of the first quarter, up from 13.6 million at the end of last year.

Part of the reason Zillow’s numbers are higher may be that it looks at mortgage debt taken out at the time the home was purchased and doesn’t adjust for any payments since made toward the outstanding mortgage balance. It also assumes that borrowers who took out home-equity lines of credit at the time of purchase have fully tapped the amount they can borrow. That approach can overstate the portion of borrowers who are underwater, Mr. Zandi said.

Mr. Humphries of Zillow calls his methodology conservative and said Zillow’s use of pricing for individual homes provides a better measure of home valuations than Mr. Zandi’s approach, which relies on market-level estimates of home values. He adds that Zillow doesn’t include foreclosures in its pricing models.

Write to Ruth Simon at ruth.simon@wsj.com and James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

Finally, the truth about Area 51
After decades of denying the facility’s existence, five former insiders speak out by Annie Jacobsen Area 51. It’s the most famous military institution in the world that doesn’t officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada’s high desert, tucked between an Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground. Then again, maybe not— the U.S. government refuses to say. You can’t drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted—all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades.

It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. In 2001, Katie Couric told Today Show audiences that 7 percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened—that it was staged in the Nevada desert. Millions of X-Files fans believe the truth may be “out there,” but more likely it’s concealed inside Area 51’s Strangelove-esque hangars—buildings that, though confirmed by Google Earth, the government refuses to acknowledge.

The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk—in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors. Colonel Hugh “Slip” Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, featured in “What Plane?” in LA’s March issue, spent three decades radar testing some of the world’s most famous aircraft (including the U-2, the A-12 OXCART and the F-117). Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the silver star. Thornton “T.D.” Barnes, 72, was an Area 51 special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge of the base’s half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. Here are a few of their best stories—for the record:

On May 24, 1963, Collins flew out of Area 51’s restricted airspace in a top-secret spy plane code-named OXCART, built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He was flying over Utah when the aircraft pitched, flipped and headed toward a crash. He ejected into a field of weeds.

Almost 46 years later, in late fall of 2008, sitting in a coffee shop in the San Fernando Valley, Collins remembers that day with the kind of clarity the threat of a national security breach evokes: “Three guys came driving toward me in a pickup. I saw they had the aircraft canopy in the back. They offered to take me to my plane.” Until that moment, no civilian without a top-secret security clearance had ever laid eyes on the airplane Collins was flying. “I told them not to go near the aircraft. I said it had a nuclear weapon on-board.” The story fit right into the Cold War backdrop of the day, as many atomic tests took place in Nevada. Spooked, the men drove Collins to the local highway patrol. The CIA disguised the accident as involving a generic Air Force plane, the F-105, which is how the event is still listed in official records.

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As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins’ own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. “They wanted to see if there was anything I’d for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash.” The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.

“Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word.” The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. “Boy, was she mad,” says Collins with a chuckle.

At the time of Collins’ accident, CIA pilots had been flying spy planes in and out of Area 51 for eight years, with the express mission of providing the intelligence to prevent nuclear war. Aerial reconnaissance was a major part of the CIA’s preemptive efforts, while the rest of America built bomb shelters and hoped for the best.

“It wasn’t always called Area 51,” says Lovick, the physicist who developed stealth technology. His boss, legendary aircraft designer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, called the place Paradise Ranch to entice men to leave their families and “rough it” out in the Nevada desert in the name of science and the fight against the evil empire. “Test pilot Tony LeVier found the place by flying over it,” says Lovick. “It was a lake bed called Groom Lake, selected for testing because it was flat and far from anything. It was kept secret because the CIA tested U-2s there.”

When Frances Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk, Russia, in 1960, the U-2 program lost its cover. But the CIA already had Lovick and some 200 scientists, engineers and pilots working at Area 51 on the A-12 OXCART, which would outfox Soviet radar using height, stealth and speed.

Col. Slater was in the outfit of six pilots who flew OXCART missions during the Vietnam War. Over a Cuban meat and cheese sandwich at the Bahama Breeze restaurant off the Las Vegas Strip, he says, “I was recruited for the Area after working with the CIA’s classified Black Cat Squadron, which flew U-2 missions over denied territory in Mainland China. After that, I was told, ‘You should come out to Nevada and work on something interesting we’re doing out there.’ ”

Even though Slater considers himself a fighter pilot at heart—he flew 84 missions in World War II—the opportunity to work at Area 51 was impossible to pass up. “When I learned about this Mach-3 aircraft called OXCART, it was completely intriguing to me—this idea of flying three times the speed of sound! No one knew a thing about the program. I asked my wife, Barbara, if she wanted to move to Las Vegas, and she said yes. And I said, ‘You won’t see me but on the weekends,’ and she said, ‘That’s fine!’ ” At this recollection, Slater laughs heartily. Barbara, dining with us, laughs as well. The two, married for 63 years, are rarely apart today.

“We couldn’t have told you any of this a year ago,” Slater says. “Now we can’t tell it to you fast enough.” That is because in 2007, the CIA began declassifying the 50-year-old OXCART program. Today, there’s a scramble for eyewitnesses to fill in the information gaps. Only a few of the original players are left. Two more of them join me and the Slaters for lunch: Barnes, formerly an Area 51 special-projects engineer, with his wife, Doris; and Martin, one of those overseeing the OXCART’s specially mixed jet fuel (regular fuel explodes at extreme height, temperature and speed), with his wife, Mary. Because the men were sworn to secrecy for so many decades, their wives still get a kick out of hearing the secret tales.

Barnes was married at 17 (Doris was 16). To support his wife, he became an electronics wizard, buying broken television sets, fixing them up and reselling them for five times the original price. He went from living in bitter poverty on a Texas Panhandle ranch with no electricity to buying his new bride a dream home before he was old enough to vote. As a soldier in the Korean War, Barnes demonstrated an uncanny aptitude for radar and Nike missile systems, which made him a prime target for recruitment by the CIA—which indeed happened when he was 22. By 30, he was handling nuclear secrets.

“The agency located each guy at the top of a certain field and put us together for the programs at Area 51,” says Barnes. As a security precaution, he couldn’t reveal his birth name—he went by the moniker Thunder. Coworkers traveled in separate cars, helicopters and airplanes. Barnes and his group kept to themselves, even in the mess hall. “Our special-projects group was the most classified team since the Manhattan Project,” he says.

Harry Martin’s specialty was fuel. Handpicked by the CIA from the Air Force, he underwent rigorous psychological and physical tests to see if he was up for the job. When he passed, the CIA moved his family to Nevada. Because OXCART had to refuel frequently, the CIA kept supplies at secret facilities around the globe. Martin often traveled to these bases for quality-control checks. He tells of preparing for a top-secret mission from Area 51 to Thule, Greenland. “My wife took one look at me in these arctic boots and this big hooded coat, and she knew not to ask where I was going.”

So, what of those urban legends—the UFOs studied in secret, the underground tunnels connecting clandestine facilities? For decades, the men at Area 51 thought they’d take their secrets to the grave. At the height of the Cold War, they cultivated anonymity while pursuing some of the country’s most covert projects. Conspiracy theories were left to popular imagination. But in talking with Collins, Lovick, Slater, Barnes and Martin, it is clear that much of the folklore was spun from threads of fact.

As for the myths of reverse engineering of flying saucers, Barnes offers some insight: “We did reverse engineer a lot of foreign technology, including the Soviet MiG fighter jet out at the Area”—even though the MiG wasn’t shaped like a flying saucer. As for the underground-tunnel talk, that, too, was born of truth. Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51’s backyard. “Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground,” he says.

And the quintessential Area 51 conspiracy—that the Pentagon keeps captured alien spacecraft there, which they fly around in restricted airspace? Turns out that one’s pretty easy to debunk. The shape of OXCART was unprece-dented, with its wide, disk-like fuselage designed to carry vast quantities of fuel. Commercial pilots cruising over Nevada at dusk would look up and see the bottom of OXCART whiz by at 2,000-plus mph. The aircraft’s tita-nium body, moving as fast as a bullet, would reflect the sun’s rays in a way that could make anyone think, UFO.

In all, 2,850 OXCART test flights were flown out of Area 51 while Slater was in charge. “That’s a lot of UFO sightings!” Slater adds. Commercial pilots would report them to the FAA, and “when they’d land in California, they’d be met by FBI agents who’d make them sign nondisclosure forms.” But not everyone kept quiet, hence the birth of Area 51’s UFO lore. The sightings incited uproar in Nevada and the surrounding areas and forced the Air Force to open Project BLUE BOOK to log each claim.

Since only a few Air Force officials were cleared for OXCART (even though it was a joint CIA/USAF project), many UFO sightings raised internal military alarms. Some generals believed the Russians might be sending stealth craft over American skies to incite paranoia and create widespread panic of alien invasion. Today, BLUE BOOK findings are housed in 37 cubic feet of case files at the National Archives—74,000 pages of reports. A keyword search brings up no mention of the top-secret OXCART or Area 51.

Project BLUE BOOK was shut down in 1969—more than a year after OXCART was retired. But what continues at America’s most clandestine military facility could take another 40 years to disclose.

ANNIE JACOBSEN is an investigative reporter who sat for more than 500 interviews after she broke the story on terrorists probing commercial airliners. When she isn’t digging into intelligence issues for the likes of the National Review, she’s snapping together Legos with her two boys.

The largest federal increase on tobacco takes effect Wednesday.  The tax jumps from 39 cents to about a dollar.  The money will help pay for a health insurance program for children.  The tax hike follows a move by tobacco makers a few weeks ago that raised prices in an effort to curb lost revenue.

Will you change your smoking habits because of the tax increase?  And do you think the tax should pay for healthcare?

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