March 1978

S.H.A.D.O.---U.S. Central Control

MARCH-APRIL 1978

COLONEL DALE E. JONES

lt is with great regret and personal sadness that we announce the tragic and untimely death of Colonel Dale Jones, who died on April 17, 1976, while a patient at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. As most of the members probably know from previous status reports, Dale had been ill since April of 1977, though her health appeared to be slowly improving over the last few months. On March 31, 1978, she was admitted to the intensive care unit of Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, where she remained comatose for nearly two weeks, then, almost miraculously it seemed, regained consciousness on April 13, and was able to sit up and speak, though she was incredibly weak and had infections in both lungs.

Then, on the evening of April 15, she experienced a cardiac arrest, after which she slipped back into coma, followed by a second cardiac arrest the following day, and a third and final stoppage near noon on April 17. The exact cause of her initial collapse has not yet been determined, but the doctors believe it to have been caused by viral encephalitis (inflammation of the brain caused by a virus) and not related to her diabetic condition. Funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but as soon as the county releases her body, she will be cremated and her ashes spread over the Pacific Ocean as she had requested in her will.

Dale's death has come as a great shock to all who knew her, either personally or through correspondence, and it will be difficult for all of us to adjust to her absence. I intend to continue with the club as long as I am able, but I must admit that Dale was the guiding spirit behind SHADO USCC, the heart that kept it all running smoothly, and I doubt I can live up to the high standards which she set and maintained for the organization, but I shall do my utmost nonetheless. I ask for your patience and indulgence in the months to come as the road will be a rocky one. As co-executor of Dale's will, one of my first tasks will be to arrange access to the SHADO bank account, which was maintained solely in Dale's name, in order to continue club operation. (This status report was published, by the way, from the renewal fees of members who (thank GOD!) sent cash rather than checks.) I am hoping that it will not prove a difficult task. I must also request, for obvious reasons, that all future checks and money orders be made out to SHADO-USCC. We have several money orders sitting in the mail as it is, made out to Dale which are going to be a considerable hassle to make use of.

Please excuse me if I sound unaffected by Dale's death. Any impression to that effect is far from the truth. As Dale's roommate and near-coristant companion for the past two years and co-executor of ner will, it would be impossible for me not to have been greatly affected by her death. I am struggling (successfully so far, I think) to keep an even keel and maintain some degree of objectivity. Composing this Status Report was one of the most difficult tasks I've had in quite some time, so if affairs sound like "business as usual", rest assured that it is a very carefully cultivated illusion. Now, with the previous disclaimer in mind, on to more cheeful business.


ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Although we have not received any overwhelming response to
the question we put to the members in our last Status Report concerning frequency and size of our Status Reports and handbooks we have come to a decision. Beginning with the Jan-Feb issue of this year, we will be publishing Status Reports on a bi-monthly basis (one report every two months). We have not yet made a firm decision regarding the handbooks, but our inclination is to limit ourselves to one GlGANTIC handbook a year. Those members who went
to the time and effort to respond to our questions (and we want to thank you for your trouble; we really do care about your opinions) seemed to favor the bi-monthly Status Report and one large handbook, though most admitted to preferring to receiving their packages more frequently. We hope to be coming out with the handbook in late June or early July, but if we experience any legal problems with the SHADO bank account, publication may be delayed.


A REQUEST FROM OUR ARCHIVIST:

SHADO USCC maintains a collection of articles and reports on UFO sightings sent to us by our members. This collection is currently being maintained under the supervision of two of our Ridgecrest, California members, James Murray and Gene Schneider, our official archivists. In sorting through the collection in an attempt to organize things, they have asked us to make two requests from members who send in articles: 1) if possible, please include the source of the article in as complete a form as possible (the name and address of the newspaper, name of the .magazine, etc.), and 2) if possible, include the date of the article. Usually both can be obtained by clipping out the herald, if the article is from a newspaper, or by cutting off the label which usually appears near the page number at either the top or bottom of the page in a magazine. Please affix the information to the article itself, preferrably with a staple or something semi-permanent. If you wish, you may send your articles directly to the archivists, addressed to:

Gene Schneider
708 W Reeves
Ridgecrest, Calif. 93555

SIGHTINGS

Wanda Ventham (Colonel Lake) and Derren Nesbiti (Craig Collins from "The Man Who Came Back") were seen on the episode of "The Prisoner" entitled "It's Your Funeral". Ms. Ventnam played a computer technician (how's that for a bit.of type-casting!), while Mr. Nesbit was cast as one in the continuing series of Number 2's running the village.

Ed spent several weeks appearing in a stage play by George Kelly called "The Fatal Weakness". He is now roaming around Germany's Black Forest, working on a film entitled "The Brass Target". The film is set in post World War 11 days and Ed plays an aide to General Patton who is part of a robbery conspiracy and manages to stay alive and on and off screen for most of the film.


MISCELLANEOUS:

We wish to thank David Weaver for information he gave us concerning videotapes. It seems that the black picture we painted in the last status report concerning the compatibility between different brands of half-inch VTRs was a bit too black. As we had said, there are two different recording systems, Betamax and VHS, but we were in error when we implied that a tape made on one brand of recorder could not be played on another brand recorder using the same recording format. It seems that all brands using betamax format are interchangable among themselves, and similarly, all brands using VHS format are interchangable among themselves.

We should be receiving our shipment of SHADO patches fairly shortly, if the time estimate given by the company we are purchasing them from is accurate. Most of our original order of 20 have already been purchased and we will be mailing them out as soon as they arrive.

It has been suggested by one of our Maryland operatives that we publish a membership list, so that members would be able to seek out other members who live in their near vicinity. Although we have certain reservations concerning the advisability of a supposedly top-secret organization handing out names and addresses of its operatives, the motivation behind the suggestion is a sound one, and the suggestion is being seriously considered. We do have an obligation to protect the privacy of our members, however. If you DO NOT wish your name and address to appear on a published membership list, PLEASE write us and let us know. In the absence of instructions to the contrary, we will assume that members have no objection to having their names and addresses appear upon a membership roster.


Evelyn Walton
Acting Head of Operations
SHADO U.S. Central Control