CHASING A UFO — Thursday evening, April 16, an Unidentified Flying Object was seen traveling south to north by Brian Lorenz and brother-in-law Michael Mewes at the Lorenz farmstead several miles south of Osmond. The pair tracked the object as it slowly lowered toward the ground in an area southeast of town. Brian then drove to the area near the Osmond city cemetery where he found what was apparently a weather balloon, tangled in the barbed wire fence in the field by the cemetery. Finding several objects which had been hanging below the balloon, he found the name of PegasusAerospace and a phone number to call. Pegasus is a company associated with PrimusAerospace in Lakewood, CO, which provides precision machining, fabrication and assembly for the aerospace and defense industries. A second trip was made out to the field for this reporter to take pictures of the “UFO.” After returning home, Brian received a return call from Pegasus. The information the company sent about the weather balloon stated that it was sent that day from Fort Morgan, CO. It was measuring temperature, pressure and wind characteristics in the stratosphere, and that data is used for weather models. They
asked that the balloon and its components be boxed up and sent to their address, so a third trip was made to the field, where the balloon was eventually extracted from the barbed wire fence and then mailed to Colorado. The company generously compensated the Lorenzes for their time and postage. The Thursday activity was definitely out of the ordinary. In top picture, balloon is caught in barbed wire fence. Above, object with name and phone number hung below the balloon. Below left, “UFO” can be seen flying over a field south of town.
