31760 BC-IL--AlienState ad AP-RG LOCAL NEWS WKD ADV 587 02/06 2:20 AM BC-IL--Alien State, adv12,590 (0710i0il--na012DC) $adv12 For Release Monday PMs of Feb. 12 and thereafter Cadre of Illinoians Keeps Eye to The Sky for Visitors From Space ILLINOIS STYLE mbrcnjef By KURT ERICKSON= The (Bloomington) Pantagraph= BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) _ The way some see it, it doesn't make sense to sit around watching TV shows about alien abductions and space travel, when you can simply get off your couch, grab your binoculars and check it out for yourself. UFOs over Illinois? Should the masses be alarmed? While many call it bunk, others believe that close encounters occur right here in the Corn Belt. In Illinois, there is a cadre of residents dedicated to the investigation of UFOs and the questions their existence inevitably arouse. Paul Russell of Pekin heads the Central Illinois chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, one of the largest UFO organizations in the world. He and a band of about 30 space sentinels travel the back roads on clear nights to spot UFOs. He says he's seen and heard of abnormalities in the night sky, ranging from bright flashes to ``The Mothership,'' a half-mile-long vessel with flashing lights. ``Civilization as we know it will collapse,'' he said. ``Outside beings are smarter than us. It will happen in my life span. I know I'm going to have the last laugh.'' The chief of MUFON's state office, Forrest Crawford of Collinsville, says the network has been attempting to discern a pattern of UFO visits, an elusive venture thus far. The idea, he said, would be to predict when the UFOs are coming, set up shop at that site and wait. One MUFON member, Gary Hart of rural Bloomington, has spent about $10,000 on equipment he hopes will help him zero in on alien visitors. He investigates sightings of his own and others, some of which occurred during the day, he said. ``That's when it gets really hard to discount.'' George Eberhard, director of publications for the Chicago-based J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, said 95 percent of the world's UFO reports are ``garbage'' that can be explained as either airplanes, satellites or planets. After peaking in the 1970s, Eberhard said UFO sightings have declined. One explanation, he said: ``Aliens were here, now they're not. Sometime around 1980 or '81 everything fell off.'' Carl Wenning, who heads the Illinois State University planetarium, concurs. ``It's been awful quiet.'' Crawford said UFO visits run in nine- to 11-year cycles, with small surges every five or six years. ``It ebbs and flows,'' said Hart, who said 410 sightings were reported in Fulton County during a six-week stretch in 1987. But the frequency of sightings appears to be on the upswing. In Pekin, Paul Russell reported the reappearance of ``angel hair,'' a spider web-like substance he says is cosmic pollution from spacecraft. The frothy, white material falls as spacecraft dart in and out of the Spoon River Valley, he said. Greg Brown, a Bloomington UFO aficionado, said, ``It's up in the air yet about what's going on. It's leading up to something and we'd better be ready. But what's our biggest enemy? Denial.'' Wenning said he'll believe spacecraft from other planets are visiting earth when someone can produce a specimen that can be studied. ``The burden of proof is on them,'' Wenning said. ``I'm talking about stuff you can put your hands on. ``Remember, there are people out there who believe that Elvis is still alive,'' Wenning said. (Copyright 1996 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) AP-NY-02-06-96 0221EST