Gaitan radioed one of his buddies, Sgt. Jim Clifton of the Erath County Sheriff's Department, to take a look. "In my 35 years of law enforcement, I have never seen anything like it," Clifton said.
Less than 24 hours later, Gaitan was at home in Dublin when he spotted a strange pattern of red, green and white lights. He was off-duty, so he and his wife chased the lights in their car, recording images as they followed them into the countryside.
Wendy, 37, who doubted the first sighting, was now convinced the lights were from a technologically superior ship from outer space.
"Who is to say they are not going to invade?" she said.
As winter turned to spring, and the brown fields became green again, the inconclusiveness of the cosmic news began to fade into the daily grind of terrestrial events. The town started looking forward to graduation at the high school, and the first awarding of college scholarships funded by T-shirt sales.
Joiner, frustrated with juggling her duties as an education writer, quit the paper and signed on as a special correspondent for the Jerry Pippin radio show, which regularly reports on unexplained phenomena. In April, she gave a talk at the National Press Club in Washington about covering the Stephenville lights.
It's become her life. "I am looking at the sky more. Friends and neighbors are looking at the sky more," said Joiner, who has never seen the lights herself. "Is it coming back?"
Allen became friends with Joiner, and when she left the paper he and another witness came up with the idea of a website to keep the story alive and possibly make some money from the sale of T-shirts and videos of subsequent sightings. They also recruited Gaitan, since he was one of the main witnesses.
Despite his skepticism, Gaitan agreed to join. He contributed some photos to the site, but recently said he wouldn't be shooting any new ones.
Weary of the tumult, he hardly searches the sky anymore.
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denise.gellene@latimes.com
