Unarius Academy Of Science

From a hillside east of San Diego, William Proctor points to a distant strip of ocean between the earth and sky. Straight ahead is El Cajon, and beyond layers of ridges to the northwest is Rancho Santa Fe, where 39 people laid down and died in an eerie attempt to enter what they believed was heaven's gate. They were tragically misguided, says Proctor, 43, in believing a spaceship trailing a comet would take them to the "next level." Their bodies were found in Rancho Santa Fe on March 26.

From a hillside east of San Diego, William Proctor points to a distant strip of ocean between the earth and sky. Straight ahead is El Cajon, and beyond layers of ridges to the northwest is Rancho Santa Fe, where 39 people laid down and died in an eerie attempt to enter what they believed was heaven's gate. They were tragically misguided, says Proctor, 43, in believing a spaceship trailing a comet would take them to the "next level." Their bodies were found in Rancho Santa Fe on March 26.

It is sad and I feel quite dangerous for one of your staff writers to twist and turn an article to suit his uninformed mind, such as he did, writing about the Unarius Academy of Science and its founder and teacher, Ruth Norman. She spent hours with him and his photographer, explaining the principles and purpose of this great science; then he called it a "cult" and ridiculed truth, twisting the facts until it became a real farce. But so it is on this planet! Those who know nothing of life and of themselves write from their own ignorance.

Chew on this: Vice President Al Gore's teeth won the unenthusiastic endorsement of a group of California dentists, who complained that both presidential candidates "frequently smile with their lips closed." One dentist even charged that both Gore and Gov. George W. Bush have "crooked teeth." In the poll, commissioned by Esthetic Professionals, a cosmetic dentistry group in Woodland Hills, Gore's choppers received 24 votes, compared with 21 for Bush's.

When U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella was installed as a U.S. district judge in a ceremony at the downtown federal courthouse, her close friend Laurie Levenson spoke of Manella's career ascent. Levenson, associate dean of the Loyola Law School, concluded by quipping, "And now, President Clinton has reached out and touched her--for this position." The courtroom burst into laughter. * THE OLD WEST IS NEW TO THEM: Carl Lawton of L.A. took some photos of a couple of old medieval cottages in rural England.

Aliens may not have landed on Earth, but they sure inhabit our minds. The Huntington Beach Art Center recently opened "Are We Touched? Identities From Outer Space," which looks at the UFO scene. As part of the exhibit, the center will screen on Friday a 120-minute program of videos and films that aims to "examine transformative experiences based on concepts of outer space," curator Tyler Stallings says.

Disappointed by the lack of hellfire and brimstone during the much- ballyhooed Y2K transition? Don't worry. There will be plenty of opportunities to fret in the months and years ahead: Floods, famine and fire--a Hieronymous Bosch painting come to life--are just a few ways in which mass death and planetary destruction are predicted to come about. For centuries, prophets and doomsayers have embarrassed themselves with erroneous end-of-time predictions.

When influential Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung said that "California is classic saucer country," he wasn't talking about dinnerware. Jung, whose name is second only to Sigmund Freud's in psychiatry, believed in UFOs, theorizing that flying saucers' round shape was a symbol of unity and healing. And Jung was right about California, at least when it comes to a group called the Aetherius Society, which for more than four decades has met frequently atop Mt. Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Yogi and Barnacle Bill won't be dropping by, but Marty the Man From Mars will. Likewise, although NASA's Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer is analyzing subatomic particles on Mars, sensitive detection devices will be on the lookout for signs of life as we might not know it right here on the third gaseous ball from the sun.

In the 1920s, '30s and '40s, the United States government commissioned many young photographers to travel the nation's back roads and country lanes, documenting life as it was lived far from city centers. Scores of powerful pictures were produced and the careers of numerous photojournalists were launched. A moving, if patchwork portrait of America's diverse population took shape as books were published, exhibitions were presented and archives were formed.