A random drive down Roswell
2/5/2000
Written by Wiggz...also known as the AlienZoo prohibitor of dullness.
The AlienZoo crew.s first morning in Roswell was spent at the Denny's at 200 N. Main, around the corner from the International UFO Museum and Research Center (IUFOMRC). You.ll like the coffee there, after sauntering in and noticing that you.re the only one there who.s not wearing a galvanized belt buckle. Do note the A-frame construction of the place, and its wrap-around windows . it.s all very 1978. The service is friendly. We recommend sitting in the back, with shades on. Keep them wondering as you mush up your Grand Slam and three side orders of bacon. Better yet, make that four.
The Milky Way?
As New Mexico's fourth-largest city (behind Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe), Roswell's population is nearing 50,000, more than four times its 1947 size. It.s the most economically diverse city in New Mexico, according to Chamber of Commerce President Charlie Walker, as it benefits from manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, natural gas, and oil industries. Driving from the south, from Artesia, you.ll know exactly just how prevalent the natural gas industry is; the air smells like Blobbert left the barbecue on. Got a light?
Roswell could very well be the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. The area southeast of town is teeming (Shall I say curdling?) with dairies; the city has 52 in all. The nation.s largest mozarella plant, owned by Leprino Foods is stationed there, processing 4 million pounds of milk each day. Chaves County, as a whole, leads New Mexico with $350 million in annual agricultural production. In early June, the nearby city of Dexter celebrates this achievement by hosting the New Mexico Dairy Days festival, in which cheese sculpting, the Milkman Triathalon, and Great Milk Carton Boat Race are prime attractions. Too bad we didn.t get to see these events in 1999. Darn, darn, darn. Maybe next time.
At 900 employees, Roswell.s largest employer is NovaBus, a bus-making division of Volvo. Because the division doesn.t export its buses, it has been facing a massive job-cutback effort. European buses are much cheaper than their American-made counterparts. Other notable employers are UFO lollipop maker Impact Confections (whose candies turn your mouth different colors) and holiday ornament manufacturer Christmas by Krebs. Colorful candies aside, the city.s estimated unemployment rate, as of January 1999, was an unhealthy 12.2%, nearly three times the national average. Quite reasonably, then, one might wonder whether the Roswell incident is promoted as a means of boosting an economy in transition, importing tourism dollars that would otherwise pass the town by.
The importance of UFOs
I got a chance to talk with Walker . a smart chap who is completing his Ph.D. in business at Eastern New Mexico University . outside of Roswell.s Kmart, where he was ringing a bell on behalf of The Salvation Army.s traditional Christmastime fundraising campaign. The conversation came out as follows, bell ringing included.
AlienZoo: Not everyone in Roswell cares about UFOs. Do you think the UFO museum.s role is vital to your town?
Walker: You.d better believe it. It.s what we call an exporter tax base [ding-a-ling, ring-a-ding]. Tourism is just one aspect of our economy.s diversification. We have to keep it up.
AlienZoo: Some people would just as soon see the museum disappear. [Vigorous dinging by Charlie here: ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding] If it did, they believe, the difference wouldn.t be felt.
Walker: I think that.s kind of ignorant. Any community would love to get 188,000 visitors to their museum a year [ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ring-da-ling].
The next part of the conversation gravitated toward Light Messenger Technology, the company that launched the Starlite laser beam . a high-brightness neodymium yttrium aluminum garnet solid-state laser, in combination with a near-infrared laser . into the New Mexico sky on New Year.s Eve. The deep-space communications laser consisted of nearly 10,000 "eGreetings" between friends and families. Thousands braved the cold and wind to witness the show. The company is considering hosting a similar laserbeam-message event for Valentine.s Day.
AlienZoo: How did you get involved with the Light Messenger Project? [Fervent ringing from Charlie here: ting-a-ring-a-ding-a-ring]
Walker: They weren.t exactly looking at Roswell for their location. They were looking at other states. I thought extra value would be added to their company and Roswell if they would locate here. New Mexico has been known for technology. The atomic bomb was tested here. Sandia Labs is here. Robert Goddard did his airplane experiments here. Why not a new technology that could be used for space communication?
AlienZoo: For Light Messenger, the laser is just the beginning?
Walker: Thank you, ma.am. [Vigorous ringing here, again, as Charlie acknowledges a contribution.] I think it.s very innovative. I think they have a very good idea, especially if their idea for the Cold War museum comes out, which would change the missile silo into a museum. [ding-ding-ding] What are tomorrow.s children going to say about the Cold War? [ding-ding-ding-da-ding]
To convert the Atlas F nuclear missile silo into a beam-launch site, Light Messenger had to employ two large cranes and "an unbelievable amount of money," according to Mike Henry, Light Messenger.s chief operating officer. The silo.s massive blast doors had to be yanked open, because the hinge pins were rusted. Henry says the process was "a nightmare, to say the least.. But the company ultimately prevailed, and is now seriously studying the Cold War museum idea . renovating the silo into what it was in its heyday. "We think that people would be very interested in seeing what the silos were all about," says Henry. "We.ve all heard about them. But not many people can say they.ve walked through them."
While I was talking with Walker, Zookeeper and Blobbert, in a fit of mischief, were inside Kmart getting video of activating the voices of dozens of singing Kermit the Frog dolls. A cacophony of song ensued: "I'm a Caribbean Amphibian. I.m a Caribbean amphibian. I.m a Caribbean amphibian. I.m a Caribbean amphibian. I.m a Caribbean amphibian." I had to wonder: What were surrounding Kmart shoppers thinking? Did they even care?
A noticeable presence
UFOs are a common site in downtown Roswell.s Main Street area . above its tan-brick, late-1950s buildings, that is. There.s the four-foot-wide model spaceship that appears to have crashed into the corner of the UFO museum. Stores like Alien Zone, Starchild, Roswell Southwest Alien, the Alien Sno sno-cone shop, and the Alien Spacecraft UFO Research Center (a somewhat random place, for lack of a better adjective) have alien themes on the placards above their front doors. During our visit, Ginsberg Music had a window display featuring four aliens . The Pleiadians . cartoonishly performing a silent tribute to The Beatles. A few miles down Main Street, in the Roswell Mall, the area.s Harley-Davidson store displays an all-out re-enactment of the Roswell debris-recovery, with Jeep-riding military officers chasing Harley-riding aliens.
Although the memory of the 1947 event is kept alive by commerce, it is said that a large faction of conservative Christian Roswellians would prefer that the UFO imagery would disappear. Roswell is situated in the far west end of the Bible Belt. It is said that the differences in belief systems is so great between UFO believers and fundamentalist Christians that they actually divide families. Since the Roswell incident wasn.t brought to the forefront until 1991 . when Kevin Randle and Don Schmitt published their breakthrough book UFO Crash at Roswell - many Roswellians would prefer talk of extraterrestrials to be quashed. Too late now.
Roswell.s center of activity is Main Street, a straight-as-can-be, north-south street that.s dominated by national chains (Wendy.s, Arby.s, Sonic Drive-In, McDonald.s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Red Lobster, and Applebee.s), gas stations, and automobile dealerships. Driving south, you see the 12-floor Bank of America building towering in the distance.
The Roswell Inn, once the best place to stay in town, shut down in 1998, so it just sits there, abandoned. You won.t avoid seeing the campus of New Mexico Military Institute, which sandwiches Main at the 2000 N. block, for well over a quarter of a mile. Founded in 1891, NMMI is a high school and junior college with 450 students. Roughly 15% of its students are female. (Sorry, guys, you should.ve read the brochure a little more carefully.) If you.re a civilian, it seems like a formidable place, because it looks like a castle, and you don.t see a whole lot going on there. But the school.s Web site has photo of smiling students, so it can.t be all that militant.
There.s nothing Las Vegas about driving Main Street. On Friday nights, though, you.d think there is something at least quasi-Vegas about it, judging from the kids who cruise the strip in their modified cars. You should be aware that the Sonic on the northern end of Main is one of the official turn-around points. Get out your cups of water and cheer them on!
To make the most of a visit to Roswell, keep your mind open. If you.re wary of the "commercialization" of UFO culture, you may be disappointed. The UFO that crashed there is long gone. On the other hand, if you go there simply to have fun . by seeing how an old movie theater has been converted into a UFO museum and library - you won't be disappointed.