Philip J. Klass "White Paper" on Mike Rogers, Travis Walton's Partner

BACKGROUND
On 6/26/74, Mike Rogers received a contract from the U.S. Forest Service
to "thin out" 1,277 acres of timber in the Turkey Springs area of the
Sitgreaves National Forest having submitted the low bid of $27.40 per
acre. Rogers was to complete the job in 200 working days, which,
allowing for the long winter in the mountains and other bad-weather
days, meant he should complete the job by 8/3/75. To meet this date,
Rogers and his crew would have to average 6.4 acres per working day. On
12/12/74, the Forest Service reduced the working area to 1,205 acres to
protect wildlife, with a corresponding reduction in total contract price
but without reducing the time for Rogers to complete the job.

On 7/15/75, Forest Service Contracting officer Maurice Marchbanks wrote
Rogers a letter to notify him that he was seriously behind on his
contract:
     Wayne Porter, COR [Contracting Officer's Representative]
     as of the above listed contract informs me that 92% OF
     YOUR CONTRACT TIME HAS EXPIRED, YET 32% OF THE WORK
     IS UNCOMPLETED. It appears that approximately one -half
     of the fuel-breaks [to prevent spread of forest fires] are
     yet to be completed. This in reality makes the situation
     worse than the percentages indicate since piling of fuel
     breaks in generally slower than the thinning itself. This
     letter is to remind you that THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE
     RIGHT TO EXPECT THE PROJECT TO BE COMPLETED ON TIME.
     Your failure to do so could result in your right to proceed
     being terminated. Please advise me by letter within 10
     days how you plan to complete all the work within the
     contract time. If you need any assistance, don't hesitate
     to call. (Emphasis added.)

Rogers met with Marchbanks to request a time extension. On 8/4/75,
Marchbanks issued contract Change Order #2, giving Rogers an 84 day
extension, to 11/10/75. This 84 day extension was based on the
fact that during the first year, Rogers had averaged 4.25 acres per
working day. If Rogers and his crew could maintain this same average,
and if they worked six days per week, they could complete the Turkey
Springs job by 11/10. However, because Rogers was late on the original
contract, he would be penalized $1 per acre for the remaining 353 acres.

On 10/16/75, less than 4 weeks before the deadline for completing Turkey
Springs, COR Tom Hentz visited Turkey Springs and then wrote the
following report:
     Contractor [Rogers] has completed approximately 15 acres of
     fuel-break in Lot D since last payment was made [two weeks
     earlier]. Contractor [says he] had been working steadily.
     However, progress has been slow due to the density of the
     stands being thinned. TO DATE, 80% OF THE TIME EXTENSION
     HAS PASSED AND [ONLY] 31% OF THE WORK HAS BEEN
     COMPLETED. CONTRACTOR CLAIMS HE IS TRYING TO INCREASE
     SIZE OF HIS CREW, BUT SO FAR HAS HAD LITTLE SUCCESS.
     (Emphasis added.)

"HALF THE TRUTH IS OFTEN A GREAT LIE" .....Benjamin Franklin
On 10/20/75, knowing that Hentz would report Rogers was far behind on
his Turkey Springs contract, Rogers wrote to Contracting Officer
Marchbanks as follows:
     I am writing to tell you personally of our progress on Turkey
     Springs thinning. I can not honestly say whether or not we
     will finish on time or not. However, WE ARE WORKING EVERY
     DAY with as much manpower as I can hire. I will not stop work
     until the job is finished or until I am asked to stop. I have
     had considerable trouble keeping a full crew on the job. The
     area is very thick and the guys have poor morale because of
     this. I have had to break in several green men. We will keep
     working and trying hard. (Emphasis added.)

Rogers Was Resorting To Falsehood To Try To Explain Why He Was So Far
Behind On His Turkey Springs Job. The Real Reason Was That He And His
Crew Were "Moonlighting" For Two Other Forest Service Contractors Where
They Could Make More Money Than On Turkey Springs - Because Rogers Had
Bid Too Low A Price.

This I learned during my first telephone conversations with Rogers on
7/11/76 (shortly after he had a telephone installed). Rogers claimed
that if it had not been for the Travis Walton UFO incident, he could
have completed the Turkey Springs job "in two or three weeks." When I
challenged this claim on the basis that as of 10/16 Rogers had used up
80% of his contract extension time and had completed less than one-third
of the work, Rogers unwittingly 'let the cat out of the bag' to try to
justify his claim. Rogers said: "Because I had NO OTHER CONTRACTS at
that time. EVERYTHING ELSE WAS FINISHED."

Until that moment, I had assumed that Rogers was devoting his full
efforts to his U.S. Froest Service contract for Turkey Springs, trying
to avoid default on his contract. When I asked about his "other
contracts" Rogers said he and his crew had been working for Western Pine
Co. and another Forest Service contractor whom he refused to identify.
When I asked if Contracting Officer Marchbanks knew that Rogers was
'moonlighting' for two other contractors, Rogers said he "assumed"
Marchbanks knew because Hentz also had inspected the Western Pine timber
operations. But Rogers admitted that Marchbanks probably did NOT know
about his other job.

I Told Rogers I Planned To Call Marchbanks The Next Morning To Find Out.

The next morning when I called Marchbanks, I learned that Rogers had
decided to drive some 60 miles to Springerville to inform him before I
called. Marchbanks told me that he had JUST learned from Rogers - WHO
WAS IN HIS OFFICE WHEN I CALLED - that he had been working for Western
Pine and neglecting his own Turkey Springs contract. Marchbanks said,
"If I had known this I would have insisted 'To hell with what you've got
with somebody else. This is your obligation here.' But I was not aware
of it."

When I asked Marchbanks if Rogers had informed him that he was also
working for a SECOND contractor, Marchbanks said he had NOT.

ROGERS'S CONVENIENTLY FLAWED TAPE RECORDING
Several days later, on 7/18, I called Rogers and asked "why weren't you
honest with Mr. Marchbanks...you did not tell him about BOTH contracts
you had?" I was puzzled when Rogers revealed that when he visited
Marchbanks on 7/12 he had played for him a tape recording Rogers had
made of our 7/11 telephone conversation in which Rogers HAD discussed
BOTH of his moonlighting contracts. Yet during my 7/12 conversation with
Marchbanks, he said he had not been aware of the second contract until I
told him about it.

After concluding my conversation with Rogers, I called Marchbanks to
explore this curious discrepency. Marchbanks said that not only he but
an associate, Dennis Allen, had listened to the Rogers tape recording.
Allen had heard Marchbanks tell me that he had been unaware of the
second contractor until I told him and did not challenge that statement.
Furthermore, Rogers himself was sitting in the room and did not correct
Marchbanks. Then Marchbanks said,
       "A lot of the tape you couldn't understand, there was
       something wrong with the tape. By a lot I mean a minute
       here, a minute there, you couldn't make it out. He [Rogers]
       tried to say something was wrong with his tape recorder.

Apparently, Rogers's Tape Recorder Conveniently Malfunctioned Every Time
He Discussed The SECOND Contractor.

Marchbanks sounded a bit embarrassed that as the Forest Service
contracting officer he had not been aware of Rogers's 'moonlighting'
activities until I launched my own investigation. He expressed no anger
because of Rogers's deception. But he did comment, "I didn't believe the
[Travis Walton UFO-abduction] story then. I don't believe it now."

"ONE FALSEHOOD TREADS ON THE HEELS OF ANOTHER"..... Terence
Recall that on 10/20/75, three weeks before the 11/10 deadline for
completing Turkey Springs, Rogers wrote to Marchbanks, saying, "...we
are working every day with as much manpower as I can hire..." THAT CLAIM
WAS FALSE.

Hentz's diary, reporting on his visit to Turkey Springs on 10/28, said:
     During the past week, the contractor has accomplished 4 acres
     of fuel-breaks. The reason for the slow progress is that it
     rained one day. Contractor's vehicle was broken down for two
     days. And a 4th day of work was lost due to an on-the-job
     injury that required medical attention.

During the 12 days since Hentz's last visit on 10/16, Rogers had
completed only four acres. UNLESS ROGERS COULD COMPLETE MORE THAN 230
ACRES IN THE NEXT 13 DAYS, HE WOULD DEFAULT ON HIS CONTRACT.

Rogers offered the following explanation for having completed only 4
acres in 12 days, in his letter of 4/19/77 to APRO's James Lorenzen:
     During the time between 10/2/75 and 10/16/75 we spent most of
     Out time on another project and only a couple of days on the
     Turkey springs contract. Between 10/16/75 and 10/28/75, the
     inspectors (sic) diary clearly shows we lost 3.5 days one
     week alone due to some unfortunate circumstances. The
     one-half day accounts for the other 4 acres [that were
     completed between 10/16/75 and 10/28/75]. THE OTHER 8 DAYS
     WERE SPENT ON ANOTHER JOB, AND OF COURSE, A WEEKEND OR TWO.
     (Emphasis added.)

In that same 4/19 letter to Lorenzen, Rogers said:
     It was AFTER that date of 10/28/75 that I added John
     Goulette and Dwayne Smith to my crew and by 11/3/75 WE WERE
     WORKING TURKEY SPRINGS FULL TIME. (Emphasis added.)

In Rogers's next letter to Lorenzen, dated 5/3/77, he wrote:
     We worked Turkey Springs from 10/29/75 to 11/5/75 [date of
     the UFO incident] except for one weekend off, one lost day
     due to the truck breaking down on the way to work, one day
     lost to rain, and six hours because our saws broke down.

BUT - in Rogers's letter to Marchbanks, written on 10/20/75, he claimed
"...WE ARE WORKING EVERY DAY."

In Hentz's report of 10/28/75, he wrote:
     It is apparent that the contractor will not be able to
     complete the entire job under the present time-extension.
     Contractor had stated that he had written you a letter
     [10/20/75] explaining some of his problems and [he] would
     like to set up a meeting to discuss what course of action
     might be taken for him to be able to complete this contract.

But as of Wednesday, November 5 - only five days before the contract
deadline - Rogers HAD NOT CALLED MARCHBANKS to request a meeting to
discuss obtaining another contract extension. WHY?

If Rogers requested and obtained another contract extension, he would
have been penalized another $1/acre. The fact that Rogers opted to work
for two other contractors rather than work on his own Turkey Springs
contract reveals that he had erred originally in bidding too low a
price. Another $1/acre reduction would not help his situation. More
importantly, if Rogers obtained another contract extension, with winter
on the close horizon, it would be the following early summer before he
could complete Turkey Springs and obtain the $2,638 which the Forest
Service was withholding until the job was finished.
What Rogers really needed was an "Act-Of-God" - an extraordinary event
which could enable him to quickly get out from under his Turkey Springs
contract without a default-termination and enable him to get his hands
on the $2,638 to tide him over the long winter. On the night of
10/20/75, the night that Rogers wrote to Marchbanks, NBC-TV broadcast a
two-hour docudrama telling the tale of the "UFO abduction" of
Betty/Barney Hill. Rogers claims that he watched only a portion of the
TV show because he found it boring. Challenging this claim of Rogers is
the statement by team member John Goulette that UFOs occasionally were
discussed by members of the team. Mostly it was just Mike and Travis
arguing about what would make them fly," according to Goulette. ["The
Ultimate Encounter," by Bill Barry, p.163.]

IF ROGERS HAD WRITTEN THE SCRIPT FOR TRAVIS'S UFO-ABDUCTION...
If the NBC-TV movie that Rogers saw on 10/20/75, when he was writing to
Marchbanks, generated the idea that a similar "UFO abduction" might
create a convenient "Act-Of-God" means of getting out of the Turkey
Springs contract while gaining speedy access to the $2,638 which Rogers
sorely needed (AND MIGHT EVEN WIN THE $100,000 PRIZE THEN BEING OFFERED
BY THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER), the scenario had to be carefully scripted.

*    The "abduction" needed to occur NEAR the Turkey Springs site so
that Rogers could claim his team members were too frightened to return
to work in that area, preventing Rogers from completing work under his
contract.

*    The "abductee" would need to be someone like Travis Walton who had
a long-standing interest and familiarity with the subject and who,
allegedly, had always wanted to go for a ride aboard a UFO.

*    Travis would need to be seated next to the door of Rogers's truck,
so he could jump out and run under the UFO.

*    The UFO would need to "zap" Travis with an explosive beam which
would panic Rogers into driving off, leaving Travis to be taken into the
UFO. But the beam would need to be so gentle that it would not cause any
burn or bruise marks to appear on Travis's body when he "reappeared"
five days later.

*    In some UFO incidents it is reported that the UFO causes failure of
automobile engines and/or lights. This UFO should NOT cause such effects
because it would prevent Rogers from driving away from the site,
enabling the ETs to take Travis aboard the UFO.

By A Fortuitous Coincidence, The (alleged) UFO Behaved Exactly As If It
Were Following A Script Prepared By Mike Rogers.


          Philip J. Klass
          Washington D.C.