Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe 
USMC (RET.) Director 

By Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur and Posse Member W. L. Neff 

STATEMENT:  On April 17, 1966, at about 5:00 AM, the undersigned,  Dale F. Spaur and Barney (W. L) Neff, were patrolling the southeast portion of Portage County, Ohio.  We had been hearing radio traffic about a UFO near Portage County.  We found an abandoned car on the berm on Rt. 224 between Atwater and Randolph.  We left our car to routinely investigate this vehicle.  Spaur noticed a light over the trees on the hill next to the berm, and called Neff's attention to it.  As we watched, the light came closer and a large, self-illuminated object was seen as its source.  The object came directly overhead and hovered above us.  Its light lit up the ground where we were standing, and our cruiser, P-13.  It was too bright to look at without hurting the eyes.  We got into our car and radioed that we had spotted the UFO.  During that time, it began moving away from us.  We followed it down 224 onto Rt. 14, to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, and into Pennsylvania on Rt. 51; then through Rochester, Pa., and on Rt. 65, up to Conway, where we stopped.  As we passed East Palestine, Ohio, Patrolman Wayne Huston, of the East Palestine Police, joined in our pursuit.  In Conway, Pa., Officer Frank Panzanella met us where we stopped, and we stood with him watching the object as it hovered and then rose, twice, in a rapid climb.  The object seemed 30-45 feet across, and 18-24 feet high.  The light it gave off lit up the ground over the road and over fields as we pursued it.  At first it was about 150 feet up; then it rose to around 1000 feet.  During the chase it changed altitude and direction, maneuvered smoothly, had a sort of dome-shaped top, and at times showed a projection on the top part, near the trailing edge.  Not all of it was self-illuminated; part of the top trailing portion looked metallic; not shiny, but satiny.  At times we measured its speed over the ground at about 103 miles per hour.  At one point, near Rochester, we lost it while getting through a bridge-underpass area, but when we emerged, it had come down lower and seemed to have waited for us; it went off fast ahead again then.  We were, and are, sure we were not chasing an illusion, or seeing a reflection, star, planet, or similar still object. As far as our part in this sighting is concerned, at least, the article by Tom Schley in the Beaver County Times, April 18, 1966, about this, is accurate.