UFO BLAMED FOR ROOF COLLAPSE IN CANADA

A diamond-shaped UFO is being blamed for the unexplained collapse ofa theatre roof in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada (population 6,531). The incident took place around midnight on Friday, March 5, 1999. According to the East Kootenay Weekly, "A diamond- shaped UFO covered with flashing lights may have been responsible for the collapse of the McKim Theatre roof in Kimberley two weeks ago." "That's the rumor setting the ski town a-buzz after about five witnesses reported seeing strange lights drifting slowly above the Bavarian City around midnight March 5." "Fuelling speculation were reports of an unusual 'light show' spotted directly over the theatre roof just a few hours before its as-yet-unexplained collapse." The UFO was first sighted at 10 p.m. when "Home care worker Gail Shay had just returned from work to her apartment at the Pioneer Lodge on Church Street. As she prepared to retire, she watched unusually bright lights hovering above the roof of the theatre." "A second glance sent shivers up her spine." "'It was like nothing I've ever seen before,' says Shay." "'At first, it seemed that there was a crisscrossing spotlight going up into the sky from the roof of the school. (Editor's Note: The abandoned McKim Theatre is now an annex of Kimberley Middle School.)

It was glimmering, like the northern lights. There were all these colours.Then the light spread out like a mushroom cloud, exactly on the samespot where the roof is (now) gone.'" "'I was seeking through a list of possible explanations,' Shay said. She decided she must be hallucinating and crawled quickly into bed. 'I just kept thinking, Well, it's some unexplained natural phenomena... I can accept lots, but this was too much,' she said." "Approximately one hour later, 68-year-old Ted Zawaski was shaken out of a deep sleep by a phone call." "At the other end of the line was a friend in Chapman Camp, incoherently insisting that Zawaski take a look at the sky." "After a few minutes, Zawaski said he was able to make sense of his friend's words--a diamond-shaped UFO covered with flashing lights was drifting slowly over the trees west of him." "'The minute I saw it, I almost panicked, but because it was like nothing ever seen on Earth,' said Zawaski, who lives in Townsite." "Excitedly swapping details with the friend in Chapman Camp, Zawaski watched the object from 12:15 to 12:40 a.m. when it drifted out of sight behind the trees." "Zawaski admitted to being a bit of a UFO aficionado himself, and has spotted four UFOs in the past 30 years-- in Austria, Norway, near Calgary and Kimberley. However, the other three witnesses claimed they had never seen one (before) and weren't looking." "Kimberley RCMP (Royal Candian Mounted Police--J.T.) received several telephone calls that night about the phenomenon, although they were unable to verify the sighting." "'We're not about to speculate on the cause of the collapse, butwe've heard all kinds of tales, including UFO sightings on Fridaynight,' said George Watson," director of School District No. 6. Located in the Purcell Mountains, Kimberley is on Provincial Highway 95A about 520 miles (832 kilometers) east of Vancouver, B.C.

(See the East Kootenay Weekly for March 23, 1999, "Did a UFO cause the new Kimberley School roof to collapse?" by Christine Boyd.