Stanton, after receiving that communication, decided to take another step. He sent Weitzel's letter, as well as the results of his own investigation, to the Air Force commanding general. When he received no reply, he went to the Pentagon and spoke to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel John Spaulding, who conceded that Blue Book should have made an on-site investigation. He promised that such an investigation would be conducted shortly.
Maybe we should take a moment here to point out, once again, that the Air Force had the mission of investigating UFO sightings. Air Force regulations demanded it. Yet no one inside the Air Force seemed to care enough to do anything except deny and to try to prove that no intercept had been attempted. The only reason they responded to those questions was because they seemed to believe, based on the tone of the responses, that they were being unjustly accused of lying about the intercepts. I could point out that now they knew how it felt when a witness was told that he was too dumb to identify Venus in the morning sky.
The point is, however, that once again we have a case that provides good, solid information. No, it doesn't contain physical evidence, or rather, we have been told that it doesn't, but it does have solid observations by police officers, made of a long period of time. Even with that, the Air Force choose to spend less than five working days investigating, and then conducted all their investigations over the telephone.
On May 10, about two weeks after the Air Force had tried to suggest satellites and Venus in combination, Quintanilla arrived in Ravenna to interview Spaur. Alerted by a message from Quintanilla, Spaur had called Weitzel and asked him to attend the meeting and to record it. Weitzel not only liked the idea, he tried to get both Panzanella and Huston to make the meeting, but both had to work. It strikes me as odd that Quintanilla didn't bother with this somewhat routine idea.
When Quintanilla arrived, he was met by Spaur, Sheriff Dustman, two reporters Clapp and Tom Schley, Weitzel, and Dave Webb. Before the official interview began, Neff and Deputy Robert Wilson arrived. And then Quintanilla asked Weitzel and Webb to leave. Shortly after that the two reporters left, supposedly on their own. That left only Quintanilla and the police officers in the room with Weitzel's tape recorder which no one had bothered to turn off. So much for Air Force security.
It seems, however, that this wasn't really an investigation by the Air Force, but an attempt to push an idea off on the witnesses. Quintanilla tried to get Spaur to accept the Air Force explanation. He said, "I don't know whether you realize it or not, but there are at least thirty satellites that are visible to the naked eye. And these things have a northeasterly and a southeasterly component… And I checked thoroughly… And this is why I made the determination specifically, because of the directions which you gave me. That you had first spotted the satellite coming over, and then focused on Venus. Venus at that night, that's a typical night, was at a magnitude of -3.9. Which is the brightest thing in the sky except for the moon."
Spaur responded, "Well, I don't know anything about it, but… I'm under the impression that… [you are saying] I have a misconception of… "
"No, you aren't Dale. It's not a misconception, Dale. It's — you're not the first to chase that… "
"No," said Spaur, "I know damn well I wasn't chasing a satellite, first of all — "
Quintanilla interrupted then, and said, "You weren't chasing a satellite. I didn't say you were chasing a satellite."
Spaur continued, "I think that if it was in the atmosphere as close as this thing was, as large as it was, it would probably have burned up at that speed. Second of all, I'm under the impression that our satellites doesn't (sic) stop and go and go up and down… "
Quintanilla interrupted again. "Well, they zig-zag. They don't zig-zag 'cause a satellite is in perfect motion. But it gives you the illusion of zig-zagging. It gives the illusion of movement. But it's not because the satellite itself is moving, it's because the eyeball does this. Your eyes, my eyes, his eyes… "
But the problem here is that Quintanilla is referring to auto-kinesis that occurs when someone stares at a point of light that isn't moving. Staring at bright stars, or Venus, at night, makes it seem that they are dancing around in the sky. But, if you look at the track of a satellite as it crosses the sky, the zig-zag movement suggested by Quintanilla isn't in evidence. That attempt at convincing Spaur of his mistake is as transparent as all the others.
Failing to convince him of the satellite portion of the explanation, Quintanilla moved onto Venus. Spaur attempted to tell Quintanilla what he had seen that night. "Now, this, this thing, is this large — this big and this low… I follow it, and I have Barney with me. We're going down the road. So you're gonna discount, well, there's two nuts. We're running Venus. Now Venus… "
Quintanilla interrupted again. "Now, now wait a minute… "
"Well, wait a minute," said Spaur. "Let me speak."
Quintanilla said, "You used the wrong word… I'm an officer in the United States Air Force… "
"Right. You definitely are."
"And I don't call anybody a nut."
But it didn't stop there. Spaur said, "No. Okay. I have hallucinations then. But this is what I've been saying… "
Quintanilla interrupted. "I didn't say you were having hallucinations…"
"What I'm trying to say is this. I'm going down the road. Now this thing that I am following."
But Quintanilla, who obviously has no interest in hearing the tale again said, "And treat me with the same respect that I treat you."
"I will, sir. I am. I'll treat you with more respect than I've been treated in the last… "
That sort of describes the whole of the interview. Neither side wanted to concede a point to the other. Eventually Weitzel and the reporters were allowed to enter the room, and the situation didn't change. Weitzel and Quintanilla got into a nasty argument as Weitzel tried to suggest that the satellite and Venus explanation didn't fit the reported facts. Quintanilla was in the unenviable position of having to admit that he hadn't heard of some of the witnesses. Quintanilla finally excused himself.
Weitzel later said, "Several people from the radio and newspapers tried to get statements from Major Quintanilla and me that afternoon. The major had nothing to say, and I declined extensive comment until I could hear the entire tape recording. I did suggest, and now believe, that Major Quintanilla had come to Portage County with his conclusions ready, and only listened politely, which on the whole he did, to testimony. At no time while he was interviewing the men did anyone see him taking notes… The deputies and Sheriff Dustman were fed up, and made no bones about their discouragement."
Weitzel's suggestion seems to be borne out by the lack of change in the Air Force conclusion. They had already issued their statement about the solution for the sighting, and even though Spaur had mentioned the craft close to the ground, even though they had talked of it lighting the road under it, and even though it wasn't a point of light, Quintanilla stuck to the conclusion it was Venus and a satellite.
The astronomer who had thought that Venus might provide part of the explanation, based on hearing second-hand reports, eventually gave up on the idea. William T. Powers, a systems engineer at the Dearborn Observation, Northwestern University, had originated the idea without talking to any of the witnesses. He eventually wrote to Spaur and Neff, "Apparently I found out considerably more about this event than the Air Force investigator did, because I cannot agree with the evaluation publicly released a few days after the sighting. What you reported to me could not possibly lead to such a conclusion: a satellite satisfies none of the characteristics of your reported object. As a matter of fact, Dr. Hynek agrees with this. He was not consulted before this news release was put forth."