Initiative Would Create UFO Commission In Denver

Denver residents will have a chance to decide if the city will study visitors from space. An initiative on next year's ballot will ask voters if the city should create a seven-member commission to study UFOs. The group behind the measure got the required number of signatures this week. Jeff Peckman is the man behind the proposal. Last year he held a news conference to release images of what he said is an alien peeking through a window at a home in Nebraska. "Denver is going to be saturated with information that people have been denied for their entire life," Peckman said. The ordinance change required 3,974 valid signatures. Peckman submitted more than 10,000 signatures. "They will see there is an attentive audience, and that people are digging into this issue," Peckman said. "They will see there is an opportunity to say something when people are paying attention." Peckman said there are a lot of believers in the paranormal, but City Councilman Charlie Brown isn't one of them."I'm dealing with real-life issues, not space issues, and I'm just overwhelmed with the real-life issues," Brown said. Brown says it's a waste of time and money. Peckman insists it'll be funded all by gifts and grants. "The federal government ... it's long overdue for them to come clean on what they know," Peckman said. He said the commission will help open secret UFO files, set up a protocol for what happens when there's a siting, and assess the risks and benefits of interacting with extra terrestrials. "I've been speaking at civic organizations, Rotary, Kiwanis and they're all very receptive to this discussion," Peckman said. But Brown warns a new commission means new bureaucracy. "Who knows what this commission is going to demand in terms of travel, for example to conventions in other states or even elsewhere," Brown said. The commission would cost Denver about $100,000.