[meteorite-list] Chehalis another article

[joseph_town at att.net]

> AP Meteor Crash Report Was a Hoax 
> 
> By Joe Strupp 
> 
> Published: June 03, 2004 12:20 PM EST 
> 
> NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to 
> retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have 
> hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after 
> discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, 
> claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated 
> a hoax. 
> 
> "An early report that a meteor might have hit turned 
> out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It 
> looks like a version (of the story) was killed because 
> it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was 
> reviewing how the error occurred. 
> 
> The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m. 
> EST, stated that someone identified as Bradley 
> Hammermaster, and purported to be a University of 
> Washington astronomy instructor, had told KIRO Radio 
> in Seattle that a piece of meteor "about the size of a 
> small car" had hit just before 3 a.m. PST. 
> 
> The radio station also quoted the man as saying "a 
> team was being assembled to head for the area where 
> the object was believed to have hit near the tiny 
> southwestern Washington community of Chehalis." 
> 
> This version was picked up by dozens of news sites, 
> most of which later deleted the Hammermaster 
> references. 
> 
> The bogus report followed genuine reports of bright 
> lights being seen along a 60-mile stretch of the Puget 
> Sound, which National Weather Service and U.S. Coast 
> Guard officials were investigating as either a 
> streaking meteor or other outer space activity, AP 
> reported. 
> 
> An AP advisory sent out at about 7:23 a.m. EST stated, 
> "The AP story Meteorite-Washington ... has been 
> eliminated. The identity of the source of the story 
> cannot be confirmed." 
> 
> Later versions of the AP story revealed the hoax. 
> 
> "An early report that a meteor might have hit near 
> Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out 
> to be false, a University of Washington scientist who 
> specializes in meteorites said," AP reported. "A man 
> who identified himself as University of Washington 
> astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO 
> Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area 
> where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that 
> call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said." 
> 
> The story added, "No one by the name of Hammermaster 
> is known to the astronomy department, and the 
> description given by the caller to the station of the 
> object -- an automobile-sized piece of a small car 
> from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor -- was 
> clearly bogus." 
> 
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