[meteorite-list] Nebraska Man Says He Was Nearly Hit By Meteorite

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/4672177/detail.html
 
Fairbury Man Says He Was Nearly Hit By Meteorite
    
NU Professors Examining Rock
The Omaha Channel (Nebraska)
June 30, 2005

FAIRBURY, Neb. -- A Fairbury man was watering his yard last week when he
had a very rare and close encounter with a possible meteorite.

Brad Kinzie was out watering his yard in the wee hours of the morning
Saturday -- trying to avoid the hottest period of the day -- when an
object whizzed by his head and landed.

"It came over my head, probably, about a foot and a half. I could feel
the breeze," Kinzie said. "It was silver and it kind of had red and
black on the back of it and smoke."

The object landed about 65 feet from where Kinzie was watering.

"I stood ... here looking at it, 'cause it was still glowing. I says,
'Wow,'" Kinzie said.

Kinzie left it there to cool off, and made two wishes on his falling star.

"One of my wishes came true. My oldest brother wasn't speaking to my
sister for two years. They got back together," he said.

Kinzie is checking with University of Nebraska astronomy professors to
see if it is a real meteorite. If it is, Kinzie is in very rare company.
The chances of this close of an encounter are one in 100 billion, expert
said..

"I just been busy, people calling me on the phone," Kinzie said.

Kinzie wouldn't say what his second wish is. After all, he said, it
hasn't come true yet.

"Only once in a 100 billion years, and it will probably never happen to
me again," he said.

Kinzie said if it is a meteorite, he will probably sell it. Collectors
have been known to pay thousands of dollars for rare meteorites.