Will there be a UFO Commission in Denver?

Denver voters will be asked to create UFO commission
By Christopher N. Osher
Depiction by SW- Click on image for larger view.

The Denver Post- A proposal to create a Denver commission to study visitors from outer space will go before voters this summer after supporters gathered the required signatures to get it on the ballot.

City Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley sent a letter on Monday to Jeff Peckman, who submitted the signatures, stating she had deemed them sufficient.

The ordinance change required 3,974 valid signatures. Peckman submitted more than 10,000 signatures; 4,211 were valid.

Peckman said he will ask voters to approve creating the commission from "grants, gifts and donations."

The seven-member commission would be tasked with collecting evidence that extraterrestrials and their "UFO vehicles" have been visiting Earth.

Peckman, 55, of Denver, and a self-described entrepreneur, said the election on the issue would go with the next regularly scheduled citywide election, currently set for Aug. 10.

He predicted that the election would cause high-profile believers in extraterrestrial to come out and tell Denver voters about what they know.

"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."

In 2003, Peckman pushed a "Safety Through Peace" initiative that voters rejected. If that proposal had passed, it would have required the city to implement systematic, stress-reducing techniques or programs that are scientifically proven to decrease stress and would financially benefit the city.

Peckman had suggested the peace-inducing techniques could involve everything from more nutritious food in public schools to mass meditation sessions to piping soothing music into public buildings to reduce stress and violence.

The initiatives Peckman has pushed has generated concern among some city council members who fear the threshold for ballot initiatives invites frivolous initiatives. The current system for getting an ordinance change on the ballot pegs the number of signatures required to a percentage of the last mayoral vote, which in recent years has been low.

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