I want to thank you for spending the time to respond to my letter. I know you have been busy and I share your interest in understanding life on Mars and how it developed.

For the last 20 years, I have been involved in computers and have been considered a computer "expert." I am used to people listening to what I have to say and it has been a long time since anyone that has known me has doubted my abilities. But on the Internet, everyone is equal, and that sometimes can mean less than equal. I say this because I am about to make some rather extraordinary comments about my meteorite and I pray that you will take me seriously in this matter.

I know that the rock I have is different than any other meteorite that is known. I have sent samples to three different places who have all said they would test it, but once they receive it, they say it can’t be a meteorite because it doesn’t look like anything they have seen before, and they haven’t tested it. I would just remark that one can not make a logical argument that every new meteorite must look like the ones that have fallen before. Space is a big place and we should expect some "new" things from time to time.

The rock I have was created as a result of volcanic flow, but it was not created on the planet Earth. I have good evidence to this fact, but still I can’t get anyone to listen. The rock shows evidence of weathering, so it could not be the result of a volcanic eruption on Earth near the time I found it. And besides, there are no active volcanoes within hundreds or thousands of miles. The rock is very delicate. I can break off pieces with my finger nail and the volcanic pores are all filled with sand which is composed of small pieces of sand and small pieces of volcanic material which appears to be weathered and is probably much older than the basic structure of the rock.

I share your interest in the debate of life on Mars. However, if I could get you or anyone else to take me seriously, I think that we could resolve the debate very quickly, because this rock has macroscopic evidence of life within the sand that is contained in the pores of the rock. This is sand that I have removed from the insides of the rock and which has never been exposed to the Earth’s atmosphere. I am sending you a couple of pictures that I have taken of these objects through a 50 power cheap microscope. There is much to be debated and proven, but I think we will soon be able to say that life not only evolved on Mars, but evolved past the proto-bacterial forms that your research has uncovered, and actually developed into larger, more complex beings that are still living on Mars today.

In addition, this rock could never have spent a single rain storm on the planet Earth. As it exists today, I could put it in a bath tub of water over night and I would have a volcanic skeleton with a pile of sand at the bottom. I have put a single drop of water on the outside edge and watched as the thing just "melts." So this rock is volcanic, full of sand like it was in a river bottom, has been weathered, has objects within which appear very old, is very delicate and has not been wet on the planet Earth. Also, I am a very keen observer of natural systems. I still hike weekly spending as much time as 12 hours a week just being in nature and looking at all the physical systems which have evolved. I can tell you without qualification, that this rock appeared in a place that I visited at least 300 of the last 365 days before finding it, and it was never there before. This place was extremely isolated and was not visited by the public. My great aunt was the owner of the ranch where I found the rock and she was sure it had never been there before in the 50 years she had owned the ranch. It fell from the sky the night before I found it and it has to be a meteorite even if it doesn’t fit into today’s classifications. Also, I have spent much time over these last 25 years looking at rocks within hundreds of miles of the location and nothing I have found resembles this rock. At first glance, terrestrial volcanic material looks similar, but when put side by side, nothing compares to this rock.

And through this entire saga, the only thing I have asked is to get good scientific results so that we can know for sure and stop wondering. If this rock represents what I think it does, then we have evidence of a wide range of materials and life that make up the Martian surface. It looks to me like this rock was sitting on Mars in a old river bed and had living samples within when it was ejected into space. All I want is for the truth to be known.

So will you help me? I am afraid if I send a sample of this rock to your friend Marilyn Lindstrom, that she will take a single look at it and declare it to be from a terrestrial volcano and then not perform any tests to determine its planet of origin. Will you encourage her to test this rock, no matter what her first impressions might be?

I have much more evidence and I am convinced that if you saw this rock in person, you would believe that it is a meteorite. I will do anything that you require to convince you to help get this rock studied. If you could see what I have seen within this rock, I think you would be a believer. But I am a student of the scientific method and what I want is to find the truth and stop the speculation. If you are on the side of the debate which thinks Mars has or had life, then I think my rock can offer the proof the world needs to stop the debate and move on to classifying the different types of life and understanding how Martian life is different from terrestrial life. Please take me seriously because there is little to loose if I am wrong but much to gain if I am right.

Your friend,