Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Meteorite Suspect Held In Cambodia

According to AFP News a "Suspected Meteorite" fell from the sky in the highlands of northwestern Cambodia early today.

Actual photograph of the suspected meteorite

Now I don't know much about this sort of thing but it appears reasonable to me that something that weighs over 10 pounds, looks like a rock, is found buried 16 inches into the ground where it was still warm to the touch, in the exact spot that something fell from the sky with a sound like "a bomb," and set fires that destroyed several hundred hectares of rice fields, should be considered a prime suspect as being a meteorite.

Although the rock was recovered and is being held by police it is not yet clear what charges will be brought against it. The rock's lawyers refused comment except to say that their client is innocent of everything and was only a simple, honest rock that had never been suspected of being a meteorite until today. "It will all be explained in court," one lawyer said as they left the police station this afternoon.

In the spirit of justice and fair play it is, I feel, important to remind my readers that everyone, even a rock, has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Until then, we can only speculate and wonder whether, with all this publicity, the rock will be able to receive a fair trial in Cambodia. The same lawyer quoted above hinted that a request for a change of venue to Modesto, California, would likely be made in the next several days.