Best Places to Retire: Tallahassee, Home Of UFO Sightings

In 1973, the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper awarded a check for $10,000 to a crew of four airmen that flew over Tallahassee and filmed indisputable evidence of a UFO.

John Wallace Spencer described the 1973 UFO event in his 1974 book No Earthly Explanation: Mankind, A Space Experiment (Bantam Books). It was the evening of November 12 in 1973 that the DC9 crew heard something odd. They heard about a bogey from the air tower at Tallahassee. Within 30 minutes of that communication, other crew and officials at the air terminal saw the UFO.

Captain R.C. Cook was commanding the short flight from Tallahassee to Atlanta with three crewmen. They did not have enough fuel to follow or slow down and observe the bogey long-term, but their report was enough to earn them the $10K.

The UFO was traveling at the unimaginable speed of 2,200 mph at 3,000 feet altitude. This bogey was a sphere that glowed in light ranging from white to red and back again, although the crew saw some tinge of yellow and green from time to time in their observations. The Captain next heard from the Jacksonville airfield that they, too, had seen the bogey. Between Tyndall and Panama City, Florida air traffic controllers sighted two more of the same type of aircraft. Captain Cook's bogey followed his plane nearly to Atlanta from there.

If you are a UFO or space exploration enthusiast, or are seeking a career in aerospace operations or manufacturing, then Tallahassee might be the place for your next move.

Tallahassee is set among rolling hills in the Florida Panhandle near what is called the Emerald Coast of Florida that includes Pensacola, one of my favorite places. The Gulf of Mexico is only 20 miles away from Tallahassee and the State of Georgia is just 12 miles in the opposite direction. Its county is Leon, named after Ponce de Leon in 1824. The Apalachee Nation lived here until the early 1500s without Euopean knowledge until the Spanish ventured into the area about 1528. The city proclaims that first Christmas on future American soil was celebrated in Tallahassee by Hernando de Soto in 1539. The natives called the place full of old fields. Tallahassee is a derivation of their words for such.

The Apalachicola National Forest, which you can see on the map above, is quite close and offers a variety of wildlife and native plants to observe. If you happen to be tired of Midwestern heat waves, the highs in Tallahassee range in average from about mid 60s to about 91, with lows in the 40s to about 71.

One other of the wonderful places to visit and relax here is Maclay Gardens State Park. Here, this area of the state shows off its trees: the Live Oak (often grows out over the roadway to make a shady canopy), the Flowering Dogwood, the Hawthorn, the Horsesugar, the Magnolia, and the Silverbelle.

Aviation and Aerospace related occupations are listed in job postings in and around Tallahassee by the following companies:

US Navy, US Air Force, JAG (covers space law), PDS Technical Services, CMS Professional Staffing, AEC Hunt, Inc. - Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Technical Recruiting Solutions, Pdstech, L-3 Communications, Kelly Engineering, Deutsch, CIA, and American Labor.

>>Major Aerospace Industry leaders in the Tallahassee Area:

• Lockheed Martin Corporation: 2139 Maryland Circle, Tallahassee
• Florida Aviation and Aerospace; 325 John Knox Rd, Tallahassee
• General Dynamics: 2930 Commonwealth Blvd., Tallahassee
• Martindale.com - Aviation and Aerospace Attorneys

In addition, Florida's Great Northwest organization points out that the Florida Panhandle is home to 16 military bases and over 70,000 individuals already employed in Aerospace and Defense. Research and dsevelopment and several support industries are increasing in production and employment as Aviation and Aerospace increase. Biometrics and robotics are only two examples. At least 250 companies in the panhandle related to aerospace are growing.

Federal grants have been awarded on the panhandle to further develop air parks, space ports, and related training facilities. One part of the industry that the public may forget is that commercial passengers themselves will require training to make any space flight.

A number of licensed Healthcare jobs are listed by the following employers:

HCA, US Air Force (Optometrists and Public Health Officers, specifically), Swedish Medical Center, All About Staffing, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, HealthSouth, Countrywide Therapy, Search One, US Navy, Halcyon Rehabilitation, Army National Guard, Amedisys.

Retail and Food Managers and Event Specialists are needed also by several companies.

1. Physicians
2. Occupational Therapists
3. Sales Consultants
4. Archeological Technicians
5. Biological Science Technicians (Wildlife)
6. Forestry Technicians (Wilderness)
7. Biological Science Technicians (Fisheries)
8. Regitered Nurses (RNs)
9. Retail Store Managers
10. Range Technicians (Agriculture)

Leading Employers:

State of Florida, United States Department of Agriculture, Deloitte, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Lakeview Hospital, Enterprise Medical Services, HCA Healthcare

• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
• The Florida State University - One of America's elite research universities, Florida State University — with the Carnegie Foundation's highest designation, Doctoral/Research University-Extensive — offers a distinctive academic environment.
• ITT Florida College in Tallahassee - If you're looking for a Tallahassee college, ITT Tech has several Florida Campuses.
• Keiser University - Keiser University has achieved new heights among Florida colleges with a wide rvrange of programs and degrees. Tallahassee and numerous locations across Florida.
• Welcome to LivelyTech.com
• TCC: Associate Degrees and Career Education Training - Earn an Associate's Degree in Tallahassee at Tallahassee Community College. They have a variety of programs that includes IT - computer programming & technology.

The City of Tallahassee city offers a menu of Senior Services to people ages 55 and older. These includes the following list and many others:

• Fine Arts
• Active Living Events
• Lifelong Learning
• Writing Awards
• Tennis
• Technology Training
• Photography
• Special Events
• Senior Center and Community Centers