Olympic Project Founder, Derek Randles Backs Up Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum In The Sierra Kills: Battle For The Truth [Bigfoot DNA]

Ranger Robert Leiterman, Derek Randles, Clifford Barackman, Brandon Kiel, Bart Cutino, James Fay

If you've just tuned in, it's been a busy 48 hours in the world of Bigfoot. Here's a quick recap of what's been going on between Robert Lindsay and Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum:

[Posted: 1/25/2012 09:18:00 AM]
Robert Lindsay posted an article and quoted renowned Bigfoot researcher Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum in a purported videotape saying: "This is it. This is what I’ve been looking for all of these years." The quote was in the context of examining a piece of Bigfoot "steak."

[Posted: 1/26/2012 10:30:00 AM]
Dr. Jeff Meldrum heard about Lindsay's article and decided to address it on his Facebook page. His message was clear: "Yesterday, Robert Lindsay posted an item reporting on events associated with the alleged shooting in the Sierras by Justin Smeja. It was in turn picked up by other blogs and several individuals contacted me directly asking for confirmation. The piece is riddled with errors and false insinuations, to say the least. I am very disappointed in the caliber of the journalism."

[Posted: 1/26/2012 01:48:00 PM]
Robert Lindsay came out with a rebuttal claiming his sources are telling the truth and he's sticking to his guns: "We continue to stick by our story as it currently exists on the site. This is a version that Dr. Meldrum has many virulent objections to. I have talked this over with my sources, one of whom was there at the time and the other who heard about it secondhand. They say that they are telling the truth and that Meldrum is not being truthful, to put it charitably. Further, much of this scenario was videotaped, and the video may still be available. That is, Meldrum is apparently on tape examining the sample, remarking on its positive qualities, and saying things along the lines of this is what we've been looking for all this time. So perhaps that video can be played one day?"

This latest message came from Derek Randles, head of the Olympic Project and Justin Smeja's boss. Randles claims to have the entire event on video and says he has proof that Meldrum has never uttered the words: "This is what we're looking for."

I'd like to clear a few things up for whom it may concern. I was there on site on the Sierra trip. As a matter of fact I organized the effort. Dr. Meldrum is being 100% truthful with everything he has stated. When the sample was first smelled by John M, he did at first get a little excited because he thought it smelled very similar to another sample he'd smelled in the past. Never did Jeff say, (this is what we're looking for). As a matter of fact Jeff never got excited about the sample. It was interesting to him, but when the initial examination was done, he had no conclusion. He said his gut reaction was 50/50 or less. I know this because I was standing there. So was Bart Catino and James bobo Fay. Paul Graves was also there. And I have the entire event on video.

As far as the cadaver dog is concerned, it did show up with Jeff and John and its handler. We were not instructed to stay out of the area until the dog arrived because the original dog plan had fallen through, and Jeff had been working on a back up plan with a local handler, but it was not guaranteed. We did not know that the dog was for sure until it showed up. If we knew the dog was a for sure thing we would have left the area alone. Another problem was we had very limited time, and the entire area needed to be searched. The other thing to consider is the dog probably wouldn't have worked anyways. That dog was trained to search for human remains. No idea if it would have worked with Sasquatch. Also, you can't just give a trained cadaver dog a piece of flesh and expect that to work. It simply doesn't work that way. You can ruin a trained dog that way.

Finally, the reason I invited Jeff and John. I worked with Dr Meldrum for five years with the North American Ape Project. I have massive respect for this man. He has risked his career, and made many many sacrifices along the way helping out us researchers, going out on a very lonely limb because he knew that there was just too much evidence to ignore. I will be forever grateful for his diligence in the face of every kind of skepticism. I felt he above all deserved to be there. I invited John because I believe that he's a fantastic biologist, and he also deserved to be there. Both of these gentlemen are two of the most honest people I've ever met, and I consider myself very lucky to be fortunate enough to work with them and call them my friends.

Sincerely,
Derek Randles
www.olympicproject.com