Roswell embraces past and turns a buck

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It's not just Roswell's business people who see dollar signs on space aliens. The city is accepting proposals for a builder-operator to run the UFO amusement park, a multi-million-dollar project that could open by 2010.

"We're still in the infancy of our UFO-related economic development," says Montgomery, the city planner. "Eventually, when people come to Roswell they're not going to have enough time to do everything they want to do. That's our goal."

Gene Frazier is banking on it, pointing to the tourism boom in Branson, Mo., a town of fewer than 10,000 residents that attracts 7.2 million visitors a year for country music.

He's also encouraged by the startup of daily flights this fall between Roswell and Dallas-Fort Worth. If tourists will drive 200 miles from Albuquerque, Frazier reasoned, imagine the boost from commuter jetliner service.

He scoffs at old-timers who complain about tourists and increased traffic. "They want this to stay a quiet old town because they've already got their bags of gold," he says.

"You shouldn't turn business away," he said.

Shuster has mixed feelings about this growth. She doesn't mind anyone making a living off the UFO phenomenon, and she's pleased to see souvenir shops filling otherwise vacant buildings, but Frazier's bare-knuckles approach grates on her.

She complains that his cost estimates keep rising, and she fears that Earth Station Roswell might never deliver on its promises, receding into the desert like a phantom spacecraft.

Mostly, you get the feeling that she yearns for the simpler days in Roswell, though she knows that there's no stuffing the alien back into the saucer.

"I always tell people I wish I was 40 pounds lighter and 20 years younger but that's not going to change," she says with a laugh.

Frazier agrees, and says businesses should give tourists what they want. And Montgomery points out gross receipts taxes from the UFO theme park alone could generate "tens of millions of dollars" for Roswell each year.

"Everyone's on a bandwagon," Shuster says. "The problem is that not everyone is sure they want to be along for the ride."

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