ICCRA Member Profile: Dr. Charles Lietzau (Chuck)
ICCRA Founding Member & Board Member

Chuck received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, in 1984. Although his major and minor are listed as "Zoology," and "Cell Physiology," he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in a full range of other courses from Botany to Human Physiology, and as a "Graduate Assistant Curator" in the Natural Science Museum. Chuck has recently retired from the Detroit Public Schools where he taught High School Biology, Chemistry, and Science at Pershing and Mumford High Schools for several decades and in private school. During that time, Chuck also served assignments as an "Adjunct Assistant Professor" at Wayne County Community College, Madonna College, (later University), and Wayne State University. During the summers in the 90's, Chuck taught a number of graduate field courses for WSU at the Kresge Environmental Education Center at Fish Lake, Lapeer, Michigan. These included courses involving plant identification and the application of statistical procedures to field sampling and ecological experiments evaluating feeding damage on plants. It was during this time that Chuck formed a working relationship with Crop Circle Research Pioneer, W. C. Levengood who personally taught him the node-length measurement and statistical analysis techniques which now provide the scientific authorization for the refined L-NEAT process. Along with other members of the ICCRA, Chuck still maintains a professional and personal relationship with "Lefty." Quite coincidentally, since the facilities were also shared by Eastern Michigan University, there were times when both Chuck and Jeff Wilson taught at Fish Lake on alternate days without encountering each other. Their formal association did not come about until 6 years later!

His interests and avocations span a wide range, however a perspective based upon the strict application of the Scientific Method has always been a constant as well as his basic teaching rationale. Despite his lifelong interest in "pursuing the scientific method into the unknown," Chuck's field investigations were stimulated by the time he spent "under house arrest" while working on his dissertation as a Graduate TA at WSU's earlier summer field station at Watersmeet, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. While in charge of a dozen students on a campus of 1,000 acres of wilderness adjoining a tavern, (the legal drinking age was 18 years at the time), Chuck was forbidden to drive to the nearby town and "waste" his time investigating the Watersmeet-Paulding, U.P. Mystery Light. After being awarded his Ph.D. degree, Chuck and his wife returned to the remote northern location the following summer to discover the source of the "Mystery Light." Not wishing to interfere with a local attraction that garnered nationwide publicity for the "U.P.", their exploits were dramatized in a series of popular columns in the Blue Water Legal News, by a friend. The actual results of the investigation have only been shared privately with other researchers for scientific purposes.

This led to Chuck's becoming a lifetime member of the Michigan Metaphysical Society, and completing several year's worth of "Psychic Development" classes. The numerous professional Psychics and students were willing to allow him to be a participating student and scientific observer, even going so far as to make themselves available for controlled experiments. The results have been somewhat "eye-opening" to say the least, and many have still made themselves available for experimentation. Chuck rejoined the Martial Art of Tang Soo Do/ Tai Kwon Do that he had studied in College under pioneering "Master" Sang Kyu Shim, of South Korea. He particularly concentrated on brick-breaking techniques to gain insight into the "force" known variously as "Ki," "Chi," and other names with equally interesting results.

Chuck is also a Consultant for the International MUFON and the state MIMUFON chapter, being fortunate enough to have lived through the events that branded Michigan as the "Swamp Gas State." It was through a mutual friend, Todd LeMire that Jeff attended Chuck's presentation at MIMUFON of his results from the Fremont Township/Hemlock MI corn circles of '02, and finally met to immediately forge a working relationship. Once again, both Chuck and Jeff had independently investigated this formation but only knew about each other through the local farmers with whom we were both working. Finally, thanks to Levengood's work, a "paranormal" phenomenon could be scientifically analyzed with conclusive results. As confirmed through e-mail by Dr. Richard Hawkins, the authentic Fremont twp formation also turned out to be the first reported U.S. formation demonstrating a diatonic ratio, the letter "F!" It wasn't long before our video consultation with Steve Moreno and Rueben Uriarte on the Solano, CA formation which was quickly followed by the historic Mayville/Kekoskee WS, formation, the first complex geometric "circle" witnessed during its formation where Roger and he also met that the seeds for the ICCRA were planted.

Chuck is also the current President of the "Renaissance Story League," which has performed at many venues in the Michigan area. "People often do not recognize the true drama of the events they experience until it is recounted in story form." One of his most memorable occasions involves being "interrogated" by the "FBI" while telling stories about the local UFO and Bigfoot history at the (one-eyed) Turkey Vulture Festival, sponsored by the "Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club" in Hell, Michigan.

While pursuing his various investigations, Chuck is always guided by the principle, "the data is the only authority." Chuck also enjoys the warm receptions given to serious investigators by the local residents. When he remarked about how satisfying it was that he could travel a hundred miles to a new place and be welcomed like family, one farming couple responded, "That's the way it is when you treat people with respect."

" The data is the only authority."

Crop Circle Research Articles by Charles Lietzau:

"Scientifically Determining the Authenticity of a Crop Formation Through the Use of the L-NEAT Process", Swirled News, October 28, 2002

This report represents Chuck's first field-directed formalization of W. C. Levengood's historic procedures. Its purpose was to empower serious scientific investigators with the ability to make conclusive "field" determinations of the authenticity of a formation in "real time" while it was still accessible. Therefore, it stresses the only universal criterion which consists of statistically significant node elongation. As a result of intense field work with the ICCRA, refinements in the pre-analysis selection of specimens and the post analysis comparison of sample sets have been made to eliminate possible sources of criticism. Under the new guidelines to be posted shortly, the dramatic enlargement associated with nodes bent beyond 10 degrees, as featured in the illustration, are no longer considered eligible for use in the statistical calculations.