A Field Guide to Critical Thinking

In a Field Guide to Critical Thinking by James Lett, he has come up with a scientific method for being a skeptic. He calls it "FiLCHeRS", it has six parts to it including, Falsifiability- meaning you must be able to prove it, Logic- The argument or discussion must make sense, Comprehensiveness- All evidence must be examined to the pro and con of the question, Honesty- The evidence must be looked at with out self deception, Replicability- Any claim must be able to be repeated, and finally, Sufficiency- All evidence must be adequate, he also gives three stipulations, 1. Burden of proof rests upon claimant, 2. extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, 3. evidence from authority or testimony is inadequate.
The part that bothers me the most is the stipulation regarding evidence from authority and or testimony. He makes a statement, "Evidence based upon authority and or testimony is always inadequate for any paranormal claim." This goes against everything our society is about. It goes against our legal system. Testimony from an authority of something, or testimony from an eyewitness is invaluable. If we can send someone to prison or to death based on an eyewitness's report or an authority at something, how could it not be an adequate amount of evidence for something scientific. If someone has actual knowledge about an event or situation we must give validation to this. If the person has proven to be untrustworthy then of course his or her testimony would not be accepted without investigation. These are basic right to all of us and they should be acceptable in the science world.