[Supplement to "The Groom Lake Desert Rat," Sept. 3, 1994.]

TITLE:  SPECTATORS GATHER AROUND FOR PEEK AT SECRET AIR BASE

SUBTITLE:  'Groomstock' takes place to protest the Air Force's 
larger restriction zone keeping folks away.

PUBLICATION:  Las Vegas Review-Journal

DATE:  Aug. 29, 1994

AUTHOR:  Susan Greene

[Reproduced without permission.]

More than 60 campers gathered on a Lincoln County mountaintop this 
past weekend for a typical tent-fumbling, fire building, weenie 
roasting kind of campout.

Except for a few minor details.

Like the view 12 miles to the west of a secret air base that 
doesn't officially exist.  And the camouflaged security police 
monitoring the group from nearby ridges with high-tech telescopes 
and night vision cameras.  There were also signs, just 1,000 feet 
from the campsite, warning "use of deadly force authorized" should 
one of the campers have accidentally wandered across the base's 
border while searching for some firewood.

Faced with such obstacles, where else but on a ridge overlooking 
the military's secret Groom Lake, Area 51, or "Dreamland" testing 
facility would aviation buffs, government watchdogs, alien 
abductees, conspiracy theorists, filmmakers, reporters, marijuana-
smoking slackers, card-carrying anarchists, socialists and 
libertarians, a Lincoln County commissioner and a conch-blowing 
religious zealot and his second cousin so peacefully come together 
on a craggy peak for a weekend in the great outdoors?

"Only on Freedom Ridge," said Groom Lake gadfly Glenn Campbell of 
the public high ground he christened two years ago that offers the 
best vantage point of the secret base.

Campbell, the author of "The Area 51 Visitor's Guide" and 
publisher of "The Groom Lake Desert Rat" newsletter, organized the 
weekend-long "Groomstock" as a protest and last hurrah before the 
Air Force extends the base's restricted zone by 3972 acres to 
prevent gawkers like himself from stealing glimpses of its seven 
mile runway and haze of buildings and hangars.

Last September, Air Force officials filed to withdraw Freedom 
Ridge and nearby White Sides Mountain from public lands, citing a 
need to protect the safe and secure operation of the 3.5 million 
acre Nellis Air Force Range complex.  The range includes the 
secret base, which the federal government has never acknowledged 
exists.

A decision by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on whether to lock 
up the additional land is at least six months away, Bureau of Land 
Management officials said Friday.

During this weekend's campout, opinions about the withdrawal 
varied as much as reasons that led campers to the mountain ridge 
in the first place.

A few who believe the military uses the secret base to hide alien 
spacecraft or conduct genetic tests on abducted children opposed 
the withdrawal on grounds that it would keep them from monitoring 
clandestine activities.

For most, however, viewing the base is less important than 
answering questions about it.  Although Campbell and his minions 
have resigned themselves to the likelihood of the withdrawal, they 
question the government's need for absolute secrecy in this post 
Cold War era.

"If they would just act like responsible adults and fess up to 
what they're doing out there, that would satisfy most of the 
curiosity," said Tom Mahood, a civil engineer from Irvine, Calif.  
"The military doesn't have to treat civilians like we're the 
enemy, especially when it's our tax dollars paying for it."

Originally built in the early 1950's to test the Lockheed U-2, the 
Groom Lake base has been used to test high-altitude, high-speed 
spy planes and other military aircraft, including the F-117A 
Stealth fighter, according to aviation industry sources and 
witnesses who have observed the installation.

The base has sparked particular controversy this year, including 
two citizen action lawsuits filed earlier this month on behalf of 
workers who allegedly suffered from illegal and unregulated open-
air burning of toxic materials.  Also in three incidents since 
March, Lincoln County sheriff's deputies have detained news crews 
suspected of illegally filming the installation.

In snubs to base officials, the campers directed phony cameras at 
the base, organized a stadium-style wave for the military police 
observing them from opposite ridges and posted signs along the 
road to Freedom Ridge where guards placed covert road sensors.

Then, on Saturday evening, when the sun went down and their 
protests were over, the campers kicked back around the campfire to 
toast marshmallows, gab about "black world" spy planes and UFO 
abductions and gaze into the clear night sky, transfixed, 
searching for a glimpse of something, anything inexplicable.

[End of text]

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

#1:  A woman who did not want to be identified looks at the secret 
Groom Lake base through a telescope.  The Air Force is extending 
the base's restricted zone to prevent gawkers from stealing 
glimpses of its 7-mile runway.

#2:  Glenn Campbell's camper has a special sign that indicates his 
interest in the secret base.  [Bumper sticker in photo says, "AREA 
51 VISITORS PERMIT."]  Camouflaged security police monitor the 
group from nearby.

#3:  A sign warns visitors that the area is not open to the 
public.

#4:  Glen Campbell aims his phony camera at the secret facility.  
Campbell, the publisher of "The Groom Lake Desert Rat" newsletter, 
organized the weekend-long "Groomstock."

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