OPPOSITION TO BILL #533
DESIGNATION OF NEVADA HIGHWAY 375
AS THE "EXTRATERRESTRIAL ALIEN HIGHWAY"

Presented to the Committee on Economic Development and Tourism
May 19, 1995


Dear Honorable Members of the Legislature:

I am a Rachel resident writing to voice my opposition to the 
proposed bill which would designate the highway through my town, 
State Route 375, the "Extraterrestrial Alien Highway."

I regret not being able to attend the hearing on this matter held 
on May 19, but Rachel is 150 miles from Las Vegas and twice that 
distance from Carson City, and prior commitments prevent me from 
making this journey.  In lieu of my presence, I hope that this 
letter can be read into the record.

I am the principal activist seeking greater government 
accountability at "Area 51," the secret military base 25 miles 
south of Rachel.  I have been living in Rachel for two and a half 
years, and I wrote the book, the "Area 51 Viewer's Guide," which 
helped bring this story to national prominence.  As far as I know, 
I was the first to refer to 375 as the "Alien Highway," mentioning 
it on the cover of my book.  As a self-appointed "public relations 
officer" for issues surrounding the secret base, I have hosted 
reporters from the New York Times, every major TV network, many 
worldwide magazines as well as our local Nevada press.

Before my arrival in Rachel, Area 51 was a "fringe" story 
dominated by conspiracy-oriented UFO buffs who made a lot of 
ridiculous claims.  I made the story palatable to the mainstream 
media by sticking to the facts and concentrating on government 
accountability and not UFOs themselves.

There are some UFO stories emanating from Area 51 and nearby areas 
that I do not dismiss.  I think some of the reports that the 
government has been working with alien hardware deserve serious 
attention.  However, I do dismiss most of the UFO sightings made 
by tourists along 375.  A circus of fantastic claims has emerged 
here, and this is distracting both for serious UFO research and to 
democratic accountability at the Groom Lake base.

In summary, these are my objections to the bill....

1) Only a single business in Lincoln County is in a position to 
benefit from this bill--the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel.  This 
establishment endorses all UFO claims as real and promotes the 
same extreme anti-Federal philosophy that lead to the Oklahoma 
City bombing.  The U.N., they say, has joined forces with a secret 
New World Order to first take away our guns and then enslave us, 
but the Inn has plenty of guns and is prepared to fight off the 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms when it comes.  It is not 
the role of the legislature to promote a single business like 
this, especially when its views are so inflammatory.  There are 
many people in Rachel who feel that the A'Le'Inn has already 
become too powerful and that their recent success has disrupted 
the balance of power in this tiny community.  This bill will give 
them still more economic power.

2) Since most tourists drive here from Las Vegas, they will find 
gas and lodging there and are unlikely to spend much money in the 
rest of Lincoln County.  These tourists show little interest in 
stopping before they get to Rachel and the "Black Mailbox."

3) Any "Alien Highway" signs erected on this remote highway would 
be irresistible to tourists and would be promptly stolen.

4) Highway 375 is adjacent to a highly sensitive and poorly marked 
military border.  Both the anonymous federal guards who patrol it 
and the local sheriff's department who handles the prisoners have 
shown no leniency toward tourists who accidentally wander across 
the unfenced line.  Trespassers are routinely made to lay face 
down in the dirt or to stand with their hands over their heads for 
up to two hours.  They are given the maximum fine and get no 
breaks from the local Justice of the Peace.  This bill and the 
publicity it creates would encourage just the sort of naive and 
ill-equipped tourist who would get lost and suffer such a fate.

5) Although this bill is sponsored by Assembly members, there is 
another citizen who feels that this is "his" bill.  The Ambassador 
Merlyn Merlin II of the Saucerian Embassy of Christ probably sits 
before you at this hearing.  Ambassador Merlin believes he is an 
extraterrestrial who has been sent to this planet to prepare us 
for the coming alien arrival.  While I cannot pass judgment on 
Merlin's claims, I can attest to the fact that he makes a very 
poor ambassador.  Merlin has no understanding of the privacy or 
private property of others.  He latches onto people who he 
believes are "chosen" and he won't leave them alone.  A number of 
people in Lincoln County and elsewhere in Nevada have felt that 
Merlin was stalking them.  Some people believe that Merlin is not 
an alien at all but that he is in fact a human with some profound 
personal problems.  If this true, than passage of this bill 
encourages him in this delusion.  He will forever be claiming that 
he pushed this bill through the legislature, and he will take it 
as proof of his legitimacy.

A couple of years ago, Merlin invited Secretary of State Cheryl 
Lau to a meeting in California.  Ms. Lau wrote Merlin a letter 
politely declining, but she made the mistake of addressing him by 
his chosen title of "Ambassador."  Since then, Merlin has been 
showing the letter to people as "proof" that the State of Nevada 
officially recognizes his ambassadorial status.  Passage of this 
bill, which he had been promoting, can only provide further 
affirmation and encourage his continued intrusive behavior.

6) Many serious environmental, fiscal and worker rights issues 
remain unresolved at the Groom Lake base, the existence of which 
the military still does not fully acknowledge.  The secret base 
has for years dumped toxins onto the land and into the air, and it 
has avoided payment of millions of dollars in county property 
taxes.  Institutionalizing a "lighthearted" approach to the area 
distracts from these issues and makes it much more difficult to 
have them taken seriously.

7) Serious UFO researchers also cringe at the lighthearted 
approach to their work.  They have been dogged for years by the 
"little green men" jokes, and this bill doesn't help things any.

8) The proposal cannot help but send the message to the public 
that they can see UFOs here, which I believe is false.  Most of 
the objects people are seeing in the sky now are flares and other 
manifestations of the frequent war games on the Nellis Range.  If 
there were UFOs here once, they certainly won't perform in this 
current well-publicized atmosphere.

9) The popular UFO viewing site that this bill will indirectly 
promote is the "Black Mailbox," a rancher's mailbox on 375.  
Because this is the only landmark on this lonely stretch of 
highway, this is where the "true believers" come to see whatever 
it is they expect.  Unfortunately, this is a private mailbox that 
has already been vandalized.  This single ranch family in the 
Tikaboo Valley, often harassed by watchers, will bear most of the 
burden of the increased tourist traffic, with no benefit to them.

10) This is a remote and potentially dangerous desert area that is 
not "visitor friendly."  It is a mistake to make it too easy for 
people to come here.  The visitors who come to this area now are 
fairly sophisticated:  They have to do some research at least to 
find out where this place is.  Giving the highway a friendly-
sounding name will inevitably attract the very naive kind of 
tourist, coming up for the day from Las Vegas, who has done no 
research and taken no precautions and is bound to get in trouble 
as a result.

In short, most of Lincoln County appears to be indifferent to this 
bill.  Only a single isolated business would significantly 
benefit, while serious research and activism will be hindered.  
Someday in the future, when the story here has "matured" and 
problems at the Groom Lake base have been resolved, this bill 
might be appropriate.  For now, though, I ask that you let it 
drop.

Sincerely,

Glenn Campbell