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- From: psychospy@aol.com
- X-Mailer: America Online Mailer
- Sender: "psychospy" <psychospy@aol.com>
- Message-Id: <9404200923.tn75239@aol.com>
- Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 09:23:35 EDT
- Subject: ABC News Groom Lake Transcript
- Content-Type: text
- Content-Length: 4412
- Status: R
-
- [Supplement to the Groom Lake Desert Rat. Transcribed without
- permission.]
-
- REPORT ON GROOM LAKE
- ABC World News Tonight
- April 19, 1994
-
- Peter Jennings: Finally from us this evening, the road to
- Dreamland. And there really is such a place, though you are not
- supposed to know about it, and the U.S. Air Force is unhappy with
- us because we're going to tell you about it. The Dreamland we are
- talking about is actually an Air Force base in Nevada. The
- Russians know about it, so why not you? ABC's Jimmy Walker has
- the results of an ABC News investigation....
-
- Jimmy Walker: We are one hundred miles from Las Vegas driving
- across the Nevada desert on public land. There is more here than
- meets the eye. A few feet off the dirt road, an electronic sensor
- is hidden in the sagebrush.
-
- Glenn Campbell: [Radio static in background.] The base control
- has relayed to the patrols that someone has crossed one of their
- sensors. That's us.
-
- Walker: So they now know...
-
- Campbell: They know we're here. They'll be here in about ten
- minutes.
-
- Walker: Sure enough, minutes later, a white Jeep goes by.
- Someone is very interested in who visits this particular piece of
- scrub. That someone is the U.S. Air Force. A helicopter flies
- out to investigate us. It comes from Groom Lake, one of the most
- closely guarded military facilities in the country.
-
- The secret air base which some people call Dreamland or others
- Watertown or still others Area 51 is located about twelve miles
- over in that direction. It's clearly visible but the government
- won't acknowledge that it even exists. And to photograph it would
- violate the Espionage Act.
-
- Military historians say the U-2 spy plane was tested at Groom
- Lake. More recently, the Stealth fighter. But the base does not
- appear on any map, and for the record, the Pentagon will only say
- that Groom Lake is part of the vast Nellis Range complex.
-
- Enter Glenn Campbell and Peter Merlin, members of a group that
- believes the Air Force has too many secrets and not enough
- accountability. Armed with lawn chairs and binoculars, they set
- up shop on public land overlooking the air base. And they're
- driving the Air Force crazy.
-
- Peter Merlin: There's some large hangers. One is quite enormous.
- And a control tower....
-
- Walker: As a result of the prying eyes, the Air Force is trying
- to expropriate this hilltop and an adjoining one to add to the
- 4700 square miles it already controls, saying it's needed for
- safety reasons.
-
- Campbell: There was the suggestion that people sitting on this
- ridge like we are doing might be hit by aircraft.
-
- Walker: The pending land grab has turned the hilltops into a
- tourist attraction, drawing even more attention to the base. Last
- month at a federal hearing in Las Vegas, officials got an earful.
-
- Angry Citizen at Hearing: The place is big enough already. How
- much expansion do they need? That place is safe. It's stupid.
-
- Another Citizen at Hearing: There have already been allegations
- that environmental crimes have been committed there. Now you're
- asking for 4000 more acres to hide behind.
-
- Walker: What's more, buy this model plane kit [Testor's "Thunder
- Dart"] and you get with it [on the] directions this 1988
- photograph of the base taken by a Soviet satellite. The pentagon
- says it's okay to show you this picture.
-
- Campbell: The only people this base is being kept secret from are
- the American people, the people who pay for it.
-
- Walker: Our story took an unexpected turn as we prepared to
- leave. We spotted a Sheriff's car heading our way.
-
- Deputy (at driver's window): We're investigating the possibility
- of a criminal offense.
-
- Walker: And what would that criminal offense be?
-
- Deputy: Sir, may I see your driver's license, please.
-
- Walker: They believed we were photographing the facility. They
- were wrong. We were detained, questioned and searched. Our
- camera, audio equipment and some video tapes were confiscated.
- The Air Force held the gear for five days before returning it. No
- charges were filed against us.
-
- And every work day, a fleet of privately owned unmarked airliners
- shuttle more than 1500 workers from Las Vegas to the base that
- doesn't exist.
-
- Campbell (looking through binoculars): Yup, secret base out
- there. Sure enough. Same secret base as yesterday.
-
- Walker: James Walker, ABC News, Lincoln County, Nevada.
-
- #####
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