TITLE:  GROOM LAKE GURU WILL FIGHT COURT'S JUDGMENT

PUBLICATION:  Las Vegas Sun

DATE:  March 9, 1995

AUTHOR:  Steve Sebelius

For Groom Lake secret base gadfly Glenn Campbell, wrangling with 
the law atop Freedom Ridge has turned to wrangling in Nevada 
courts on an obstruction-of-justice charge.

Campbell, who locked the doors of a news crew's truck July 19 to 
prevent a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy from seizing footage 
shot on the hill overlooking the Air Force's secret test facility, 
has vowed to appeal his Friday conviction to District Court in 
Ely.

He said the punishment imposed by Ely Justice of the Peace Ronald 
Niman -- a $315 fine and five days of community service -- is not 
so much the issue as the seizure of the tapes.

"Effectively, what has happened is that the Air Force, when a news 
crew is covering the story out there... can call the sheriff's 
department and seize the film, thereby suppressing the story," 
said Campbell.

Campbell had agreed to accompany a news crew from a Los Angeles 
NBC station to the hill overlooking the base, but had warned them 
that government secrecy rules prohibit photographing the base.

The crew interviewed Campbell on the ridge, but the photographer 
had his back to the base so as not to violate the rules.  However, 
private security guards who patrol the perimeter of the base 
called Lincoln County deputies to investigate.

When a deputy came to the base [of Freedom Ridge], the crew 
photographed him as well, and he insisted on seizing the tapes 
because the crew had allegedly pointed their cameras at the base's 
border.

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