Back in the beginning of September I brought up the story of the Sheahan family. They are (or rather, were) the owners of Groom Mine, located out in the Nevada desert. The family has held the property since the middle of the 19th century and it contains various pieces of mining equipment as well as the burial sites of several of their ancestors and workers who died in the mines back in the day. Unfortunately it’s also located within shouting distance of the top secret test site known as Area 51. (Or it would be, anyway, if Area 51 existed, which the government still pretty much denies to this day.)

The military made an offer of over five million dollars to buy the Sheahans out but they turned it down, saying that not only were they not interested in selling but that the land was worth far more because of the minerals left to be mined. Now eminent domain has been invoked and a judge has taken away the mine from the family. (Las Vegas Now)

Private land overlooking the secret base at Area 51 has officially been taken from the owners and transferred to the United States Air Force.

Last month, the U.S. Air Force condemned the Groom Mine property when the family who owns it rejected a government buyout they felt was unjust…

Now — literally with the stroke of a pen — a federal judge has turned the land over to the U.S. Air Force. The only part of the fight left for the Sheahan family now is compensation and what will happen to the equipment, buildings, even human remains, still at the site.

The family will get a jury trial, but it’s not going to give them their land back. It will only come up with a “fair” price to pay them for the land and it might not even wind up being as much as the five million they were already offered.

Part of me really wants to sympathize with the Sheahans. They’ve been there since before Nevada was even a state and lived through numerous strafing runs by experimental aircraft and clouds of radioactive dust settling on them after above ground nuclear blasts in the fifties. They also get some sympathy just for standing up to Uncle Sam and trying to hold on to their heritage.

But at the same time, this may be one of these rare cases where eminent domain is justified. It’s hard to argue that the land doesn’t fall under the category of public use if the military is using it for a test bombing site. (Perhaps not the most productive public use, but still…) Further, the land is no longer really useful since it’s hemmed in by restricted government property anyway. While it makes me sad to say it, they probably should have just taken the five million, relocated the graves and gotten out while the getting was good.

Of course, now we’re never going to get any good pictures of the alien bodies and the recovered UFOs.