Brian Terrell with the Nevada Desert Experience speaks to officers at the Nevada National Security Site security line joined by others during a sacred peace walk concluding there on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Members of the Nevada Desert Experience conclude their sacred peace walk at the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Beth Blattenberger, center, stands beside officers awaiting a citation after trespassing onto the Nevada National Security Site joined by other members of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk at the entry on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Chris Pinney from Walla Walla, Wash., holds a peace flag beside the security line at the entry of the Nevada National Security Site joined by members of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk ending there on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Members of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk make their way down to the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Jeremiah Jones with the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes speaks to officers at the Nevada National Security Site security line as members of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk gather there on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A painted tunnel beneath SR 95 as the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk continues to the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Beth Blattenberger, center, trespasses as she crosses the security line toward officers as members of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk gather at the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Participants including Brother Mark Schroeder, a Franciscan friar, join the Nevada Desert Experience for their "14 Nuclear Stations of the Cross" service during their sacred peace walk to the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Brian Terrell with the Nevada Desert Experience confers with Nye County Sheriff’s Officer John Powell as they prepare for the sacred peace walk to the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Donna Eyestone of Alameda, Calif., drums and chants at the entrance of the Nevada National Security Site as part of the Nevada Desert Experience sacred peace walk on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Road signs are in place as members of the Nevada Desert Experience continue their sacred peace walk to the entry of the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, March 29, 2024, in Mercury. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Nevada Desert Experience Sacred Peace Walk marchers have finished their annual prayers for peace and trek from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Test Site.
Some tough winter conditions greeted marchers during the week. About 30 marchers took part on the final day, Good Friday.
Starting on Palm Sunday, walkers gathered at the Atomic Museum and walked to the NNSS in-town facilities.
“Passing through the Strip with flags and signs, folks handed out literature and talked about nuclear weapons to anyone curious along the way,” marcher Theo Kayser wrote on his blog.
Good Friday morning, marchers drove to see Yucca Mountain “where the U.S. government has long schemed to store nuclear waste before returning to the test site for an anti-war Stations of the Cross led by the Las Vegas Catholic Worker,” stated the blog.
Marchers made their way to the Test Site and set up camp across the highway at “Peace Camp ” where over the years, thousands of anti-nuclear protesters have camped.
Walkers held signs outside of Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs during shift changes for a couple of hours before a couple of peace walkers chose to block the driveway and get arrested. They were taken into the Las Vegas jail before being cited and released.
Johnny Bob of the Western Shoshone led a procession to the gate of the test site where a handful of peace walkers trespassed onto the site and were cited and given court dates by Nye County Sheriff’s Office deputies.