(NaturalNews) For decades, the U.S. government has maintained that "there's nothing to see" at its secretive Air Force base designated as "Area 51." Certainly not Martians or other creatures from outer space, as many have theorized.

And yet, for some reason, Uncle Sam seems to have something to hide out there in the Nevada desert — otherwise, how else are we to explain why the federal government literally just stole private land nearby?

As reported by Las Vegas Now, the private property that overlooks the secretive base has been officially expropriated by the federal government and handed over to the U.S. Air Force. In September, the U.S. Air Force condemned the Groom Mine property when the family that owned it rejected a government buyout offer they felt was a lowball figure. So for that injustice, the government just took the land instead.

The report continued:

"The Sheahan family, which until now owned the mine, knew they faced an uphill fight. They also expected the government would probably take the land through eminent domain even though the Sheahan's owned it since [the 1870s].

"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."

(And speaking of human remains, can you even imagine what would happen if some private citizen disrupted "human remains" interned at, say, the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., or other federally-protected site?)

Strafing aircraft, nuclear tests, government harassment

Las Vegas Now reports that the Groom Mine, located in a remote central Nevada site, was an "island" of privately owned property that was surrounded by a vast expanse of government-owned land. That buffer zone is constantly patrolled by security forces in order to prevent anyone — like taxpayers who fund whatever goes on there — from seeing a secret test base at Groom Lake, which is better known as Area 51.

The family that owned the mine overlooking Area 51 had long been feuding with the Air Force, which condemned the property after refusing a buyout offer of $5.2 million.

"I have a geologist friend who I took out there, who's just a buff, and he said it is literally almost priceless," Barbara Sheahan, Groom Mine heir, told the Las Vegas news site. "There is so much there, not only the ore which is in the ground that can be mined, but in all the intrinsic value of what's on the land."

Those contents include buildings, mining equipment and the remains of family kin who worked the mine since it was acquired in the 1870s. In addition, there is also the question of indignities the family has suffered from nearby government testing — including buildings strafed by military planes and radiation that drifted into the mining area following above-ground nuclear weapons tests in the 50s and 60s.

Nothing fair about this

"This has been, like I said, a 60-plus year nothing short of criminal activity on the part of the federal government, the AEC, Black Ops, CIA and you can go on and on," Joe Sheahan, Groom Mine heir, told Las Vegas Now.

Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du, a 2012 Obama appointee, signed the order September 16, granting possession of the Groom Mine property to the U.S. government. In response, the Sheahans have requested a jury trial, but the arguments will be limited to how much the Air Force will have to pay for the property and land, as well as the proper disposal of equipment and personal property left there.

"There's nothing fair, there's nothing anything remotely close to that involved in this process," Joe Sheahan said.

"But there never has been either, so it's nothing new. But we would like to change it at least to get our stuff out and be paid the value," Barbara Sheahan added.

Yes, nothing new when it comes to the criminality of a police state that has long abandoned any notion of considering the rights of its citizens.

Sources:

LasVegasNow.com

ReviewJournal.com

Telegraph.co.uk