Anti-nuclear rally held at test site
MERCURY — Martin Sheen was among a group of peace activists cited during an anti-nuclear protest Sunday at the Nevada Test Site, authorities said.
Dozens of people took part in the rally sponsored by the Nevada Desert Experience outside the test site, 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Organizers estimated the crowd size at 150, but Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo put the figure at about 75.
"We are asking for nuclear disarmament and peace," organizer Ming Lai said. "We are asking for the Nevada Test Site to stop doing the testing they’re doing. The only reason they’re doing it is to make bombs."
Sheen was among 39 protesters released after being cited by sheriff’s deputies for crossing onto test site property after the rally, test site spokesman Darwin Morgan said.
Calls to Sheen’s publicist and agent Sunday were not immediately returned.
Sheen, who spent seven seasons playing President Josiah Bartlet on the TV drama series "The West Wing," has received similar citations at the test site in the past.
Also cited was retired Army Col. Ann Wright, who resigned as a senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia in 2003 to protest the Iraq war.
Citations also were issued to Shoshone Nation leader Carrie Dann of Nevada and the Rev. Louis Vitale, a Roman Catholic priest from the San Francisco Bay Area.
The protest, which featured speeches and folk music, capped a weeklong march to the site from Las Vegas by demonstrators.
DeMeo said many protesters, including Sheen, complimented sheriff’s deputies for their handling of the citations, he said.
"They’re very respectful to us, and we’re that way to them," the sheriff said. "They get their point across, get the citations, and then they’re on their way."
The sprawling test site is where the federal government conducted above- and below-ground nuclear detonations from 1951 to 1992. It remains the site of non-nuclear government tests on radioactive materials.
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