Local drone protester arrested

Local peace activist Chris Nelson (pictured) was arrested Friday (March 6) for criminal trespassing at Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base while protesting the military’s expanding use of drones. Nelson said about 150 people, including 40 Veterans for Peace, briefly blocked both of the base’s gates, resulting in 34 arrests, including two juveniles from Shasta County. Nelson said she had arrived on Tuesday (March 3) to join the others who had gathered the weekend before.

“At night, bright lights were blasted at us so it was like day, helicopters flew over us, military folks squealed their tires, but I felt snug in the sub-freezing desert nights surrounded by the profoundly loving and thoughtful folks tenting near me and my dog,” she said.

Nelson was cited on federal trespassing charges in a similar protest at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville on Nov. 25.