Biography
Thornton Kimes protested at Montana Minuteman missile silo R-29 on August 24, 1985, cutting through the security fence to make a peace witness atop the silo. The January 1986 issue publishes his prison poem headed Duluth Federal Prison Camp, New Year’s Eve 1985/1986, and separately lists him as currently imprisoned at that camp. These personally attributed and dated reports establish actual multi-night political-protest imprisonment, not merely the six-month imposed sentence. The caption prints Thorton while the poem and directory print Thornton; this internal variant is preserved in the source notes, not assigned as a new alias. Exact arrest, first prison-admission and physical-release days are unprinted. The February 12 projected endpoint is not recorded as actual release.
Contemporary source and limits
Thornton Kimes protested at Montana Minuteman missile silo R-29 on August 24, 1985, cutting through the security fence to make a peace witness atop the silo. The January 1986 issue publishes his prison poem headed Duluth Federal Prison Camp, New Year’s Eve 1985/1986, and separately lists him as currently imprisoned at that camp. These personally attributed and dated reports establish actual multi-night political-protest imprisonment, not merely the six-month imposed sentence. The caption prints Thorton while the poem and directory print Thornton; this internal variant is preserved in the source notes, not assigned as a new alias. Exact arrest, first prison-admission and physical-release days are unprinted. The February 12 projected endpoint is not recorded as actual release.
The Nuclear Resister No. 37, January 20, 1986, original PDF pages [4, 6].
Only individually documented actual political-protest imprisonment is recorded. Unknown physical endpoints, demographic attributes, vital dates, unverified name expansions and present custody status are not guessed.
Earlier direct admission and sentencing evidence
An earlier contemporary report now supplies physical custody dates absent from the January 1986 poem and directory: Thornton Kimes was arrested August 24, 1985 after entering Montana missile silo Romeo-29. The October 24 report expressly says the October 21 sentence credited time served since that arrest, confirming the initial jail admission on August 24. Kimes had changed his plea to guilty to trespass and destruction of government property; Judge Paul Hatfield imposed three years, all but 180 days suspended, plus restitution. Transfer to federal prison was only expected when this earlier issue was printed. These are refinements of the same 1985 case already recorded, not a second imprisonment or an assertion that he actually completed 180 days. No final physical release is supplied; the later February 12 forecast remains unverified.
The Nuclear Resister No.35, October 24, 1985, original PDF page5 / printed4.
