Biography
John Amidon is a Marine Corps veteran and longtime Albany, New York peace organizer. He has served as president of Veterans for Peace’s Tom Paine Chapter 10 and has organized against drone warfare, nuclear weapons, torture, and military recruitment in schools. On April 1, 2026, police arrested, cited, and released him within an hour during a roadway blockade at Creech Air Force Base.
Portrait source: John Amidon photographed in Albany on April 23, 2012 by Paul Buckowski / Times Union. The source caption names him and identifies his Veterans for Peace role. Source credited; no open-license claim is made.
Custody record
Amidon’s firsthand Friends Journal account describes arrest, handcuffing and station transfer during the December 23, 2016 Hancock Field Nativity protest. Contemporary Times Union reporting also places him in Onondaga County jail. The exact release date and time served remain unconfirmed.
The Nuclear Resister individually names John Amidon among three people arrested after crossing onto the Nevada National Security Site on October 16, 2022 during Nevada Desert Experience’s Justice For Our Desert action. Brian Terrell and John Amidon were cited for trespass. Terrell’s later first-person account identifies their April 10, 2023 pretrial hearing in Beatty Justice Court before Judge Gus Sullivan, with Deputy District Attorney John Friel. The judge denied consolidation and the requested jury trial; separate July 10 bench trials were still prospective. No completed trial outcome, imposed sentence, jail admission or measured confinement duration is established by these reports.
Contemporary October arrest report; Terrell’s pretrial-hearing account.
The report describes the April 10, 2023 pretrial hearing and states that John Amidon and his co-defendant pleaded not guilty in the cases arising from their October 16, 2022 arrests. This records their initial plea, not a later trial outcome.
The Nuclear Resister’s March 27, 2013 report names John Amidon among eight people arrested during an anti-drone die-in that blocked traffic at Creech Air Force Base that day. The participants were charged with disturbing the peace and released with a future June court date. The report does not establish this person’s exact release day, jail admission, later verdict or custody duration. Contemporary report.
Nevada Desert Experience’s March 30, 2013 report individually names John Amidon among twenty people arrested at the Nevada National Security Site entrance on March 29 after the Sacred Peace Walk and a yoga peace dance. It does not state this person’s charge, jail admission or actual release day. The five-day walk is not a five-day custody term, and the earlier Creech arrests are a separate event. The roster identifies John Paz Amidon of Albany, New York, matching the existing Albany peace organizer already documented in the same week’s March 27 Creech event. The Nuclear Resister, March 30, 2013.
The contemporary April 2019 compilation individually names John Amidon among the eight people taken to Pahrump Jail after the April 19 Nevada National Security Site action, rather than merely receiving a warning and release at the site. It documents his release on bail on Saturday night, April 20. His own accompanying account describes transport to jail in restraints. The accompanying participant account identifies the six non-nuisance citations as attempted trespass not amounting to burglary. No later custody endpoint or completed served-day total is inferred.
The contemporary report individually names this participant among those arrested at Hancock Air Base on April 28, 2013 after the anti-drone funeral procession. Its follow-up specifically places this person among the ten appearance-ticket recipients, separately from the twenty-one people listed as arraigned that Sunday. Contemporary source.
The contemporary Good Friday 2012 report individually names this participant among ten people arrested by Nye County sheriffs and security personnel after crossing the line at the Nevada National Security Site, at the conclusion of Nevada Desert Experience’s twenty-sixth Sacred PeaceWalk. Contemporary source.
The contemporary report names John Amidon, Ed Kinane, Jules Orkin and Bev Rice among those arrested at Hancock on December 23, 2016. Its update reports their later release with trespass, two disorderly-conduct counts and obstruction of governmental administration charges; it does not give a precise physical-release day. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The March 6, 2015 Creech Air Force Base report individually includes John Amidon in its named arrest roster. The compilation reports trespass and roadway-related allegations and describes citation-and-release processing, but one person held on an outstanding warrant is unnamed. Neither that warrant detention nor an overnight stay is allocated to this person. The differing reported aggregate totals are retained without inventing an additional identity or completed custody duration.
Sources: Contemporary report.
