Zoom Chron Blog

Remember when a woman’s body was found by a family looking for a Christmas tree? Whatever happened to that death investigation?

A woman’s body was found in the Gold Creek area by people looking for a Christmas tree on Thursday evening.

Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jeanette Smith says law enforcement responded to a report of a deceased person whose body was found in the area of Montana Highway 200 and Gold Creek.

The woman is believed to be in her late 30s to early 40s with a news release noting that the body — which could not be identified — was taken to the Missoula Medical Examiner’s Office.

An investigation into the body’s discovery is continuing.

Well, there was no evidence, we were told, of “foul play”, so case closed. Unfortunately not everyone believes local law enforcemen.

This dead woman was finally identified as Tyler Christine-Rosetta Arnold and I guess we’re expected to believe she died in the middle of the woods from natural causes.

Right?

The dead body found by hikers on the Kim Williams trail last November has NEVER been publicly identified by officials, but that didn’t stop commenters on Facebook. After 8 months of NOTHING from official sources, today I’m reporting the likelihood the dead man was Mike Condo, from Butte.

Back in April a media company sued Missoula County to get what they needed for their death stories. You see, True Crime is a popular and lucrative content market, which makes a mentally ill Native woman who killed her own children GREAT content for a media company like EWU Media LLC to exploit.

So, why is Missoula County being so stingy with their valuable death content? Does it really make sense to use “Confidential Criminal Justice Information” to hide behind?

A national media company known for producing true crime videos sued Missoula County for details on two graphic cases involving children, which the county has refused to share, citing privacy concerns.

EWU Media LLC, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, is seeking body camera footage and testimony related to a case of double homicide of children in 2021 and an infant who was left partially buried near Lolo Hot Springs in 2018.

While both cases have been closed, and therefore public under Montana law, Missoula County contends it must notify the families involved and have a judge release the data before sharing the graphic footage with the company.

“We believe we are subject to the fact that (the records) are confidential criminal justice files and we need that court order in order to release them,” Brian West, chief civil deputy county attorney, said in court.

Well, Mr. Brian West, you already have the Bureau of Land Management using details of this story to make their agency look good, and you also have this article from Oxygen True Crime. Considering how much of this story has already been publicly told, I find it very odd that Missoula County is fighting to keep additional details hidden from the public.

Why?

For the legal argument being made to publicly disclose what Missoula County has been sitting on, here’s civil attorney, Mike Meloy’s, take:

Montana first amendment attorney Mike Meloy is representing the group in the case. He told Larson that under the Montana Constitution’s right to know clause, all the records of the case should be released.

“Our position is that all of these records in the closed cases we requested are presumptively open,” Meloy said in court.

West said since the cases involve children, Missoula County argues there is a heightened level of privacy and seeks the family’s acknowledgement before releasing the files.

This morning, after TWO YEARS of zero information about Ross Robertson’s “police custody” death, details of his death will finally be examined by a Missoula County prosecutor in a purely performative (in my opinion) legal process known as the Coroner’s Inquest.

Last November I was interviewed by a Boston tv news station about dead people, specifically the ones murdered by Kevin Lino. This morning, when I went looking for that news segment, I found a New York Post article with my name in it instead. Interesting.

“It is a serial murder, but it’s not the kind of predatory killer that we generally think of when we talk about serial murder,” Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox told Boston 25.

Nevertheless, experts think the man whose face is covered in terrifying tattoos exhibits that “dark triad” of personality types — psychopathy, narcissism and manipulative Machiavellianism — often found in serial killers.

“I believe he is a very dangerous, dangerous individual. So, I think he is a serial killer for sure,” said Montana journalist Travis Mateer, who spent time with Lino as a homeless counselor in Missoula.

Mateer believes Lino is even responsible for the vanishing of another homeless man, Monte Swanson, who knew Lino in Missoula.

And prosecutors are also open to the idea that Lino might have more deaths on his hands.

“We continue to investigate that,” said Ryan. “We never give up on those cases. We don’t forget about them, and we stay open to other information.”

If local investigators in Missoula share this sentiment, I’ve compiled a list of my top ten suspicious deaths over the past 4 years. Here it is:

To wrap this post up, I’d like to highlight a new media effort that has popped up to tell death stories in Missoula, spearheaded by Jule Banville.

Jule Banville has spent more than a decade asking her journalism students at the University of Montana to do something a lot of reporters stopped doing years ago: pick up the phone and report an obituary. Not the kind families write themselves — which often consist of the bare-bones lists of survivors and accomplishments — but deeply reported features in the tradition of Jim Sheeler, the late Rocky Mountain News writer whose short profiles cut straight to what made a person human.

That classroom assignment has now grown into something much bigger. The Obit Project is a 12-episode podcast that tells stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. It’s co-hosted by Banville with Jad Abumrad, who founded the pioneering public radio podcast Radiolab. I love Abumrad (he created one of my favorite podcast portraits, Dolly Parton’s America), but I’m saving my breathlessness for Banville here, because the Obit Project idea comes from her long-running feature writing course at UM’s journalism school and her own expert background in audio storytelling.

Great idea, Jule Banville! And I’m sure you’ll get nothing but cooperation from our local authorities in telling these important death stories. I’m glad someone can make money and further their journalistic career telling these kind of narratives.

Thanks for reading!

After three years of dealing with Ryan Funke as Sheriff, Mineral County said NO THANK YOU and fired him on Tuesday from his Sheriff job. Since Ryan Funke and his opponent, Ben Banks, both identify as Republicans, the primary WAS the election and this was the result:

The article continues by describing how quickly Funke went litigious after taking over for Sheriff, Mike Toth. We will soon see this isn’t the first time Ryan Funke has used a lawsuit to get what he wants from a local government entity.

Before I get to the knife-wielding man with the literal street name “Demon”, let’s review how Ryan Funke sued the city of Polson after a deck at the Diamond Horseshoe Bar and Grill that he was partying on collapsed.

Plaintiff Ryan Funke, one of the 80 people injured, contended the city shared negligence because it was responsible for approving the deck’s construction and subsequent inspections.

Lawyers for the city argued it bore no responsibility for the collapse.

The city acknowledged that an anonymous caller telephoned the city’s building department about 14 hours before the collapse occurred, warning that the deck was not safe.

The caller gave no details, and the city said that without specific information, officials could not act on the anonymous tip, even if they would have had time to do so.

A jury awarded Funke nearly $684,000 in damages, apportioning 95 percent of the negligence to building owner Bert Shultz and 5 percent to the city.

This nice little payout for Funke must have given him a taste for aggressive litigation because, once elected to replace Mike Toth, Funke got to business going to legal war against the Mineral County Attorney’s Office on numerous fronts, starting with the Writ of Mandumus saga, and continuing with litigation aimed at stopping “Brady” disclosures.

Back in January, when Judge Vannatta ended the Mandamus charade, hearings continued to determine how much the lawyers would get paid. Lance Jasper, from the influential Jasper family in Mineral County, essentially bitched and moaned in his best legalese about what he was owed until someone started cutting him checks:

Vanetta ordered that Jasper be paid $62,215.36 beyond the $113,740 he received under the settlement terms. The judge said the fees were appropriate for Jasper’s continued monitoring and enforcement of the settlement terms. The fees included $5,000 for Jasper hiring an attorney to represent him when he was deposed by the county attorney in the case regarding whether the county attorney was required to turn over information regarding past allegations against Funke and Deputy Micah Allard. Vanetta had earlier decided that allegations against Allard regarding employment disputes with the former sheriff, which led to his firing, did not have to be disclosed to defendants.

Ongoing is the suit by Allard against the county commissioners, Attorney’s Office, and County Attorney Deb Jackson and her Deputy Wally Congdon, alleging the county’s refusal to rehire him as a deputy under Funke and for defaming him. Jackson and Congdon are sued individually, attempting to make them personally liable. The county disqualified Vanetta from the case, and it was assigned to Judge John Larson. Allard has moved to disqualify Larson.

This excerpt is confusing to me, and not just because the Mineral Independent author, Bruce Moats, can’t spell Vannatta’s name correctly. What’s confusing me is the report that Vannatta was “disqualified” from the subsequent Micah Allard case. Interesting.

Another interesting fact that might have relevance to the legal situation I’m in is the fact Judge Vannatta was, himself, running for reelection this cycle in the “non-partisan” judicial election in which he had no opponent.

When I wrote this post criticizing the signature-gathering effort to “keep the courts non-partisan” in Montana it’s because a covertly partisan judge, like Shane Vannatta, is a VERY DANGEROUS thing to behold.

Here’s a reminder of what Judge Vannatta was forced to do last fall in order to maintain the illusion of judicial integrity:

Missoula County District Court Judge Shane Vannatta recused himself from hearing a lawsuit over a bill that says there are only two sexes, but he noted the “facts” in a move to disqualify him are “exceedingly thin.”

In a Sept. 25 court filing, Vannatta said he would withdraw from jurisdiction of the case “in the interest of preserving the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.”

The case from which he withdrew is Perkins vs. State of Montana, over House Bill 121.

HB 121 restricts access to public restrooms and other facilities based on an individual’s sex assigned at birth.

The plaintiffs, including transgender and intersex Montanans, argue the restrictions violate their rights to equal protection, privacy and ability to pursue life’s basic necessities.

Supporters argue the bill adds protection and safety for women.

After years of watching a highly political judge referee a legal charade, only to weigh in RIGHT AS THE ELECTION WAS HEATING UP, Mineral County voters stepped up and did what Shane Vannatta REFUSED TO DO–they took action by casting votes to protect women, men AND children from the dangerous and well-documented incompetence of Ryan Funke and his predecessor, Mike Toth, when it comes to running investigations into deaths and alleged crimes, which is also known as DOING THE FUCKING JOB.

If you’d like to review the evidence I’m using to make my non-legal case that voters did what Vannatta refused to do, exhibit A is a 14 minute video featuring Heather Boyes addressing Mineral County Commissioners:

And exhibit B is part of a comment, post-election, from the mother of Rebekah Barsotti, who is mentioned in the video clip above:

While the day might feel new in Mineral County, the problem of drugs and violence are certainly not, so I’d like to conclude today’s post with a little story about a guy named “Demon” who led local police on a “knife chase” from a casino near the homeless shelter a few days ago.

On May 29, 2026, at approximately 10:12 a.m., a Missoula Police Department officer was dispatched to the Magic Diamond Casino on W. Broadway Street for a report of an assault with a weapon. The reporting party, John Doe, told dispatch that a male he knew as Demon tried to stab him with a knife in the parking lot of the casino. Demon was later identified as 41-year-old Terrence Keplin.

The officer arrived on the scene and made contact with Doe, who reported that he had been traveling on foot when he noticed Keplin walking north on Burton Street. Keplin approached Doe and stated that Doe’s sister owed him money. Keplin then took a knife out of his waistband, started waving it at Doe, and demanded that Doe give him all of his stuff, or he was going to kill him. Doe described the knife as being a button-release switchblade with a black handle and a blade approximately six inches long.

When he saw Keplin had a knife, Doe started “booking it” towards the casino. Keplin started following Doe down the sidewalk and then into the casino. Once inside the casino, Keplin continued to follow Doe until an employee intervened by physically stepping in between them. Keplin then left the casino.

Since mugshots are no longer publicly shared by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, I decided to see if Demon has a Facebook page. Here’s what I found:

While some might find Terrence Keplin’s mean-looking mug on FB to be cause for concern, more concerning to me is the fact that I recognized someone on his “friends” page (a woman) who used to work at the Poverello Center. This is the side of drug culture our Homeless Industrial Complex doesn’t want you to see, but it’s the world judges and Sheriffs are DEEPLY enmeshed in.

I hope the Funke clique (some might say gang) gives the new Sheriff in town a chance to acclimate to the possibility that the main job at hand will now get the focus it deserves, because that’s clearly what the voters want.

Thanks for reading!

Montana’s Governor, Greg Gianforte, made a big announcement yesterday about an $800 million dollar deal that will bring a “Washington-based manufacturer” to Great Falls:

Janicki Industries, a Washington-based manufacturer, has chosen Great Falls to build a 2-million-square-foot industrial campus, promising $800 million in investments and as many as 1,000 new jobs within the first five years.

The company chose the Electric City after soliciting tax incentives from local officials and from the other finalist location: Twin Falls, Idaho. On Tuesday, Janicki announced that an industrial park in Great Falls would be its third major site.

“It’s one of the largest economic development wins our community has seen in decades, truly,” Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves told Montana Free Press Tuesday morning.

So, what kind of projects has Janicki Industries been involved in? Well, there’s the B-21 for the U.S. Department of War:

So today, I have a little bit more information I’d like to share with you on the B-21, specifically the seven major contractor partners who will join Northrop Grumman in building the nation’s bomber for the 21st century.

These partners and the primary B-21 work locations are Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford Connecticut; BAE Systems, Nashua, New Hampshire; GKN Aerospace, St. Louis, Missouri; Janicki Industries, Sedro-Woolley, Washington; Orbital ATK, Clearfield, Utah and Dayton, Ohio; Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Spirit Aerosystems, Wichita, Kansas.

And there’s the GREAT AMERICAN RETURN to the moon:

Janicki has supplied tooling and parts in support of the Artemis program and its predecessor missions. Our work with NASA goes back several years, including manufacturing the composite diaphragm for the Orion stage adapter, which serves as a critical barrier between propellant gases and the crew compartment during launch. That work is covered in detail by Aerospace America and documented by NASA.

Fighting wars and flying through space are GREAT ways for a country with TRILLIONS in debt to dig that debt hole deeper, so congrats, Great Falls! Someone has to build war weapons and escape rockets for the Epstein class, so why not Montana’s Electric City?

To see what kind of unique access Epstein had to NASA, meet Jeffrey’s NASA pal, Ron.

War planes are obvious war, racing to space is less obvious war, but what’s a maximum 5 year slap on the wrist for sneaking monkeypox into America?

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I guess “serious federal charges” that carry a maximum of 5 years is all this little incident will amount to. Weird, because this kind of seems like a big deal.

When I put “monkeypox” into the Epstein DOJ search-bar, this article popped up from the archives:

In Politico’s reporting on this weird monkeypox story, Montana’s Senator, Tim Sheehy (and possible alien life form, Laura Loomis) are mentioned:

Munster and Kwe work with dangerous pathogens at the laboratory, which conducts its work at the government’s highest biosafety level.

The charge comes a week after Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana asked the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general to review the renowned lab after a monkey infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever bit a worker there last year.

In his request, Sheehy also mentioned a whistleblower complaint made public by the conservative animal rights group White Coat Waste targeting Munster.

MAGA influencer Laura Loomer, who is close with President Donald Trump, has drawn attention to the issue and has urged federal intervention against the lab and against Munster.

For those who don’t understand how very, very exciting Montana is, our drone-manufacturing Senator, Tim Sheehy, recently crashed a fighter jet owned by the head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, the guy who temporarily got between the amazing bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

The plane U.S. Sen Tim Sheehy made an emergency landing near Ennis last Friday is a private aircraft owned by the NASA administrator Sheehy heavily supported during his nomination process.

According to the FAA incident report, the aircraft experienced engine issues and Sheehy, a Navy Seal and former aerial firefighter, was required to make a forced landing in a field.

The aircraft involved was an Aero Vodochody L-39, a Czech-made fighter jet trainer owned by Jared Isaacman.

Before all the drama between Musk and Trump over Jared Isaacman at NASA, NASA was exploring using blockchain technology, thanks to Epstein’s NASA pal, Ron.

This idea, floated by NASA’s Epstein collaborator, was pitched back in 2019. Now, 7 years later, we know a lot more about Epstein, Bitcoin, and a curious former child actor by the name of Brock Pierce. To get an idea of how Brock Pierce helped Epstein manipulate the concept of cryptocurrencies, listen to this clip. Pierce and Epstein were VERY close and that proximity should make EVERY Crypto-bro very weary.

What will Montana do with digital currencies? Great question.

As the dust settles from yesterday’s primary races, readers interested in the topic of digital currency should be aware that Governor Gianforte has a task-force working on “Blockchain and Digital Innovation”. Here’s who they are and what they are tasked with doing:

The group is charged with building expertise and recommending policies to promote, support, and appropriately regulate blockchain, financial technology, and digital innovation in Montana, including incentives for related industries and partnerships with existing financial institutions and regulated service providers.

The bipartisan task force will report its findings and recommendations to the Economic Affairs Interim Committee and the Legislative Council by July 1, 2026. All meetings are open to the public, offer a Zoom participation option, and will be recorded and posted on this webpage.

Don’t worry, I’m sure no one at the state level will mention Epstein, all his influential friends, and how thoroughly compromised his class of co-conspirators have rendered Big Sky Country.

Thanks for reading!

The open-air asylum and drug market on Cedar street, by the Poverello Center, got new neighbors last December. After Winds of Change moved OUT, a Christian organization, called Living Waters House of Prayer, moved IN.

To better understand who these Christians are, and where they came from, I gathered information from Montana Cadastral, 990 forms, and Facebook to ascertain what brand of of Bible-thumpers we’re dealing with here.

Since “Grace Unexpected” is a non-profit, based in Florence, I was able to find information online about other organizations “Grace Unexpected” supports, including a very old fraternal order called the Odd Fellows:

Historically, Odd Fellows have helped bury the dead. Also, they’re not big fans of getting fucked up on alcohol and drugs, or letting non-whites into their club. They were, however, ahead of the game when it came to women:

Like other fraternities, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows began by limiting their membership to white men only. On September 20, 1851, the IOOF became the first fraternity in the United States to include women when it adopted the “Beautiful Rebekah Degree” by initiative of Schuyler Colfax, later Vice-President of the United States. Daughters of Rebekah are an auxiliary organization to the Odd Fellows.

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Over the next half-century, also known as the “Golden age of fraternalism” in America, the Odd Fellows became the largest among all fraternal organizations (at the time, even larger than Freemasonry). By 1889, the IOOF had lodges in every American state. Compared to Masonic lodges, membership in the Odd Fellows lodges tended to be more common among the lower middle class and skilled workers and less common among the wealthy white collar workers and professionals.

While the Christians at 1120 W. Broadway help insane drug addicts by feeding them with food and Jesus, someone went nuts on E. Broadway recently and scared the shit out of the guy who suddenly found himself fighting back against a violent crazy person.

The officer conducted a further interview of Doe, who reported that he was inside the accounting office when he heard what sounded like glass “falling” outside, though he did not initially know what caused the noise. Doe stated he then looked out the front door and observed Roberts outside. Doe said he asked Roberts if everything was okay, at which point Roberts responded affirmatively before throwing water on Doe.

Doe stated that Roberts then struck him with a bag, which hit the left side of his head. The bag, which was subsequently seized as evidence, was observed by the officer to be a cloth bag that contained a hard, insulated 20-ounce stainless steel-style water bottle.

Doe stated he retreated back into the accounting office and attempted to close the front door. However, Roberts forced his way inside before Doe could secure it. Doe stated that while both individuals were inside the office, Roberts “hit me one or two more times with the bag.” Doe stated he then took the bag from Roberts, at which time Roberts pushed him against a desk located to the right of the front entrance. Doe stated he asked Roberts, “What’s the matter? What I do?” Doe stated that Roberts then “punched” him.

Doe stated he then pushed Roberts away, exited the accounting office through the front door, and subsequently heard the front door slam shut behind him. Doe stated he was “scared and trying to get away” when he ultimately made his way to a nearby business and called for help.

After going berserker, taxpayers are now providing James Roberts with three hots and a cot inside the Missoula County Detention Center, where he’ll probably be for awhile, since the judge set a quarter million dollar bond for his felony charges.

James Roberts allegedly committed these violent criminal acts in VERY close proximity to the Children’s Theater, which is across the street from the new library, which is next to the old library, which is sitting on a donated parcel of prime downtown real estate that our public officials have been trying to sell and develop for 7 years now like they’re the WGM group (because maybe they are?).

The Missoula Redevelopment Agency and partners invite the community to an open house on Monday, January 29 for the redevelopment of the former library block.

The Payne family donated the old library block to the City of Missoula in 2019 which created an opportunity for city officials to work with partners to develop the block to meet the 2019 Downtown Master Plan.

Another historic parcel that our dead former Mayor, John Engen, died without developing, has inched closer to finally coming to fruition. No word yet on where Engen’s statute will be placed.

Could human death on a pre-developed parcel of land help consecrate it for development? Yes, that sounds crazy, but this crazy-sounding line of thinking first started forming in my head while I was walking the crazy streets of Austin, Texas, researching the Smiley Face killer phenomenon several years ago. And before you think I’ve totally lost it, have you ever thought about the ceremonies surrounding ships before they’re launched into the water?

The new 180-room riverfront hotel will be built on the site of Lee Nelson’s brutal murder. Similarly, the new Midtown Commons project will be going right where Ross Robertson was killed by Missoula police in 2024.

Authorities released the name of the man who died while in Missoula Police Department custody on May 29, 2024.

According to Missoula County Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen, 39-year-old Ross M. Robertson of Missoula died on the afternoon of May 29.

The death came after the Missoula Police Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 2400 block of Dixon Avenue.

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends during this very difficult time,” Sheriff Petersen stated.

The Coroner’s Inquest into Ross Robertson’s death will be performed–and I do mean PERFORMED–this Friday in a Missoula court room. For those who haven’t witnessed the empty pageantry of accountability this bullshit process provides, this post of mine is a good place to start.

Who was Ross Robertson? According to his obituary, just an energetic guy who liked to work and hang out with friends, and the last job he had was working maintenance for the mental health company that moved out of 1120 East Broadway so the Living Water Christians could move in.

Ross had a great work ethic and started at young age working for dad Dan by placing A-1 Rental stickers on all equipment and working his way up to equipment maintenance man and front desk jockey. At the end of his senior year, he spent a summer working for his dad Rick building bridges for Sletten Construction, then went off to attend the University of Montana. He came back to Helena worked for the Independent Record in the equipment press room, Van’s Thriftway in produce, moved back to Missoula and had worked as property maintenance person for Winds of Change in Missoula MT.

Ross had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. His close friend Tom Wood and him would send hours in discussions of all subjects and theology. He was blessed to have Tom in his life as a friend – a gift from God. In addition, his friends Robert and Charles always encourage him.

Since I have already been in contact with an eye-witness to this “police custody” death, I will say right now that the phrase “police custody” appears to be VERY misleading, but I will wait until after the Coroner’s Inquest to say why.

Before working for Winds of Change, Ross did some work building bridges for Sletten Construction, and it’s the building of bridges I would like to conclude with, since this type of infrastructure is something I’ve been VERY vocal about, considering my kids used to take a decrepit bridge across the Bitterroot river before it was deemed unsafe to do so.

When you zoom in to the end of South Avenue West, where a new bridge across the Bitterroot river has LONG been opposed by the likes of County Commissioner, Dave Strohmaier, and the neighborhood that refuses to accept reality at risk of MY kids safety, you will see a parcel of land that you can click on to see its owned by a Jeremiah Peterson.

Is this Missoula’s Sheriff Peterson? I can’t say, because the last name is spelled different, but I’ve also seen local media use an “o” instead of an “e” when reporting on Missoula’s current Sheriff. Hmmm.

Today, on Montana’s primary Tuesday–while political winds change out some of the faces pitching the same old tired agendas–be cautious near the living waters of raging rivers in Big Sky country.

Why?

Because, if you haven’t noticed, the storm is here, and the flood isn’t far behind.

Thanks for reading!

The quick answer to the title of this post is NO, Missoula’s Jennie Dixon didn’t stop the proposed data center in Bonner. What actually happened is this unelected bureaucrat, who helped craft the special permit for projects like the Bonner data center, used the concept of a “heat island” to frustrate Krambu into going back to the drawing board.

Missoula County’s review of a data center proposed in Bonner has been cancelled for a third time due to the applicant’s delay in providing information required by the county.

The Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board won’t review a Bonner data center application during its July 1 hearing, because the project developer “is continuing to finalize materials,” according to a Missoula County Voice post issued on Wednesday. Unlike previous rounds of back-and-forth between the county and the developer, the presentation has not been rescheduled.

The Consolidated Land Use Board will determine whether the data center would be compatible with the neighborhood across the highway, which includes an elementary school, and whether various environmental issues could be avoided or mitigated. Those issues include additional traffic, noise, lights or added heat. But first, Missoula County planner Jennie Dixon must ensure the data center proposal passes muster.

As I continued reading the Missoula Current article I discovered that “passing muster” means determining the effectiveness of cooling towers to help with the heat island effect:

Before the May 6 hearing, Dixon wrote a letter on April 17 telling Gordon Dobler, the developer with Idaho-based Dobler Engineering, that the first application was too vague, and the county needed better information by April 28, particularly about equipment on the building’s exterior and the associated noise, lights and hours of operation. She also needed more information about Krambu’s cooling towers, such as how much water they’d require and whether the operation would add to Missoula’s growing heat island.

After receiving Dobler’s second application on April 28, Dixon replied the next day, saying the application had “substantially improved,” particularly the information about the cooling towers. But information on noise and lighting was still missing. And Dixon wasn’t convinced by random photos Dobler included from Krambu’s facility in Washington state that there would be no heat-island effect, especially for neighbors living just across the street. Without this information, Dixon pushed the hearing back to July 1.

I’m sure Jennie Dixon is enjoying her new role as public protector from the evil data center because, normally, bureaucrats do more boring and/or unpopular things, like approve massive gentrifying housing projects inside Targeted Economic Development Districts.

Jennie Dixon, Missoula County planner, said the project falls within the Wye targeted economic development district, which should create opportunities for infrastructure development to serve the Grass Valley Gardens subdivision and the larger Wye area.

In 2020 and 2023, Missoula County implemented two targeted economic development districts around the Wye to allow the collection of tax increment revenue to help pay for needed roads, water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure. As improvements are made in the district and property taxes go up, the difference in tax revenue is collected in a fund for further investment in the district.

Do school districts and burned-out first responders support the gentrification of Targeted Economic Development Districts in Missoula County? No, they do not, and FINALLY some of the detractors are getting much more vocal and threatening to lawyer-up:

Matthew Driessen knows that 15,000 new homes with ZERO of the increased tax revenue going to his school district means a financial time-bomb is being set up by Missoula’s County Commissioners, and this time-bomb is being systematically approved by paid bureaucrats, like Jennie Dixon.

While regular taxpaying citizens in Missoula are getting financially hammered, a woman who recently moved from Idaho to Montana last November finds herself getting a nice spread in the New York Times about her noble fight to stop the Quantica data center in Broadview, Montana.

The headline paired with the picture already had me triggered, but then I read some of the actual content from this NEW YORK TIMES piece, highlighting a Montana transplant who doesn’t even understand the concept of jurisdiction, and it finally started clicking what I think is being set up here.

Should Kassi Solberg be told NO just because she doesn’t understand that CITY councils and COUNTY commissioners are different legal entities? Here’s some more context from the NYT article that I found amusing:

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As a NON-Montanan transplant born in Spokane, I can say with confidence that 26 years does NOT make me a Montanan, but it certainly gives me a little more native credibility than someone who just moved to Montana in November with her “menagerie” of animals.

Also, as the New York Times pointed out, local jurisdictions in rural Montana are finding it hard to find this thing called MONEY, so when a big company comes offering to help with infrastructure needs, it’s no surprise that Kassi SOLBERG is getting a chilly reception at her “city” council.

Yesterday I wrote about a Democrat “friend of the children” and his curious background with a private global intelligence firm, and later this week I’ll be writing about Missoula’s white George Floyd, killed two years ago by local law enforcement in a vacant field where the Midtown Commons will be getting built. But, unlike Kassi Solberg, I’ve learned the hard way how you definitely CAN be stopped from seeking justice in a righteous cause

While money deficits suck for local taxing jurisdictions, it’s the INFORMATION DEFICIT that I find most threatening to this Big Sky state where my kids are growing up, and here’s why: the data center, for Montana statewide politics in 2027, is going to be the new ZOOEY ZEPHYR. Please allow me to explain before you get fully triggered like Kassi Solberg’s New York Times spread triggers me.

I believe allowable cultural pressure-release valves, like George Floyd’s weaponized death in 2020, and gender designations for bathrooms at the Montana state legislature in 2023, function as a form of narrative control by taking up all the oxygen in the room, so to speak. In 2023, in Helena, that meant opposition to Tax Increment Financing wasn’t allowed much life-giving attention from local media, and it showed when it came time to vote.

Turns out, getting politicians and the public to fight a culture war means the bipartisan consensus of fucking you deep in the tax hole goes largely unmolested, which seems destined to happen again thanks to the NEW WARRIORS against the EVIL DATA CENTER.

I would really like to be wrong about this.

The NYT article that triggered me arrived in my in-box from The Pulp, a local news publication that gets to be invited to City Club functions, funded by developers like the WGM group, a favorite recipient of Tax Increment Financing and good for a quote when it comes to one of their “planned neighborhood” projects subsidized by public tax increment dollars:

Comments from agencies and the public submitted ahead of the meeting voiced some concerns about the project’s impact on water supply, infrastructure, traffic, agricultural land and the Frenchtown School District.

The developer has been in contact with the Frenchtown School District, and the project master plan includes the potential to dedicate land to the district for a new school building, said Jamie Erbacher of WGM Group, representing the developer.

The land was historically used for grazing, is not irrigated and produces about one cutting of hay per year, Erbacher said. As part of the long-term plan, the developer is working with the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition and other groups to regenerate the soil and develop the permaculture farm included in later phases, she said.

This article came from the Montana Free Press, a Helena-based media outlet that is also invited to this month’s City Club media event, where John Adams will more than likely face ZERO critical questions about why his media company omitted the aggressive actions of Zooey Zephyr’s supporters at the peak of the Zephyr Show in 2023.

For being outspoken, critical, and opinionated on subjects that are heavily controlled and sometimes used to manipulate who can speak, who will be listened to, and what can be said, I’ve seen how all this manipulation functions from an uncomfortably close vantage point, and what I see with the narrative control around EVIL DATA CENTERS has my hackles up.

For more context on what I’ve written up to this point from my unique vantage point, including being the ONLY news source to write about the former Stimson lumber mill’s discharge permit being given up years ago by the site’s manager, Mike, here’s a list:

“Putting The Proposed Krambu Data Center For Bonner Into Context” (March 23rd, 2026)

“Step 1 For Stopping Data Centers: Become Less Retarded” (April 14th, 2026)

“Step 2 For Stopping Data Centers: Identify Retarded Stakeholders” (April 15th, 2026)

“Do Data Center Drama Queens Understand What’s Actually Happening?” (May 20th, 2026)

“AMERICA UPSIDE DOWN, Part IV: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Data Center” (April 30th, 2026)

Yes, I’ve written a lot so far on this subject, and will write more as evidenced by the fact I put out 25 articles this past month, while The Pulp, with business sponsors and everything, only managed to publish 9.

Thanks for reading!