by Travis Mateer

I didn’t mean to connect the resurrection of Missoula’s iconic PEACE sign with the killing of Johnny Lee Perry. It just sort of happened as I reminded myself why the name Jim Parker sounded familiar.

The context for this story is the reassembly of the PEACE sign behind the Jeannette Rankin PEACE center. It was, by all accounts, a PEACEful event:

Twenty years ago, an infamous and iconic symbol sitting on the North Hills outside of Missoula was removed.

On Friday, the reassembled Missoula Peace Sign made its debut back to town at First Friday. Behind the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, a crowd gathered to see the image in its glory and celebrate its return. Storytelling and music ushered in the peaceful event. The event ended with a ribbon cutting of the sign.

Later in the article, we get to Jim Parker’s peaceful role in returning this symbol to its former glory:

Jim Parker, Jeannette Rankin Peace Center member, told the audience the story of the peace symbol, and spoke with MTN News.

“For many people who grew up in Missoula in those days, they’d always come home and they knew they were home and they’d look up into the hills and see the peace sign,” Parker said.

Now, it’s a 24 foot high permanent art installation for all to see.

Yes, Jim Parker should be proud of how much peace he’s spreading around, especially on a not-so-peaceful first Friday that saw a man arrested for strangling his wife to death, and the release of the victim’s name shot by Sheriff Deputies over a week ago.

The connection Jim Parker has with the Sheriff’s Department is through his marketing company, Westridge Creative. I found this little connection because of political complaints Sheriff McDermott faced in 2018 over claims from his opponent. From the link:

In his complaint, Wafstet also alleges that McDermott failed to list expenditures or debt for campaign signs. He also believes that a $3,360 expenditure to Westridge Creative for “project management” failed to include the specific services performed by the agency.

I love squishy terms that can mean anything you want, like “project management” or “public safety”. It makes me think of the open-ended way Westridge Creative pitches its opportunities:

I see absolutely no problem with a member of the PEACE center having a professional relationship with a Sheriff’s Department that must put down a machete-wielding homeless man from time to time.

Peace doesn’t just happen all by itself, after all. Sometimes it even requires lethal force to keep it safe.