by Travis Mateer

I’m gonna juxtapose two incidents reported on in local media to exemplify the health and sanity of our community here in Missoula.

First we have the political posturing over a “health” policy that resulted in school board member/United Way staff member/political agitator Grace Decker nixing a meeting over masks.

While Grace Decker helps expose through her behavior why mask policies have become nothing more than cheap political theater, a woman with a different set of priorities took to committing a crime, allegedly, after trying unsuccessfully to get cops to arrest her earlier in the day.

According to court documents, a female called and stated she had burned down the “Bad Goat”. She also said she would not answer questions and hung up.

“The phone number that 911 received that call from had association with Georgena Oldperson,” McLean said. “Law enforcement officers have dealt with Oldperson in the past. One of the responding officers recognized her walking southbound on Scott Street Bridge while responding to the fire.”

An officer said that he had interacted with Oldperson earlier in the day at the Ole’s gas station on Orange Street and she had demanded several times to be taken to jail, despite officers having no reason to take her to jail.

The article doesn’t explicitly state that Oldperson is homeless, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case. This kind of story is so familiar, in fact, that I’ve heard it before, except it was a pastor telling a group of service providers about a homeless man in Alaska he knew who set a fire every fall to secure his winter housing at the local jail. One year, the story goes, his little fire became a big one and killed someone in an apartment.

No one was hurt in this seeming act of desperation, but the porous safety net in Montana will ensure Oldperson will probably get another shot.

Did I mention Grace Decker’s employer is a BIG reason Missoula’s 10 year plan to end homelessness is such a failure at year 10?

Thanks for reading, and if you’re feeling generous, this would be a great way to help support the many costs associated with making a documentary.