Yesterday evening, for First Friday, a mobile billboard attached to a grocery cart (sourced from a local reuse business) made its guerrilla marketing debut on the streets of downtown Missoula.
With musical accompaniment from an amplified saxophone and a snare drum, we took to the streets to promote Engen’s Missoula and to express our adoration for GREAT LEADER!
We also used our mobile messaging delivery system to address the Nick Checota pod people enjoying their fine dining in plastic spheres. We wanted the patrons to know that we understand Checota’s decision to kill the Top Hat as a music venue despite his receiving MILLIONS in Covid relief money to SAVE his music venues.
The main reason, though, for our amplified presence was to ensure Missoula citizens know a documentary is available detailing the use of GREAT LEADER’s favorite tool, Tax Increment Financing. So far, in its first month, the documentary has been viewed 1,212 times.
To celebrate the first month of Engen’s Missoula being available to view online, I have composed a poem using all my professional poetry skills derived from my time at the University of Montana.
So here it is. Have a GREAT Saturday, Missoula!
Engen penguin I like your suit and
gut-bust, baby-back, hee-haw boots
deal me a meal of real estate pie and
yummy-bum payoffs will fix that black eye
dumb-dumb climbers like the climate change kid
got his little seat to lob at the libs
mighty tweets of virtue sent through the screen
mixed use, mother fuckers, from the tiny home team
hollow tweaker cheeks will make a good snitch
and shields for the feels of the sycophant clique
build another camp but don't concentrate too hard
you good Missoula citizens about your backyard
yes, that's a reference to the mustache man
and the rise in the minds of the stiff-arm clan
how did they do it? I'll tell you, nitwits,
bit by bit, slowly, with the paperclips
how can we stop them? let's brain storm
and mushroom gulp to tulpa a back-off form
don't be afraid, Christians, the book is a map
timing CC Riders to wake from their nap
so stop floggin your noggins with woke-joke whips
and look to the crooks of the house-hunt flip
Engen penguin, I like your smile
from the girth of the hurts in the research file
now we are rolling with wheels and signs
up and down Higgins to expose all his lies
joins if you dare for mirth and for joy
and sing adios to his penguin ploy
This is what I was afraid of when I first heard that the “hard date” of January 25th was selected by Bob Vosen at the Montana Department of Transportation as the LEAVE OR ELSE date for evicting residents like “A” from his sprawling encampment under the Reserve Street bridge.
If Bob Vosen was less of a soccer ball being kicked around by people with more influence than him, maybe he could have put together a plan to back up this date with a compassionate but firm relocation effort, but instead we get this:
I took this picture on February 3rd, over a week after the notice of enforcement went up. After taking this picture I approached the encampment, but had to pause due to a verbal argument between a woman and someone else (not “A”) developing in a tent.
I decided to give the couple some space with their domestic dispute and checked in with the pawn shop instead. The owner was at the counter, so we had a nice discussion about the murky, shifting strategies being cooked up between Soccer Ball Bob and his private security solution, Rogers International.
When I last spoke with Bob, he gave me the impression that some kind of clean-up was being planned for March. For those following the local reporting on this, here’s how the Mayor was discussing the possible approach to controlling and maintaining this area at the end of last year (typos NOT mine, that’s all Gomer):
Engen said the city may look to contract out the cleanup work, and the county has expressed interest in possibly partnering in the effort. Ideally, Engen said, the contractor would be on call for other cleanups as well, including those related to crime scenes.
The Missoula Police Department has expressed interest as well, Engen said.
“Victims can be doubly victimized by the fact that their house is now a mess, a crime scene, and a source of continuing trauma,” Engen said. “We want to find a way to establish a cleanup fund and have someone all call for those incidents. That might be a cause for the sheriff’s department as well.”
Engen is doing what he’s good at here: using words to convey a concept that requires the establishment of a “fund”.
And I’m doing what I’m good at here: reporting on my on-the-ground efforts to visit “A” in person in order to explain that, one day soon, the dumb soccer ball is going to bring a wrecking ball down on the illusion these inept bureaucrats (and the public/private bullies who kick them around) have created for this mentally ill man.
To have a cop chase you down because he wants to speak with you is not an unusual experience to have, but, when it happened to me earlier this week, it was because of my relationship with homeless Harley.
The police officer had just concluded his speech to Harley that the alcove outside the Blaque Owl tattoo shop wasn’t his home, and I had just concluded giving his fellow officer my business card and a brief condolence that after 5 years of relative peace downtown, Harley was out of prison and back to confounding first responders with his stubborn presence.
When the officer caught up to me he asked how I knew Harley, so I gave him the rundown, from my perspective, and he seemed genuinely appreciative. He was working on the caseworker angle, and I gave him a name of someone who worked with Harley in the past.
These were the exact kind of interactions I used to have with law enforcement back when I was the Homeless Outreach Coordinator for the Poverello Center.
Have I mentioned recently that 2022 is the TENTH year of the TEN year plan to END homelessness?
To keep my nostalgia going, I entered the fancy wine shop next to the tattoo shop to chat up the proprietor of the establishment about what she had glanced at while she was setting out her store’s street sign for the day.
I heard the same old story. She feels bad for the homeless man, but also has to run a business, and she is reluctant to call 911 because she feels like that isn’t the right thing to do.
I told her how a stubborn bastard like Harley still monkey-wrenches the service-provider system, despite the expansion of the homeless industrial complex.
Did I tell her about the documentary? Of course, but mostly because I wanted to explain that the mobile billboard system I’ve created–which I’ll be rolling out tomorrow for First Friday–isn’t another manifestation of mental instability + meth, but in fact a piece of guerrilla marketing performance art.
Did you know last month was National Human Trafficking Prevention Month? Well, our politicians know, and these kind of commemorative designations for segments of time are usually great opportunities for those politicians to posture for local media.
I’ve been aware of human trafficking in Missoula since my time working at the local homeless shelter, something I referenced last April when I wiggled my way into a Zoom meeting where the Missing Indigenous Woman’s Task Force was giving an update on their work.
So, naturally, when I saw the headline about the Governor’s office announcing a partnership to combat human trafficking, I was very curious. From the link:
Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office announced on Monday a partnership between Town Pump and the LifeGuard Group to further address the human trafficking crisis in Montana.
Town Pump will display the LifeGuard Group’s human trafficking hotline in its locations across the state so victims can get support. The company is also giving a $30,000 grant to Lifeguard to support the organizations’s efforts to fight human trafficking, according to a Monday news release.
I wanted to get a better understanding of how this private sector “grant” from Town Pump was going to be used, so I went to the LifeGuard Group website. Would it go to the new safe house that should be open by now?
Wow, I thought, that’s a nice looking picture. Almost TOO nice. Almost Glacier Hope Homes nice.
Another thing that occurred to me is the funder of this new Missoula non-profit operates a gas station in Superior, Montana, where Rebekah Barsotti was last seen alive.
I wrote about Rebekah’s case in December, and have maintained contact with the family, so yesterday I decided to take a walk to the historic Florence building and see if I could find the office of the LifeGuard Group and ask them if they knew about the Rebekah Barsotti missing person case.
It took me a bit, but I finally located the office on the fourth floor.
I knocked on the door and a man with a long, dark beard answered the door. Another man was sitting at a computer behind him.
I introduced myself and gave the man my card, explaining that I’m a citizen journalist. I asked the man if he was familiar with the Rebekah Barsotti missing person case and if the organization had ever given this family desperate for answers any help.
Yes, he told me, in fact he went out there himself where Rebekah is suspected to have gone into the river to help search. I asked him if he could recall the date, but he could not. Then I asked him if he had a business card. Alas, the bearded dude didn’t even have a card he could give me.
Well, I said, I guess that’s something you can take care of with that $30,000 dollars from Town Pump. He replied that some cards were actually ordered and should arrive soon.
What I didn’t tell this bearded man (who never did give me his name) is that I had already spoken with Rebekah’s mom BEFORE knocking on his door, and she had told me very specifically that the LifeGuard Group DID NOT help their family search for Rebekah, despite multiple requests.
Curious.
After the day’s activities, which included a BUNCH of calls I made after my curious interaction with bearded man, I took another look at LifeGuard’s website and noted its funders included the Gianforte Foundation AND the Dennis Washington Foundation.
This particular screenshot was quite difficult to capture, because the action of the graphic scrolled across the screen, so I had to wait to time it just right. Why am I sharing this detail? Because that scrolling graphic that’s difficult to read and capture is where that hotline is featured.
If the hotline is an intended feature for actual victims of human trafficking to find and utilize, the web designer sure is making it difficult.
I called 1-833-406-7867 around midnight and spoke with the volunteer who eventually answered my call. I identified myself as a journalist and asked if he could answer some basic questions. He said yes, but not for long, because he would need to get the line open.
Everyone answering the phone is a volunteer and goes through training. They have a resource list and give referrals. A lot of issues around housing come up.
I asked about the safe house at Crooked Tree Ranch and whether or not it’s open. He said no, he has heard maybe early spring. I thanked the man for his time.
After that I poked around a little more to see what I could find in this potential human-trafficking-industrial-complex. I picked another moving target from the sideways scrolling images and got to the contributors page of the American Unchained Project and look who I found:
It makes sense that Guy Baker would be involved in a media company that aims to “create media to equip every person to play a part in the fight against human trafficking”, considering his role in the piece of literary media penned by Jon Krakauer.
I sure am glad I persevered through my fatigue as a cold wind blew outside because it was on this government website discussing the private sector beer distributors dedication to combatting human trafficking where I found the OG “Life Guard”, Lowell Hochhalter. From the link (emphasis NOT mine):
Following the lead of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), which started a nationwide effort to help distributors understand human trafficking, identify the signs, and respond if they suspect trafficking is happening, MBWDA formed the Sentinel Project and partnered with The Lifeguard Group, a service provider in Missoula, to create an awareness and training video.
Attorney General Knudsen acknowledged The LifeGuard Group for its approach in fighting human trafficking and providing services to victims.
“The training The LifeGuard Group provides in Montana and beyond helps countless individuals across a multitude of industries to understand, identify, and report signs of trafficking. Their tireless efforts and commitment are remarkable, and I thank them for their hard work,” Attorney General Knudsen said.
“We are excited for this partnership with MBWDA and the Montana Attorney General’s Office. Building this collaborative effort coupled with the Montana Human Trafficking Hotline puts Montana at the forefront of this fight,” Lowell Hochhalter, founder and executive director of The LifeGuard Group, said.
I went back to the LifeGuard website to see if Hochhalter is still with the organization. Again, it wasn’t easy to find, but I found TWO Hochhalter’s and the identity of the bearded dude who allegedly helped search for Rebekah Barsotti.
One more piece of information that is VERY important, and this I found on Lowell Hochhalter’s Facebook page; he’s ALSO the chaplain for the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department.
I recorded this conversation with Dean Reiner of the Up Is Down podcast last Thursday and it’s one of the best conversation I’ve recorded thus far, IMHO. Which is weird, considering the content is dark as shit.
One of the things I discuss is the sudden departure of my podcast co-host. Also, after my interview with Dean, there’s a bonus conversation I recorded last April with my then-cohost, Tim Adams, after I first spoke with Johnny Lee Perry, the young black man from Oakland who allegedly assaulted Sean Stevenson at the Poverello Center, leading to his death at St. Pats two days later when he was removed from life support without his family being notified.
It’s one hell of an episode, so check it out. But there’s also a disclaimer: if you think you are experiencing any of this stuff and hope I can help you, sorry, I won’t be responding to anyone who contacts me on this subject. Thanks for understanding.
