Coming To Terms With The Power Of Things NOT Happening

by Travis Mateer

The topic of this post might seem like a difficult thing to discuss–things NOT happening–but I assure you it’s a phenomenon that exists, and in a variety of contexts.

For example, speaking as a privileged white man, much of my power is derived from a whole plethora of things that DO NOT and DID NOT happen to me, starting at an early age.

Now that I’ve established my expertise in this field of things not happening, let’s take a look at the criminal justice system, where a lot of curious not-happenings occur. Or don’t occur, as it were.

While not prosecuting someone who committed a crime is a good example of the power of things not happening, specific cases, like missing persons cases, can offer different insights into this power.

In the Jermain Charlo case, which I wrote about last week, one of the things that didn’t happen was the timely use of cadaver dogs. The reason given by Guy Baker was that he wanted to use the higher grade FBI dogs instead of the sad mutts I assume the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department have.

One of the things that DID happen in the Charlo case was the early and ENTHUSIASTIC involvement of the LifeGuard Group. If you listen to the STOLEN podcast, the enthusiasm exhibited by Lowell Hochhalter–that his group would succeed in finding Jermain Charlo–feels borderline pathological.

The successes for the LifeGuard Group are communicated to the public through Facebook. When I went scrolling to the weeks and months after Rebekah Barsotti went missing near the end of July, 2021, the NOT HAPPENING, in hindsight, now feels palpable.

So, what WAS happening around this time in LifeGuard Group world?

Yep, on July 28th, the important thing to note was a new board member. And the following month, one of the important things happening in LifeGuard World was registering people for a golf event.

Things not happening can be even more conspicuous and fucked up than this, like the call that never came for the family of Sean Stevenson before he was removed from life support at St. Patrick’s hospital. I still marvel how few people in this town know that story, but I have strong faith that will soon be changing.

Not everything that doesn’t happen is clouded in seemingly nefarious intent. I’m not drowning my feelings in box wine, for example, despite storms of personal magnitude rocking my world.

But overall, from my current perch, the not-happenings in the criminal justice system are incredibly ominous and pushing some good people into a network of shady operators for answers they may never get because too many people have learned that non-action is a fairly decent survival strategy.

I can’t say I blame them.

Thanks for reading.

About Travis Mateer

I'm an artist and citizen journalist living and writing in Montana. You can contact me here: willskink at yahoo dot com
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3 Responses to Coming To Terms With The Power Of Things NOT Happening

  1. Travis aka Skink is the SOLE reason that the Stevenson family continues to hold on to faith that justice will come for Sean. As a former B-52 Aircraft Commander, I’ve had to refrain from envisioning Missoula in my bombsights( award for the most accurate bombs in SAC during a graded exercise using only a map and stopwatch)
    As a servant of GOD for 37 years I’ve struggled to pray for the people of Missoula that someone who knew Sean, someone who knows something, someone who saw something, ANYONE WHO HAS A HEART AND KNOWS WHY, WHAT, WHO, would grow a spine and stand up to the wicked, heartless, cruel coverup that continues to this day.
    GOD BLESS YOU TRAVIS MATEER
    Dr Kenneth Stevenson
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219145093920024&set=a.10201625294295983&type=3

  2. Eric says:

    Your family has been truly wronged Dr. Stevenson. I hope time eases your pain.

    Your Son’s murderer has been executed, so in the traditional “eye for an eye” thinking justice is done.

    I doubt the administration in Missoula will apologize to you, but they should.

  3. Pingback: If I Wanted To Kill Johnny Lee Perry, Here Is How I Would Set Up His State-Sanctioned Execution | Zoom Chron Blog

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