by Travis Mateer

I so enjoy my morning coffee runs, especially now that I’ve incorporated rollerblades into my routine. That’s what I was doing yesterday when I was stopped from rolling down the sidewalk on Main Street, near the Union Club, by three Missoula police officers.

I was stopped for my safety, they told me. Ahead was piles of equipment for the production of Kevin Costner’s depiction of gangsters in cowboy hats, Yellowstone, and these helpful officers of the law didn’t want to see me injure myself, so they suggested I go into the street.

Before I took them up on their suggested detour, I expressed my desire to see their time better spent addressing things like the 8 year old flower girl I think was being trafficked last week (I’ll be telling that story at a later date). The cops assured me the production was paying for their time, and that they REALLY LIKED the economic impact of their overtime pay.

I recorded a brief clip as I rollerbladed away, but the part about “Dimitri” and the flower girl might not make a lot sense. Yet.

So, because Yellowstone pays for it, the show gets three whole cops, while a dangerously under-resourced Guy Baker does his best (I’m being generous) to raise awareness, like in this brief clip where he tells you about looking right at something and NOT seeing it.

So what am I looking at here? Is it an unfortunate lack of resources, or a strategic one? Maybe an anecdotal story about a flower girl will help answer these questions.

Thanks for reading!