by Travis Mateer

Since I’m friends with a cop on Facebook who wanted to be a City Council member, I got the treat of seeing former Missoula Police Chief, Mark Muir, opine on the SECOND attempted kidnapping in less than a month. Here is his perspective:

No, Mark Muir, please don’t hold your breath waiting for KGVO, or NBC Montana, or the Missoulian to put this case into the context it deserves. Interestingly KPAX did report on the previous incident that put Robert Price in jail:

Prior to Friday, on August 10th, Missoula Police Department arrested Price on charges of Assault with a Weapon, Animal Cruelty, and additional charges.

Price was released on his own recognizance. Subsequently, Price went to the Western Montana Fair where the attempted kidnapping took place.

Missoula Police Department understands this case is unsettling and affects our entire community. The case is still under investigation by Missoula Police Department.

For additional insights, here is another screenshot from a Facebook thread that might be helpful:

If the OR release (own recognizance) came from Streano, that would answer the question I asked last November in a post presciently titled What Kind Of Judgements Will The Westridge Defenders Be Bringing To Municipal Court?

Before getting to how this attempted kidnapping is an opportunity for the LifeGuard Group, I’ve got to give a shout out to Mark Muir’s consulting gig. It’s cool to know services like these are available from a former Missoula police Chief:

Mark, if you want to learn how to exploit tragedy for donations, you should get together with Lowell Hochhalter because I think he could teach you a thing or two about cashing in.

STREET SMART DEFENDER? That sounds awesome! Let’s take a look:

Street Smart Defender provides a unique, transformational training experience using cutting edge training methods to quickly and effectively awaken your innate ability to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Actually it’s really very simple.  Street Smart Defender is based on the belief that everyone has the right to feel safe.  Nobody should have to live their life in fear.  We believe that you learn most of what you need to know to protect yourself before the age of 2 years old.  Street Smart Defender facilitates an awakening of this skill that is already in you.  The first level of the class (SSD: Escape!) takes 3 hours to complete. 

                                                                                                   One time.  That’s it.  Really.  

When you have completed this training experience, you will be able to defend yourself and escape most types of attacks….We believe this because we know it to be true.  We have facilitated hundreds of classes and worked with literally thousands of people.  It works.  

I kept the screwed up formatting because I think it’s symbolic of, perhaps, larger screwed up dynamics at play. Also, how hilarious are these claims?

While it’s tempting to just keep laughing at the buzzards that immediately circle an incident like this, there’s significant danger if those buzzards develop speaking skills to convince survivors that their sharp talons are actually helping hands.

Additional danger comes from a simplicity I see emerging, which manifested recently in an unlikely looking guy open-carrying at the Good Food Store. Put more bluntly, keeping the means of using lethal force close at hand is going to seem more and more necessary to more and more people. Just ask Zach Nicodemous, the man who used his firearm to keep Rhonda Hiner from stealing his baby.

Well, guess who I saw walking down 3rd street yesterday?

Good times in Zoom Town! Thanks for reading!