by Travis Mateer

If you don’t pack a gun when you float the river, that’s probably because you don’t have to worry about Russians planting meth on you like this unfortunate floater (emphasis mine):

On August 15, 2022, at around 8:52 pm, multiple people called 911 to report gunshots coming from the Clark Fork River near the Creekside Apartments on Broadway. The reports stated that a group consisting of four males and a female were floating the river on innertubes and a paddleboard.

One 911 caller saw one of the males firing a revolver into the river. Missoula Police Department officers located the group floating near Missoula College. Police Public Information Officer Lydia Arnold picks up the story.

“The entire group refused to come to the shoreline after being instructed to by officers,” Arnold said. “The group did not even make an attempt to comply or make an attempt to come to the shoreline. Eventually, officers were able to convince the group to come out of the water. All of the individuals were arrested for obstructing and officers tried to locate the gun.” 

According to Arnold, a spent shell casing was located on a paddleboard. 

“Katy Sutton was among the group and after being informed of her Miranda, Sutton agreed to speak with the officer,” Arnold said. “Sutton consented to her belongings she identified as hers to be searched. Officers located syringes, some were used and some were not. Initially, Sutton stated the syringes were for her diabetes. Among the syringes were multiple plastic baggies containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine. Sutton told the officer the meth did not belong to her and gave a direct quote of, ‘one of the Russians must have planted it there’.” 

Does Katy Sutton know she’s using one of the Democrats’ favorite scapegoats? Maybe the “white crystalline substance” makes her sensitive to the political figures coming to pay their respects to our deceased Mayor.

If you don’t want to attend a funeral at a baseball stadium where Jon Tester will be speaking, maybe the Sunday lineup of BIPOC people talking at the ZACC is more your speed.

Not pictured here is the moderator of the Sunday event, Joseph Brady, but you can listen to him here. Here’s an idea of where Joseph Brady is coming from:

Joseph Grady has an educational background in Social Work, Cultural, Racial Diversity and the Arts at the University of Montana. Joseph is a Cultural Competency Trainer in Missoula, MT. He continues putting his heart into all that he does and works hard at building community whenever he can.

I wanted to speak with Joseph Grady, so I called Arts Missoula to get his contact info, but the woman I spoke with didn’t have it. I was told an email would be forthcoming, but nothing as of this writing.

Maybe it was the way I asked her about the names of the dead black men in our community, or maybe it was the inherent white privilege that permeates my colonizing tone, but I sensed an immediate defensiveness in the declaration she gave me that she “just moved here”.

To balance my demographic sin, let me conclude today’s post with some fascinating perspective from KRS-1 about a certain word.

Thanks for reading!