by Travis Mateer

At this point I hope Fire and Ice productions understands that when the orange cones go up with the Yellowstone brand, I will be there, on the periphery, asking questions. And if I find out notices are being distributed to those impacted by a week of lost parking outside of their businesses, well, I’m going to find a copy and report on it.

The images I’m sharing below come from the filming notification I got a copy of yesterday after doing one of my signature on-the-ground reports. Here is the geographic location impacted:

As you check out the location, you might be wondering what the waving cops signify. Here are more details from the flyer to answer that question:

While the filming isn’t actually happening until next Monday, the cones have already been up for a few days, and they stay up into the night, denying customers of the businesses in the area the ability to park. In an attempt to get ahead of frustration, here’s the letter portion of the flyer attempting to alleviate concerns:

That number you see at the bottom of the flyer isn’t actually in service, so I wasn’t able to speak with Mark Weatherford, but I did call the number of the Montana Film Office and the woman I spoke with assured me she would pass along my inquiries to the Fire and Ice contact, which I assume is Mr. Weatherford. There is also an email listed, so maybe I’ll drop him a link to this post after it’s published.

The woman I spoke with about my concerns that the economic impact being touted by our local luminaries DOES NOT translate far and wide enough to counter the disruptions directed me to a report (PDF) that I’m assuming makes the case that EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, to borrow a phrase from the Lego Movie.

Here is a portion of the nice cover page of the report to tantalize you into delving into the number, because I’m not going to do it.

Instead I’ll just quote a portion of the “executive summary” to give you a flavor of the narrative aspect of this report:

Film industry activity has grown significantly in Montana in recent years. Since the enactment of the Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement (MEDIA) Act on July 1, 2019, there has been a 70 percent increase in content production from ten years ago. Despite that increase, the footprint of the industry remains modest, and knowledge of the scope and nature of its activities is limited. Certainly, we are all consumers of the output of the film and entertainment industries, but awareness of what takes place to produce that content is not common in our state.

This study is aimed at addressing that situation. By examining the actual activities of a major television production carried out in the Bitterroot Valley, we not only can learn how those activities combine to make the Montana economy larger and more prosperous. We also achieve a better understanding of what a major production like the television show Yellowstone entails, and why its presence within the state makes such significant economic contributions.

What this study is NOT tracking is the politics being played by Yellowstone and its patriarchal star, Kevin Costner. Those politics involve making tax breaks for filming in Montana BIGGER, and wearing shirts that support Liz Cheney.

With Costner playing very visible politics right now, it’s interesting to recall how a very popular local conservative was put in front of the cameras during the season 4 finale episode.

While the Montana Film Office takes calls for the Fire and Ice Assistant Location Manager, who can’t even get a working phone number out to local businesses, I’m going to continue tracking the more difficult to quantify impacts of what Costner and his $1.2 million dollar pay day PER EPISODE means to the little people who take the inconveniences as they are handed out by the influencers in the hopes they won’t be snuffed out like so many businesses were during the scamdemic.

Now, here’s the clip I recorded yesterday as the crew worked behind me. It’s important to note I don’t have any issues with people working their jobs behind the scenes (unless you’re the private security guy who tried physically intimating me after hours).

https://player.vimeo.com/video/738339601?h=ff5de1921f&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I don’t have to depict former Missoulian reporter/editor, Gwen Florio, as a political junkie with the attention span of a squirrel because she makes that reference herself in a tweet describing the challenge of writing while former president Donald Trump is getting raided by the FBI.

I had reached out to Gwen Florio last week about the supposed Missoulian policy of NOT changing a headline unless ok’d by an official institution or person, like a Sheriff or a Crime Lab, but I didn’t get a response. If I DID have a chance to speak with Florio, I’d tell her how little has changed since her “controversial” reporting a decade ago. From the link:

Florio reminds you of a close friend’s mother. Open and willing to chat, she has an unmistakable air of authority that can be intimidating. She’s unafraid to share her opinion and, on matters of principle, she doesn’t budge. Originally from the east coast, she’s always loved Missoula — a once conservative, blue-collar town that turned liberal, with the university by far its largest employer.

“Some really important issue was out there and people were finally talking about it,” she said.

True, they were talking — on forums, blogs, Facebook, in bars, and in the comment section of the Missoulian. But the tone of the discourse was far from civilized. Rather than trying to understand all sides of the issue, people cherry-picked from news stories, looking for evidence to support their pre-existing opinions, particularly concerning the media.

The issue known around the country as the Missoula rape scandal, last year’s “situation,” and Montana’s Penn State, landed on Florio’s beat in December 2011. She and other local news reporters received an anonymous tip claiming multiple football players from the University of Montana had sexually assaulted two young women.

What started as an anonymous tip turned into quite a series of stories for the Missoulian, a newspaper now in hiding from the public it covers. Over the controversial year of coverage, dozens and dozens of stories were written.

The Missoulian ran the story on December 15, 2011, under the far from provocative headline, “UM Probes Alleged Sexual Assault.” It was the first of more than 80 stories involving sexual assault cases published by the local newspaper in less than a year. The Missoulian would later submit the coverage for a Pulitzer Prize.

Editor Sherry Devlin made sure Florio had enough time to focus on every new development. “This was an important story for us, and we needed to give her the time to work,” Devlin said. Other reporters would pick up the slack on Florio’s beat, and when the Johnson trial began, city hall reporter Keila Szpaller Tweeted so Florio could concentrate on her notes.

Florio said she felt energized when she was given the time to pursue this story as far as she could. She considers that time a luxury and a gift.

Television outlets, the student newspaper, and public radio also devoted many pixels, inches, and minutes to the topic. Local TV station NBC Montana ran more than 150 stories from the beginning of their coverage to right before the Johnson trial in February 2013.

I have a VERY difficult time reading this without wondering what coverage like this could have done for the cases I’ve been looking into for the past two, almost three years.

Would Sean Stevenson’s family STILL be trying to reconcile the narrative they received from authorities with the images of Sean’s beaten body if they had gotten this kind of coverage?

Would the entire scenario of how Johnny Lee Perry (alleged assailant of Sean Stevenson) found himself out in the woods west of town, tweaking and twirling a machete before getting shot twice in the back by Sheriff Deputy Shawn Evans, be allowed to go unscrutinized if his death had received critical coverage?

And how about Rebekah Barsotti’s case? Would conflicts of interest, rampant unprofessionalism, jurisdictional games, and a seemingly willful suppression of a history of domestic abuse be the fodder of social media and true crime aficionados if the media had taken a more active role a year ago to put pressure on the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office?

Hypotheticals suck for those in various stages of grief because there’s nothing healing or restorative there; just anger and more pain.

But for a general public stupidly celebrating the FBI raiding a Trump property, or the huge financial judgement against Alex Jones, I think it’s important to emphasize the difference in coverage between a decade-old shot at Missoula’s “rape culture”, and the current vacuum of coverage when it comes to OTHER stories Missoula citizens supposedly care about, like the treatment of BIPOC people and the systemic protection of domestic abusers.

Despite the headline about NOT grabbing popcorn, I may have to change my tune after rewatching a movie called Spotlight. I found this movie to be so worth revisiting, I even fired off an email to the AG’s office.

I really do think a viewing of Spotlight would be a good idea because there are a lot of interesting plot points that feel familiar, like the way the media can minimize a story in its own pages. In the case of this Catholic abuse scandal, the Boston Globe buried a story in the “Metro” section years before they broke the big one.

Going over some of these old news stories has been interesting, like this one featuring the lip-service of then UM President, Royce Engstrom. From the link:

“I want to share with you my thoughts about sexual assault and the University of Montana because it is such an important topic that all college campuses — student groups, staff, faculty, and administrators — must address,” he wrote.

He noted the university “learned a great deal over the past 3¹/₂ years and are aware of the work ahead of us.” He asked for feedback and the importance of listening to survivors. He also said UM is “focused on providing a safe learning and living environment for all of our students.” This includes revised policies, mandatory training, new and improved programs, and more personnel.

Well, considering the new headlines that started emerging last fall, I’d say the mandatory training worked about as well as the Crisis Intervention Training helped the Sheriff’s Department NOT shoot Johnny Lee Perry in the back.

If this town had learned its lessons AND acted on them in a manner that actually produced change, I wouldn’t be writing this post. Or the posts that are coming…

So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

After lots of TALKING about some kind of Zoom Chron newsletter, I finally have something tangible to handout, thanks to a motivated contributor assisting my independent journalism behind-the-scenes.

After a few pop-up attempts at distribution, I decided to go to Monday’s candidate forum here in Missoula between Ryan Zinke, Monica Tranel and the Libertarian with a nice beard.

I stood outside the Double Tree hotel holding up copies of my newsletter and handed out a few, including a direct distribution to John Lamb, who gladly accepted it. My attempt to give Monica Tranel a copy was snubbed by the candidate, who was eager to tell the other, more obviously credentialed press about driving to the event in a minivan and only having ONE house. Oh, and County Commissioner, Juanita Vero, came up and got a copy. I didn’t bother giving one to Zinke.

Since the event was at capacity, all I could do was offer the stern looking City Club people my business card, suggesting I could be invited to future events as a panelist on the joke that is Tax Increment Financing AND/OR the joke that is Montana’s response to the epidemic of illicit trafficking.

While these jokes don’t have obvious punchlines, they do have a silver lining of sorts, and that’s the potential of bringing people together over the discovery of common ground. I believe I have already discovered significant common ground.

The common ground I have found is twofold: money and sexual predation. I think this is very exciting, and could help liberate those still invested in the notion D’s and R’s are substantially different political creatures.

I had to search for a bit to find an Ellen Buchanan quote regarding Tax Increment Financing that highlights what I’m talking about. This quote should be understood in the context of Republicans having near TOTAL power at the state level. So why is Buchanan excited about NEW uses of TIF enabled by the State Legislature? Here’s the money shot from the Gomer link (emphasis mine):

The list of priorities, completed with the participation of City Council, targets the city’s own priorities with an emphasis on housing. Buchanan said additional housing opportunities may be possible in the future.

“The utility and sidewalk work supports all kind of housing, and the land banking is the biggest piece of that,” Buchanan said. “There’s also a change in state statute where they added, we think, the ability to spend tax increment on bricks and mortar for workforce housing. We’re working through policy around that, as is every other city in the state that has tax increment. That may be another tool.”

Another TIF tool? Holy shit, Ellen, that’s fantastic! I wonder if Adam Hertz is excited at this news, since he’s lining up like the rest of ’em for a little sniff of that TIF!

The other common ground I referenced is the fact that BOTH conservatives and liberals provide HUNTING grounds for sexual predators. For conservatives these places are called “churches”. For liberals, they’re known as “universities”. And I’ll be writing about BOTH arenas these “different” political affiliations provide clever predators.

So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Last week I had an urgent, time-sensitive need to speak with an actual person at the Missoulian, a formerly local newspaper that formerly occupied a building on the Hip Strip with a view of the river too valuable for the mere gaze of reporters. That’s why corporate sold the parcel to a financial interest that includes a former Griz linebacker who couldn’t keep his fingers quiet on vacation last fall.

Before getting to the Missoulian’s current camouflaged location, here’s some fun context from the Kaimin piece:

In late November, Wagner — founder of investment firm Wags Capital — joined forces with former UM quarterback Cole Bergquist to purchase the old Missoulian building and its property along the Clark Fork at the foot of the Higgins bridge.

Their plan for the location: A state-of-the-art $100 million-plus commercial and residential complex complete with a 200-car underground parking garage.

It’s not surprising that such a project would draw ire in Missoula, where the price of an average family home has doubled to nearly half a million dollars since 2017, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors. Wagner’s partner Bergquist is also behind the luxury condos going up just down the street from the proposed Higgins complex. That project ignited controversy too, and locals flooded city council meetings and signed petitions in attempts to halt development to no avail. 

What is surprising — and counterproductive — is the online war of words following the announcement of the plan for the Missoulian plot development.

Yep, shit got ugly quick, and thanks to the Kaimin’s documentation of that ugliness, the camouflage and false front at the Missoulian’s new location is starting to make more sense. Here’s more from the Kaimin:

In a message to a critic, Wagner said, “I don’t respect communist pricks telling me I don’t deserve to build amazing projects and employ hundreds of locals … if you can’t afford your shit, make yourself more valuable instead [of] pointing at people like me and whining like a bitchy little victim.”

In another exchange, Wagner told a critic to “learn a fucking thing or two about economics before you open your little pie hole.”

A story from the Missoulian also cites responses from Wagner, such as “get a job you he/she” and “fucking tards, Gawd you losers will always lose.”

Wagner said he was the target of death threats, according to the Missoulian. Some critics told him to “Watch out for some vigilante justice you fuck,” and “We all hope you burn in hell you piece of shit.” Other messages made “sexual references” to his wife and daughters, the Missoulian reported.

Knowing this public anger hasn’t simply disappeared, I discovered the response: hide from them.

The message is pretty clear. Our Office is Closed. Not just today, or for the weekend, but closed indefinitely.

And here is the sign on the building that tries its best to NOT be seen by using a nice black on dark grey color scheme that would make Lego Batman proud.

After peering through the window with no fear of repercussions, the way us privileged white men are known to do, I was about to leave. I was, in fact, driving away, when I decided to park and enter the building where an insurance company has an office.

Instead of talking to an insurance agent about the unsafe step one encounters when approaching the false Missoulian front, I spotted a mustache that simply COULD NOT be attached to an insurance agent. Sure enough, upon speaking to the reporter attached to the mustache, I confirmed the Missoulian now officially has a closed newsroom.

Here’s my report from the OLD Missoulian location, where the blue sky behind my head will soon become ANOTHER condo build, maxing out the height limit until the height limit can be raised. Because money.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/737256638?h=ccbfc148fe&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479

Thanks for reading/watching!

by Travis Mateer

August is an important month in Zoom Town (Missoula) because it’s the month tourists are replaced by the migratory return of students to campus, college and otherwise. This makes narrative control VERY important for an AG like Austin Knudsen, especially as the criminal justice world feels the heat of an anti-Soros wave threatening the nodes of this “philanthropist’s” non-prosecuting puppetry.

Bolstering MY opinion that Missoula (Zoom Town) is a microcosm of macro-madness, our little AG is op-ed’ing just like George Soros did five days ago. In fact, if we’re taking about timing, Knudsen’s op-ed posted at the EXACT SAME HOUR the Missoulian posted it’s inaccurate headline about the MANNER of death in Rebekah Barsotti’s case.

Before getting to the dog that doesn’t bark in Austin’s op-ed, let’s take a look at the barking that does. Here is the Big Dog’s declaration, which comes after some anecdotal woofing:

Oh goody! Training! That’s sounds great! But not as great as my LOUD talking yesterday to NBC Montana about the piece I’m working on, tentatively titled WESTERN MONTANA IS THE LAST BEST PLACE TO KILL YOUR WIFE!

Should I mention I was speaking loudly while waiting for a sandwich and in close earshot to a former colleague who does the Crisis Intervention Training for local law enforcement? I should, especially since she hasn’t returned any of my phone calls, so I haven’t been able to tell her how ineffective her training appears to be in regards to Missoula County Sheriff Deputies and their ability to NOT KILL a black men swinging a machete 50 yards away.

Back to the op-ed, where our AG declares what needs to happen to make Montana MORE HOSTILE to traffickers, as opposed to welcoming them, like I assert we’re doing:

All this sounds just fine, which is the point of op-eds like this from an AG as the rape factories once known as Universities get ready to welcome coeds back to the hunting grounds where their bodies and futures can be raped simultaneously by predators and debt.

But let’s not wait until college because, let’s be honest, that’s kind of old. High school and younger is where we need to go, because that’s where Lowell Hochhalter and Guy Baker are, educating our kids about how NOT to become victims in the rape factories.

And here is where that dog isn’t barking: why no mention of your pals at the LifeGuard Group, Austin? Am I making that connection a political liability for you? Because you seem pretty happy to have your name on a poster that I saw last week posted in a bookstore in Hamilton. I even took some pictures.

To highlight my coverage of the intersectionality between the LifeGuard Group and the tangentially related case of Rebekah Barsotti, I’m going to use this post as a master list collating ALL the links of my coverage up to this point.

November 2021

Missing In Montana And My Cynicism On The Narrative Framing

December 2021

What The Hell Is Going On With The Rebekah Barsotti Missing Persons Case?

Zoom Chron 11-The Rebekah Barsotti Missing Person Case

January 2022

Rebekah Barsotti Still Not Found Six Months Later

February 2022

Who Are These “Life Guards” And How Will They Work With Town Pump To Combat Human Trafficking?

Web-Sleuthing This Travis Mateer Guy To Conspiracy Smear His Journalism

Local Help Doesn’t Require National Organizations And Conferences

In An Ocean Of Trauma, Life Guards Must Be Better Than Well Intentioned, Or Else They Risk Paving A Serious Path Toward Hell

Is There More To New Commenter “DB” Than Meets The Virtual Eye?

March 2022

 If Mineral County Sheriff, Mike Toth, Went Missing, Would Anyone Notice?

 Does Chaplain/LifeGuard Group CEO/Dad, Lowell Hochhalter, Need A Hatrack For All His Hats?

I Man’d Up With My Wife; David Barsotti Did NOT

Could A Veteran Program Be Taken Advantage Of By A Liar With An Eyepatch?

 Helping David Barsotti Identify What A REAL Veteran Of War Looks Like

April 2022

Are Criminal Justice/School Board Candidates Ready For The Critical Coverage Of Zoom Chron?

What Can The Jermain Charlo Missing Person Case Tell Us About The Effort To Find Rebekah Barsotti?

Coming To Terms With The Power Of Things NOT Happening

What Employing “Returning Citizens” In San Francisco Can Teach Eager Savior Types In Zoom Town

Welcoming Traffickers To Montana

May 2022

If Missoula County Sheriff Chaplain, Lowell Hochhalter, Is Having Some Kind Of Professional Freak Out, How Can He Help The Sheriff Deputies Terrified Of Homeless Camps And Ominous RVs?

My Invitation To The Department Of Justice To Return To Missoula To Investigate The Sheriff’s Department And A Call For National Coverage!

Some Non-Missoula News From Missoula Media

Is Supercharged, Tax Spending Candidate For Justice Of The Peace, Bill Burt, The Funniest Candidate Ever?

The Most Dangerous Woman In Montana?

Is Montana A Sex Tourism State?

Some Curious Not Happenings And Know Nothings In The Rebekah Barsotti Case

Oblivious Candidate Michael Burks And The Monumental Failure Of Public Protectors And Non-Profit Helpers

June 2022

Rebekah Barsotti May Now Be At Rest, But Questions Surrounding Her Death Remain

They Didn’t Expect A Soldier Like Me In Their 30 Year Culture War For Missoula

The Race For Mineral County Sheriff

Does Your Story Live At Lee Enterprises?

You Want A REAL White Supremacist, Missoula?

WTF Is Going On Between The Jurisdictional Sheets Of The Missoula And Mineral County Sheriff Offices?

On Trying To NOT Write About Meth-Fueled, Homoerotic Power Sharing On Father’s Day

Is It All Just Money, Honey, For Montana Sheriffs And Their Budget To Search And Rescue?

The Caretakers, The Reporter, And The Man Who Wants To Be Sheriff Of Mineral County

July 2022

Putting Non-Profit And Political Enablers On Notice: Think It’s Hot Now? Just You Wait…

For Abusers, Control Is A Game Death Will Not Stop…Just Ask David Barsotti, Who Wants To Salt His Ex-Wife’s Corpse Before Cremation

By Trying To Help The Flower Girl I Came To Sympathize With The Hitman

What Kind Of Bell Have I Rung Now?

August 2022

How Many Sheriffs Does It Take To Release An Autopsy?

Missoula, Do You Hear That General Obligation Bond-Bell Ringing For Reep Bell & Jasper?

A Failure For Sheriff, A Grim Reaper As Deputy, And The Media Who Promotes Their Twisted Version Of Reality