Month: September 2022

by Travis Mateer

Around 7:30am, on the morning of September 8th, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) called the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. Unbeknownst to the volunteers who were preparing to assist that morning in the trash removal from the Reserves Street Homeless camps, the plan was to dismantle a semi-permanent structure inhabited by a psychologically unstable homeless resident by the name of Todd Spence.

September 8th was also Todd Spence’s birthday.

The first contact by the Sheriff’s Office that morning resulted in Todd Spence being cited for trespassing. He was issued a citation, then told to leave the area. Spence gathered his belongings into three bags, then biked to the spot where volunteers were preparing for the day’s work.

When I spoke with Todd Spence that morning, after putting on my bright reflective vest, there was a lot I didn’t know. I didn’t know Spence had already been cited for trespassing, I didn’t know the plan was to remove the structure he’d called home for nearly 3 years, and I didn’t know he was a sex offender convicted of an incest charge. Hell, I didn’t even know the Queen of England had just died. I was just there to help my community manage a geographic area of town I once had more direct involvement with as the Homeless Outreach Coordinator of the Poverello Center.

Before that morning I had one previous interaction with Spence, in the spring, during another cleanup. His behavior then, swinging around a machete at his vast encampment, had concerned me, and his behavior now was concerning me. After talking about our role as volunteers with Spence, and writing down my phone number in one of his notebooks, I proceeded to the work site to get to work.

And that’s when I realized the plan was to take apart this:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/748051584?h=9342e0bbe1&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479

When I coordinated biannual cleanups in this area, we didn’t touch active camp sites. Also, due to the consistency of the cleanups, permanent structures like these NEVER GOT BUILT in the first place.

But that all changed when I left my job in 2016.

The hands-off approach that has existed over the subsequent years (until one citizen had enough and got directly involved) has ONLY been able to exist because of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office NOT enforcing laws.

But wasting public tax dollars through Sheriff Office inaction wasn’t enough for our caring community. No, the Montana Department of Transportation saw the STELLAR WORK of a certain private security firm (Rogers International) and decided to give them a contract of their own.

Now, thanks to this brilliant move by MDT, there’s a PUBLIC/PRIVATE coalition of failure that was reported on, after the two assaults, like this (emphasis mine):

No, Bob, you don’t have “great many details” because you DID NOT answer your phone when I called you TWICE about what happened, so your ignorance is quite intentional. And I get it. Who wants to talk to a frustrated citizen who told you your dumb fence strategy was going to fail while describing your function as a soccer ball, getting kicked around by people with more power than you?

The details are where this story gets absolutely maddening, especially when you consider this day, September 8th, was the same day our elected leaders got together on the Missoula County Courthouse lawn to beg the Missoula electorate to pass the 5 million dollar mill levy for “crisis services” this fall. Those services include the Mobile Crisis Unit.

I wish the Mobile Crisis Unit would have been on site when Todd Spence returned to the area of the clean up because I doubt they would have momentarily detained him on the sidewalk, the way a volunteer described seeing Sheriff Deputies do, then inexplicably RELEASE him with another empty verbal command to leave, which Spence promptly ignored.

And then guess what the Sheriff Deputies did? They DROVE AWAY!

After obtaining a safety vest, Todd Spence took his bike and went to defend the destruction of his home, which entailed climbing a bulldozer and punching a MDT staff repeatedly in the face. This is how Todd Spence dealt with the confusion he had expressed earlier, at the volunteer sign-in area, as to why MDT was present, stating the property out there was his. I guess after 3 years of allowing this man to live out there, he got the impression the land belonged to him.

When I asked Deputy Jessop, later in the day, why the Mobile Crisis Unit wasn’t brought in, I was told that Spence wasn’t in the right state of mind for them to be effective, so the Sheriff’s Office didn’t want to “waste their time”. Instead, they let Spence go, and it wasn’t just two assaults that resulted. A local reporter, who was there to cover the cleanup, had to quickly evacuate the area after the volunteer coordinator called to warn her of the developing situation.

I got a similar call, but was already nearly there, so I kept going and saw a half dozen MDT staff slowly following an agitated Spence at a safe distance down a dry riverbed. A few minutes later Sheriff Deputies arrived BACK on the scene and actually did a fantastic job taking Spence into custody without shooting or tasing him. Considering I’d been told by Spence previously that he’s been tased at least 4 times, I’m glad there was restraint at that moment by the two Deputies.

Another question I had that day for Deputy Jessop is why the extent of charges initially shows up on the Missoula County Jail Roster as this:

I was told something about how the lack of fear from the two victims of Spence’s assaults indicated that it didn’t meet the statutory requirements for a more serious charge. Or some shit like that. There was also some speculation about how the County Attorney’s Office would probably amend down a more serious charge.

See how this works? And do you, dear reader, have a better understanding why one of the three recipients of my open letter is County Attorney, Kirsten Pabst?

I know Pabst has a soft spot in her heart for men who commit violence against more vulnerable people, but allowing an offender, who was convicted of incest, to live not all that far from Hellgate Elmentary School seems like a terrible idea to me.

And to back up the incest claim, here’s a screenshot:

During my work at the Poverello Center, I was actually an advocate for better serving sex offenders in our community, so, despite this unstable offender committing several assaults that day, I called up a contact I have at the jail and got it ok’d to hand-deliver his most important belongings. I did this for two reasons. One, so that he would have them upon discharge, which could be any time, since his bond is so low. And two, so that he would have a positive association with me getting his shit back for him, since I ALSO participated in destroying his home.

After all this excitement, I somehow managed to show up five minutes BEFORE our elected leaders were set to make their pitch for the 5 million dollar mill levy. I told them, as briefly and calmly as I could muster, that two MDT staff had just been assaulted, and that this was a result of terrible communication. I hope I didn’t deflate the political sails of the City and County officials who were there, like Mayoral hopeful, Jordan Hess, County Commissioner, Josh Slotnick and the Queen who IS NOT dead, Gwen Jones.

One of the lingering questions I still have, which I hope to get answered when some of the people I called last week call me back (or speak with me when I show up, in person, at their office) is WHO initiated the clean-up on September 8th, the Montana Department of Transportation, or the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office? This is an important question, and this NBC Montana article makes it sound like it wasn’t MDT. From the link (emphasis mine):

Since volunteers were asked to be present that day by MDT, it’s unclear to me who would have planned this, or initiated it, if it wasn’t MDT.

I know Sheriff T.J. McDermott doesn’t have much time left to be Sheriff, so if he wants to start acting like an effective leader for whatever he thinks the future has in store for him, now is his chance to step up, take some accountability, and give the public some fucking transparency.

The other alternative is the coward’s route of finding a scapegoat to throw under the bus. Since the Sheriff’s Office is a political office, I suspect the latter will be his choice.

Prove me wrong, Sheriff McDermott.

by Travis Mateer

I’m a curious person, so groups of people walking around in downtown Missoula, dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland and staring at their phones, piqued my interest.

So I asked, and found out, that today, September 10th, in downtown Missoula, a dark conspiracy is afoot, and a bunch of oblivious idiots think their geo-caching fun is without strings.

From the link:

Alice is trapped in Wonderland and time is running out to save her!

Follow Alice down the rabbit hole and enter a topsy-turvy world of adventure, intrigue and impossible things at this immersive Alice in Wonderland event.

For one day only, the streets of Missoula, MT will be transforming into a giant, escape-room-style experience on Saturday, September the 10th, 2022. Don’t be late!

Solve clues which just get curiouser and curiouser, take on mad and mischievous challenges, and uncover a dark conspiracy at the heart of Wonderland.

Ok. Have fun out there in fantasy geo-caching land, morons.

For those of you who know that REAL conspiracies exist, and that REAL people are suffering at the hands of those who are supposed to help, next week will have more revelations.

Until then, have fun–maybe the kind that doesn’t assist technocratic sociopaths in their mad-hatter ambition to control all facets of life on this planet.

Just a thought.

by Travis Mateer

While matters of serious importance occur and get NOT reported because the authorities are NOT saying anything to any media about a dead person made dead by a bullet somewhere west of town, near the airport, some out there in positions of influence are interested in other things.

For example, I think it’s pretty relevant, on a breaking-their-information-blackout sort of way, to know the building where someone was shot on August 27th by an officer of some kind, although not much else is known.

To give you, dear reader, a better idea of where this building is located, here is a graphic for context:

How did I know this was the building? I asked around. Well, the first person I asked actually told me, a guy at the National Weather Service building. He confirmed my hunch that the wood on the door was a result of whatever happened inside.

Did I mention this weather service man used the word “barricade”?

What else did this guy tell me that might be helpful? That no one in authority, as far as he knows, has come by to take any statements? Is this lack of interest in what people working out there might have seen seem strange at all?

I’m writing this on a Friday night, so maybe I’m allowing my perspective to be skewed by the things OTHER people are interested in, which always seems to get more personal the closer I get to exposing something significant.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The crisis intervention that is needed in this community is NOT the levy proposed yesterday by elected leaders and other community supporters because the crisis isn’t a funding crisis, it’s a leadership one.

The more conversations I have with people on the frontlines of your deteriorating criminal justice system, the more I’m realizing what an amazing opportunity your collective failure could provide our divided community.

Let’s take the issue of sexual assault as an example.

Once upon a time, about ten years ago, how our criminal justice system handled claims of sexual assault really divided us, as a community. There was even a book about it, and for a short time a glimmer of unity could be seen as literature aficionados and football fans came together to complain about how unfair the attention was from an outsider.

Well, that unity is emerging once again because our common ground is the hunting ground, and it’s everywhere. Let me explain.

Universities, churches, homeless camps and workplaces are all fertile hunting grounds thanks to a criminal justice system that never got its shit together.

Oh, you guys got better at PR and exerting narrative control, that’s for sure, but that’s because you get to hide your failures behind legal shields, like the Confidential Criminal Justice Information statute that keeps all the documentation of your failure hermetically sealed from the public.

The information you allow to trickle out from Public Information Officers and press releases has become so meager, I’m starting to see local media realize if they don’t something about it soon, they’ll die of thirst.

Since jurisdictional finger-pointing is a favorite duck-and-run strategy of yours, right up there with fear-based budget panhandling, my hope is to see you together, like on a panel or something, answering questions from the public.

Until that happens, this open letter will have to do.

Sincerely,

Travis Mateer

by Travis Mateer

Before the six Mayoral interviews could begin on Wednesday, the relocation and build-out of the new Transitional Safe Outdoor Space (the cool kids pronounce it like this: T-Sauce) was on the agenda.

Why, you ask? Because the TSOS can’t be built into existence if it has to follow the zoning requirements other developers have to follow on the land where it’s going to be built. Requirements under Title 20 would require things like protected, long-term bike storage, and landscape islands.

I didn’t see the connection at the time, because I had yet to hear the anecdotal story that secured my tepid support of one of the six candidates, so I made my first public comment of the day with some on-the-ground perspective about homeless camp infrastructure and the need for sensible rules and policies.

After the morning homeless camp kick-off listing all the various requirements the developers of this new homeless camp won’t have to include, Jacob Elder approached the Council, and League Of Women interviewers, for his I-want-to-be-Mayor round 2.

Personally, I’m kind of excited at the new skills I am seeing develop from this young man who crashed and burned in both his professional ambition to become Mayor last year, and his personal life since then.

What skills, you ask? The ability to communicate with the dead, for one.

I don’t know if it’s a Ouija board, or something more exotic, but somehow Jacob Elder has received the clear message that our departed Mayor (his former political opponent) would LOVE to see him get the job. A job, he reminded everyone, he’s wanted for seven years.

The two candidates who actually have a chance to get the job include the one I’d like to see receive the seven votes necessary next Monday, and that’s Mike Nugent.

The reason is the story he told during his concluding comments about the quandary of a home seller to hook up, or NOT to hook up to the city sewer. Hooking up to the sewer would have meant being annexed into the city, and being annexed into the city would have meant a whole slew of upgrades, quickly approaching, Nugent said, up to at least $45,000 in required improvements.

The sellers decided to forgo that option, because why the hell would they? If they had, I imagine their faces would have eventually looked something like this:

To be fair, my face may have resembled Hanks’ had I not kept it in a book for most of my time inside Council chambers. Especially when the other serious contender, Jordan Hess, hemmed and hawed about the pandemic being the reason for entering into a contract with the private security firm, Rogers International, “outside the procurement process”.

One thing I learned listening to Jordan Hess congratulating himself for no “houseless” people dying of exposure the last few years is that he’s now on the board of the Poverello Center, a place where one “houseless” man, Sean Stevenson, had a lethal encounter with another resident (or residents) on January 3rd, 2020.

After Hess’ performance, I let him know that Sean’s family never heard from anyone at the Poverello Center after Sean’s assault and subsequent removal from life support at St. Pats hospital while a Sheriff Deputy stood by, since the Deputy was acting as the coroner at the time. Then I followed up with an email, because that’s how I roll.

I decided NOT to roll up to the podium on rollerblades for my second public comment, which occurred just after 4pm. In the spirit of sharing anecdotal stories, I included a positive encounter I had with a CITY police officer last week. She was checking in on Harley NOT because someone reported his behavior as a problem, but because checking in on some of the street people had become part of her morning routine.

I rambled a bit in my comment, since there’s so much crazy shit going on, but tried to keep it brief. Ultimately I wanted Council to know (and for it to be documented) that a concerning lack of transparency has developed between law enforcement and the media tasked with informing the public about what the hell is going on.

I let them know I’m asking questions–like whether or not that SWAT incident at the end of August was a false alarm, and who might be coordinating other possible trainings–and THEY SHOULD TO!

After all, we are in the middle of a significant leadership transition, and not just with a new, temporary Mayor. We will also have a new Sheriff next year, most likely Jeremiah Petersen, but no one is talking about him because he doesn’t have a political opponent. I don’t think that’s a good thing at all.

After City Council meets next Monday, we should know who our placeholder Mayor will be. For the sake of the elders on Council, I hope the youngsters don’t keep them up too late. A grumpy Gwen face is a withering sight to see, especially in person.

Thanks for reading!