First, I must apologize. I seem to have passed along inaccurate information, which may have confused readers about the figurative sustenance our outgoing Sheriff, T.J. McDermott, has for breakfast.
Whether the coming tax-feast is a General Obligation Bond, or a Settlement Levy, is apparently important because one would require a vote, and the other one wouldn’t.
So which one is it, Missoulian?
If you were looking for that bond on the ballot, like I was, then you might have been confused to not see it anywhere. That’s because you don’t have a say, tax-paying voter. You just have to pony up that money for the high-functioning Sheriff’s Office and all the wonderful services they provide.
For a more detailed explanation of why you don’t get a say and must pay the Settlement Levy, here’s Alison Franz:
Ok, with that cleared up, let’s take a look at what is being alleged by the legal bell ringers for MCSO. From what I can tell, this part of the SECOND court filing for pay parity alleges our County leaders wanted pay raises for themselves, but didn’t want to trickle down the mandatory percentage, per State law.
Here’s a screenshot from the legal complaint:
Now this is all beginning to make sense to me. At some point this “longevity” scheme was probably understood to be legally tenuous, but instead of getting ahead of the financial time-bomb, nothing happened.
Until something happened, and that something is now going to cost the taxpayers A LOT of money.
The updated compensation package on the County website has been recently updated, and now reads like this:
Now that the longevity ploy has detonated, is it worth asking who lit the fuse? I mean, besides the Salary Compensation Committee from 18 years ago?
Since Detention Officers will also be added to the pay-bump requirement, which of course falls on the shoulders of Missoula County taxpayers, is it any wonder Missoula County is exploring “smart growth” fees?
If you are gob-smacked by this audacious ask, just wait until you see THIS part:
Hahahahahahaha! That’s FUNNY!
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While I’ve been having some pretty threatening experiences as of late, something about the Missoulian headline that reads “Missoula may add art park” seems particularly threatening to me.
Perhaps it was the City Club lunch I attended yesterday that paired so sourly with the notion Missoula should throw up a sculpture garden, because I definitely felt a deep stab of nausea hit when I read this bullshit:
Last week, the Missoula Parks Board voted unanimously to authorize the Parks Department to work with the Missoula Public Art Committee and a local artist, Chuck Leonard, to determine the feasibility and costs of creating and maintaining a public art sculpture park and walk along with a policy for providing public art in the Clark Fork Natural Area.
Does the Missoula Parks Board have any inkling how poorly timed their UNANIMOUS vote is? Maybe they need to hear from the public about how much we DO NOT NEED a sculpture garden. To assist, here’s a screenshot of the regular members and chair.
Who are these people? Well, just starting off with the first name, here’s what Charles Besancon is up to with his fancy business, Global Park Solutions. For those following along closely, I suggest taking note of the UN and South Africa connections.
Yesterday I was hoping to hear back from Parks and Rec’s Dave Selvage about when exactly the gate on the bridge to nowhere is being opened and shut by Black Knight security, but I never heard back.
Speaking of Black Knight Security, I missed the discussion last night at City Council about defecation and the role of private security in dealing with shit, literally. I guess that’s why we have the Missoulian. From the link:
Council members and public commenters went back and forth about whether private security makes those spaces more or less safe for residents and surrounding neighborhoods. In particular, those that took part in Monday’s meeting repeatedly pondered whether a person defecating in a yard constitutes a security threat to the property owner, and whether private security would limit that possible outcome.
While there was little agreement on the defecation question, council members were more united in expressing reservations about Rogers International’s ongoing security presence at the ACS.
“It is just disappointing to vote to keep a security firm that feels like has been problematic even for 30 more days,” said Ward 1 council member Jennifer Savage.
Did we go from sculptures and jet setters to private poop picker-uppers rather quickly? Yes. Yes we did.
Speaking of people who like to handle other people’s shit, I noticed Bill Burt, candidate for Justice of the Peace, has a Q and A in the Missoulian. Here is the part I find HILARIOUS:
Kind of sounds like Bill Burt is running against County Attorney Kirsten Pabst, doesn’t it. Funny thing is, Bill’s colleagues at the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office have to actually INVESTIGATE things in order for the County Attorney’s Office to pretend to do THEIR job.
The incident Bill Burt highlights above was a result of his buddies at MCSO doing a sub-par investigation, and I know this because I was there that day and NOT INTERVIEWED. Instead it was ME seeking out interviews with those involved to figure out what the hell happened, and why.
If I was trying to sell this community a $5 million dollar crisis milll levy, I would be very miffed with Parks and Rec and the Sheriff’s Office for their poorly timed garden-sculpting and belly-aching. All hands are apparently NOT on deck.
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A podcast that I normally find insightful tried taking on the topic of homelessness recently and all I could think of while listening was how surface-level most people’s understanding of the topic is.
The systems in place that ostensibly exist to provide order and protection seem, at least to me, to be fully inverted mockeries of their stated purposes.
Regardless of my perception, I must rely on other people within these systems to gain a degree of order and protection for myself. I’ve had this viscerally highlighted over the last few weeks in direct confrontations with a variety of characters downtown.
Today I’ll be highlighting Tracy.
I took this picture of Tracy the day after I found her descending the stairs where I have an art studio downtown. While the barrier of a “velvet rope” had been put up, sending a fairly obvious signal to NON-mentally ill people that the space beyond the rope is off limits, that didn’t deter Tracy.
After taking the picture I recorded some footage of Tracy to back up my assertion that she is mentally unstable and therefore a threat to me. I hope it’s enough for the court to grant my order of protection, if I decided to file it, but that is no guarantee.
To begin the process for an order of protection, I started with the Crime Victim’s Advocate office. I’ve had their assistance before in a similar situation, but was told by the intake person on the phone that NOPE, I can’t get their help to fill out the paperwork.
If I was a DOMESTIC VIOLENCE victim, no problem, I’d get as much hand-holding as their grant-funding allows. But a former coordinator of a Homeless Outreach Program who has a mentally ill women trying to harm him because of their delusions? I guess not.
I decided to attend City Council last night after having my delightful experience with this mentally unstable woman to let them know what the current crisis services are like for a former homeless service provider like myself, especially since I’ve had other experiences in the past with the CVA office and DID get assistance that led to an order of protection against a DIFFERENT mentally unstable woman who figured out my home address and sent threatening letters to my home.
Unbeknownst to me, a significant amount of people showed up last night to City Council to protest AGAINST the closing of the Authorized Camping Site. Since I am NOT in support of this poorly thought out homeless triage site, the public comment I made referenced a different point.
I began my unscripted comment by stating my perception that the situation at hand was the result of our community providing FALSE HOPE to people that help actually exists. I also spoke about the violence being experienced by medical first responders and hospital staff, then referenced my own experience having an unstable person (Tracy) enter a space I’d like to keep FREE of threatening people who are dangerously fixated on me.
After making the comment I stormed out, in part because the emotional manipulation coming from some of the “houseless” people was difficult to hear, especially considering my knowledge of some of their histories. I did a quick search on one name and found an article that details some of the poor choices that can lead to bad outcomes. From the link:
Redcrow was convicted in 1988 of the Aug. 26, 1987, murder of Marie Ila Richie, who was stabbed to death in what was then the Sweet Rest Motel. Richie had angered Redcrow by stealing a jacket that belonged to Redcrow’s friend, Kathy Glover. Glover and Redcrow beat Richie as the women walked west along the south shore of the Clark Fork River. Police responded, but a bloodied Richie refused help.
Glover returned to a bar where the group had been drinking, while Redcrow and Richie crossed the river at McCormick Park and went to a room at the Sweet Rest that Redcrow shared with her boyfriend, Paul Regudon.
Once there, Redcrow stabbed Richie repeatedly while Regudon watched television, testimony at Redcrow’s trial showed. Regudon and Redcrow then carried Richie’s body to the island behind the motel, where all three were found by a police a short time later.
So, how does the world of WOKE figure into this? Maybe if I had stuck around to hear how all the poor victims of the Authorized Camping Site framed the terrible decision to shut that shit down, I’d have a better answer to that question, but instead I checked local headlines before finishing up this post and discovered that someone has been arrested for selling meth from INSIDE the Authorized Camping Site.
From the link:
On October 14, 2022, Missoula Police Department officers arrested a male for possessing 2.5 grams of methamphetamine.
During the officer’s interaction with the male, the male said that he had bought $100 worth of methamphetamine and that he had smoked two “bowls” worth of the substance from the pack that was located on him. The male told the officer that he bought his meth from a male named Cave at the Missoula Authorized Camping Site. Police Public Information Officer Lydia Arnold has more.
“Officer responded to the Authorized Camping Site on Clark Fork Lane for a report of a person selling illegal drugs there,” Arnold said. “Officers on the scene spoke with the security guards and were able to see video surveillance of the suspected area and the tent involved. In the tent, officers observed drug paraphernalia, weapons, and other items associated with illegal drug activity.”
I’m familiar with John Cave because he’s been around for years, just like a few others who got up to sell their sob stories to City Council last night.
Well, I’m not buying it. Shut that shit down! If the Poverello Center and the Johnson Street shelter and family shelter and TSOS aren’t enough, then I suggest case management by bus.
If that sounds harsh, that’s because you haven’t worked in direct services like I have, and you don’t know what some of these people are hiding.
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After reading two articles yesterday about how grant money is being directed locally, I realized that most people who hear about how grant money is used probably assume the stated intent is the REAL intent, when, in reality, the intent is to CONTROL, not assist, the recipients.
Let’s begin with the $300,000 dollar grant for “violence prevention” recently announced by the University of Montana. How will this money help prevent violence, you are probably wondering? Here’s a quote from the article describing how this money will be used (emphasis mine):
SARC, the Student Advocacy Resource Center at the University of Montana, recently earned a $300,000 federal grant to offer critical support for domestic violence and sexual assault prevention at UM and in the Missoula community.
The grant, from the national Office on Violence Against Women, will fund the UM PEACE Project (Prevention Education Anti-Violence Collaborative Effort). About $100,000 will be spent each year over the next three years. A bulk of the grant will fund a PEACE Project director, who will be hired by next year and add more capacity to SARC.
In addition, the grant will support a social media marketing campaign, outreach and training, and collaboration with community partners and other campuses across the nation. The project director will coordinate the work with both campus and Missoula community partners, said SARC Director Jen Euell.
Yes, hire a person who will have a personal priority of KEEPING THAT PAYCHECK, and then direct the rest to some fucking obnoxious social media marketing campaign.
Who is ACTUALLY assisted by this grant? The University benefits, that’s for sure, because they can point to this money and pretend it will change the reality on the ground for those hoping the system can produce something called “justice” when they’re drugged and raped downtown on a weekend night after going to one of our fine alcohol-peddling establishments.
Creating new, paid positions, then filling them with well-meaning people, is a very effective control mechanism because whoever is hired will inevitably realize, at some point, that the system they thought they could help reform from the inside is actually more like a complex, living organism that will enact sophisticated methods of self-preservation when “attacked” with attempts to change it. Their energy is then directed toward developing rationalizations that dampen their complicity in failing to fix the system they are being paid to keep functioning.
Now, let’s say I’m a talented artist who wants to bring attention to this process of systemic entanglement undermining well-meaning people but, like most people, I’m not independently wealthy enough to self-finance with the kind of loot it takes to make and, more importantly, PROMOTE, a work of art, like a documentary?
Should I go in search of grant money? Some artists did, thanks to “Rescue Plan” money, and now those efforts are beginning to come to the stages of Missoula, entering minds and shaping opinions. From the link:
The funds are “intended to boost Montana’s creative economy as it continues to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic,” according to the council’s website.
The MAC put out a call for applications and received 268 applications. It was able to fund 89. Thirty-nine artists in western Montana on this side of the divide (plus one on the Blackfeet Reservation) were accepted, for a total of $329,210 in funding.
So, what kind of projects got money? Did an aging hipster who got sad when Krakauer wrote HIS book about Missoula’s criminal justice system get some money?
Yes. Yes he did. And soon Missoula can benefit from this (sort of) artist and his take on the Wilma.
If you’re NOT excited, here’s a picture I took of the Smetanka in July as he was pointing his hipster camera at his subject:
From the Missoulian link:
Filmmaker Andy Smetanka is working on a short documentary, “I Am The Wilma Theater,” about the historic venue. It will feature Annie Garde, the retired “Pea Green Boat” host, with a score by John Sporman, a bassist/composer with a history of writing for film and dance.
How far up Nick Checota’s ass did this artist place his brown nose? Since I haven’t seen this “short documentary” yet, I can’t say, but I’m eager to see it and report back.
Before Nick Checota owned the Wilma, an eccentric by the name of Edward Sharp ran it. I have a rare publication from the 90’s about Sharp and his “dove”, Koro Hatto. The oddest part of the Wilma back then was the Chapel of the Dove, the remnants of which you can see at Rockin Rudy’s:
This part of the Chapel was saved from destruction by the owner of Rockin Rudy’s, Bruce Micklus. I spoke with Bruch recently and he told me about being contacted when the Wilma was being renovated awhile back. If Bruce hadn’t said yes to taking this piece of Missoula history (he said his building was the only one tall enough to house it) then it would be lost to us.
Below is an image from the publication I purchased last year showing the ornate wooden contraption in its original location.
Bruce was impressed I knew as much as I did about Edward Sharp’s role in Missoula because this history isn’t readily available anymore. Will Smetanka’s documentary help fix that? I genuinely hope so. Even though I find Smetanka’s hipster style to be rather insufferable, if he helps archive this weird part of Missoula’s history, I’ll be happy.
Rockin Rudy’s has another relic from the Wilma I wasn’t aware of; a large case used to display jewelry, which is pictured below. Bruce told me it used to display the outfit of an opera singer, probably the same one who used to own the Roxy and was the namesake of the Wilma, Edna Wilma Simon.
I find this history fascinating and don’t need someone throwing a bunch of money at me to document it, though that sure would be nice, like maybe a cool $100,000 to develop my rock opera about Edward Sharp returning in spirit to haunt Checota, poltergeist style, sending him back to where he came from (Wisconsin).
While I wait for a rich benefactor to fund my rock opera, I’ll continue plugging away at the true crime underbelly of this mountain town that’s become a city in the eyes of our elected (and non-elected) leaders, because that’s what I’m called to do.
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The video that accompanies today’s post will do most of the heavy lifting, so I encourage you to begin there. For some background on the Mineral County Deputy Attorney who quickly shuts down my recording of him in his natural habitat, I’d check out this post about his on/off button, and this post about his cowboy hall of fame status.
After reviewing the video footage I took, compared to the notes of what Wally Congdon said on October 13th, it’s hard to pull out the highlights, because there’s just so much bullshit being tossed around, which makes sense from a County formally under a writ of Mandamus, per Judge Shane Vanetta.
One of the things that would be great to know is WTF Congdon means when he says OPEN FILE? This is apparently nothing like a “criminal investigation”, which I was told isn’t happening at the state level, but don’t tell Wally Congdon that, because, other than the secret bridge in the water, Congdon doesn’t seem to know much.
Here are some things Wally Congdon doesn’t know: where the laptop is, where Rebekah’s gun is, where the items in Rebekah’s Missoula trailer were released to, where Rebekah’s phone is, and what happened to the copies of Rebekah’s notebooks.
And here are some things Wally Congdon thinks he DOES know: David Barsotti got his guns back some time after Labor Day without the court-ordered right Angela Mastrovito had to review those firearms (either by herself or a chosen representative), a bridge exists in the water, and an insurance policy exists on Rebekah Barsotti that ONLY paid out upon an accidental death.
The question posed in the title of the post might have an interesting answer. Maybe the “grieving” husband, who won the status of Personal Representative in the civil case regarding Rebekah’s belongings, including her remains, is the one responsible to track the status of the items now missing.
One thing is for sure, don’t enter Wally’s office with a recording device going because he WILL rapidly approach you citing his hourly rate as a private lawyer because, as I was told by the buffalo himself, he only works 30 hours a week, meaning I must have caught him on his private lawyer time.
I continue to astound myself regarding my public/private powers. Good thing I stopped recording because otherwise I’d owe Wally $226 dollars.
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