by Travis Mateer

Date: April 13th, 2023
Time: 9:00am-11am; 12:30pm-2:30pm
Location: Yoke's to Southside Road
          and more
Business contacts: 2
Government/Community contact: 2
Houseless contact: 3

I wasn’t planning on doing a report on April 13th, but two news stories in the media left me wanting more information, so I went out to see what I could see. Then, later in the day, I biked along the river trail and took some pictures of tents blooming like spring foliage along the riverbank. Here is one picture showing several tents that have popped up since the Johnson Street shelter closed:

Going back to the Yoke’s situation of a “robbery gone wrong”, here is what NBC Montana reported (emphasis mine):

One man is in custody after a “robbery gone wrong” at a grocery store in Missoula.

Missoula police say the man went into Yoke’s Fresh Market on West Broadway and allegedly took several items and attempted to leave without paying.

A bystander reportedly intervened and rendered the man unconscious.

What is going on here? I’d say some vigilantism is going on, since I’m assuming the “bystander” wasn’t having his own personal items stolen, but maybe in an increasingly lawless dystopia I shouldn’t quibble about what Montana Code Annotated defines as “robbery”:

The next question to ask, which the news article leaves out, is WHO tried committing this “robbery”? Here’s the booking photo of the suspect I’m 99% sure is the guy arrested on Tuesday:

When a fun looking fellow like this pops up on the jail roster, I like to put the name in the search engine to see what other fun acts of violence he’s been involved in, and this is what came up:

From the link (emphasis mine):

At approximately 1:40 p.m. on Sunday, Missoula Police Officers responded to the Johnson Street Warming Shelter, located at 1919 North Ave West. The 911 complainants were dealing with a male who was trying to fight with them. They said he was armed with a knife, and had tried to stab a paramedic with it. Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh explains.

“When the officers arrived, they made contact with the suspect outside of the residence and he was taken into custody,” Welsh said. “They spoke with the complainants who informed them that they had administered Narcan to the individual because he was believed to have overdosed on an opioid. When he regained consciousness, he became very aggressive and angry and began threatening the EMS workers.”

When I found the manager of Yoke’s–someone I’ve spoken with in the past–he was NOT in a very talkative mood. While it was mostly “no comment”, he did give me a little perspective about where he thought the gap in the criminal justice system was, and he was very specific: MUNICIPAL judges were the problem, he said.

The other story involves a missing 18 year old who went missing in the same area Johnny Lee Perry was shot and killed by the Sheriff’s Office. Here is a picture of the teen and the article below:

The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a missing teen.

Joseph Thompson is 18-years-old, 6-foot and weighs 140 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes.

Thompson was last seen 4-5 miles up Southside Road around 4 a.m. on Tuesday.

When I drove out to this area yesterday morning, I ran into some members of this search effort. I asked a man from the Sheriff’s Office if the homeless camps down the road were a concern and he said they were. I was also told helicopter support would arrive soon. Could that be Two Bear Air? Yes, it could, and was:

I wonder if all the trash, which you will see in the video accompanying this post, is a visual problem for the GENEROUS air support providing the eyes in the sky looking for Joseph Thompson. Here’s the video:

The houseless contacts I interacted with included the sex offender in his tent, who I warned about spring river runoff, and Harley. I bought Harley and his Native pal some cigarettes after hearing some stories (one I got on video), then had a nice chat with Otis at Bell’s Tobacco about Tax Increment Financing.

Such a busy day! And you can help by supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or using the donation button at my about page.

Thanks for reading!