by Travis Mateer

This week’s review is a solo effort that took two sessions to finish, and Saturday’s session was recorded AFTER I saw Glen Harley Stephens die on the sidewalk right in front of the doors that lead to the offices of our County Commissioners.

Here’s an image I took before the sheet went on and before the 4-5 Sheriff Deputies showed up to process his corpse:

When you listen to my podcast episode, you will hear the conversation I had with Harley two days before Christmas, 2021. This is MUCH MORE context than what you’ll get at the Missoula Current–an alleged news organization that used Harley’s image in an article earlier this month:

Since the grapevine can be as accurate as Martin Kidston’s reporting, I took it upon myself to share what happened with a few people and entities that would help confirm the identity, like a pawn shop contact I have, and The Ox. It was at The Ox I learned Harley’s beard may have earned him a Santa-related nickname.

Harley is a part of an old generation of homeless characters I knew well, and will miss. I suspect the cost of responding to him, if it could be calculated, is IMMENSE in first responder dollars alone. Harley also caused thousands of dollars in damage to the building that houses the Badlander downtown when he ripped apart nice metal gratings that had been put in place to keep riffraff from sitting on brick window sills. I also once had a conversation with Judge Kathleen Jenks about Harley because his 80+ charges in her court, and inability to address his behavior, greatly confounded her.

My last conversation with Harley actually included talk about housing, which he said he was coming up on the list for. He also acknowledged something else I heard from a private security guard, who had taken an interest in his situation and making it better, and that was the fact Harley was regularly getting robbed. I asked Harley how many times and how much he thought had been taken, since his prolific ability to panhandle money is well known. He said he had been robbed about a dozen times for probably about a thousand dollars.

This makes me sad, and I wasn’t in the greatest of places before coming across Harley’s final moments in this fucking town. I’ll be following up on this story if more develops, especially if I’m able to find any family, who I think are in Idaho.

If you value my work, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help keep it going, or you can make a donation at my about page.

Thank you for reading/listening.