Month: June 2023

by Travis Mateer

by Travis Mateer

For this week’s review I’m trying out a slightly different format. I go through the week’s posts solo, then read a chapter from a book. If that sounds simple, it’s because I desperately need SOMETHING in my life to a be a little more simple.

The book I’m choosing for this week is about police reform in Montana from 1889-1918, and the chapter is about “regulating transients”. Yes, that’s right, and it will be difficult to imagine that what you are hearing is about things that happened OVER a century ago in Montana.

With this new simplified format I’ll also be including a list of links to all the previous week’s material, but not much else beyond that. Gotta save it for Monday!

Speaking of next week, the post for Monday is already written, and it details what I found while searching the banks of the Clark Fork River for the spot where Joey Thompson’s body was found. You won’t want to miss it, so stay tuned! And please consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page, if you appreciate my work.

Thank you for listening/reading!

The Myth Of Montana’s Republican Super Majority (June 12th, 2023)

Remembering A Protector Who Wasn’t One Of Those Dangerous Grizzlies (June 13th, 2023)

Mayoral Candidate Shawn Knopp’s Homelessness Plan: Bring Back The Thunderdome? (June 14th, 2023)

Can We Assess Recent Failures To Triage The Near Future Of Homeless Shelter Services In Missoula? (June 15th, 2023)

It’s Time For United Way Of Missoula To Find A New Executive Director (June 16th, 2023)

Families Of Missing White People Feel Failed By The Criminal Justice System As Well, Missoulian (June 16th, 2023)

by Travis Mateer

If local media persists in using the lens of DIVISION to see the absolute brokenness of the criminal justice system in Montana for EVERYONE, then the only thing that will result is ANGER from everyone, especially as this white guy gets more ink for FAILING to find Jermain Charlo after 5 years.

Don’t worry, indigenous people, this guy with the first name GUY has nearly ALL the puzzle pieces and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before one of his three scenarios is substantiated by someone coming forward to help poor Detective Guy Baker out. From the link (emphasis mine):

Baker said he has three theories related to Jermain’s disappearance that he’s investigated. One is the possibility that Jermain was sex trafficked; another relates to drug activity; and the third involves someone she previously had a relationship with. Baker maintains a level of ambiguity when talking about Jermain, but repeatedly mentioned missing “puzzle pieces” when he talked about solving her disappearance in an interview this week.

“I’m still hopeful that someone will come forward with the information that will be what we need to get this case to a prosecutor,” he said. “As it stands, I feel like I have most of the puzzle pieces on the table, but not all of them.”

I’ve tried reaching out to the Charlo family AND Connie Walker, who made the Stolen podcast, but I never heard anything back. Some of my concerns were documented in this post from April, 2022, so at least I’m putting out there some additional perspective on WHY I think the “investigation” has so for produced no firm answers, or even a body, to explain what happened to Jermain Charlo 5 years ago.

With the passing of time, the unfortunate reality is MORE families are having similar experiences with a criminal justice system that seems to lack the capacity to do basic things, like call back people who might know something about how a dead body became dead body. I’m still waiting.

Today my plan is to drive to Mineral County for the County Commissioner meeting so that the three Commissioners can hear directly from a Montana citizen about what is NOT happening in their County, and mine. I’ll also be waiting to see if any of my phone calls yesterday to state agencies result in call backs.

I’ll report what I find out in Sunday’s post, which will have a little something different that should provide some fascinating historical context on Missoula’s urban camping problem, so stay tuned.

Also, now is more critical than ever to support a media effort like mine, so please consider helping out Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The Zootown Arts Community Center and the Missoula County Republicans have both recently gone through a process of leadership change, and now I think it’s time United Way does the same. For me, the last straw is United Way’s Montana Black Collective and their celebratory promotion of Juneteenth this year.

Before we get to the origin story of the Montana Black Collective, I’d like to offer some insights into one of our former Mayor’s main enforcers: Susan Hay Patrick, the Executive Director of United Way.

SHP came to Missoula in 2006 from the east coast and by the time I started my work in the non-profit sector, she had already recruited a political ally by diverting Ellie Hill (now State Senator Ellie Boldman) from her attempt to get hired at the County Attorney’s Office to becoming the Executive Director of the Poverello Center.

Before SHP got the opportunity to fuck up the 10 Year Plan To End Homelessness, she was helping Ellie create failed homeless programs, like the Salcido Drop-In Center. I was on the ground during this failure, and found out later that Ellie was less than honest in the County application to get the funds to open the drop-in center by stating that a mental health provider, who she never formally asked, would be providing mental health services.

After just 6 months of being open, the Salcido Drop-In Center was out of money, so the brilliant strategy from SHP’s recruit was to panhandle the city of Missoula for money. From the link (emphasis mine):

Less than six months after its establishment, the Salcido Drop-in Center is struggling to find the money it needs to remain open and has asked for support from the city as it attempts to secure additional state funding.

The center, open during the day, is a satellite location for the Poverello Center, the largest emergency homeless shelter and soup kitchen in western Montana. It opened on Dec. 20 of last year.

The Poverello is seeking letters of support from various local agencies as it applies for a grant from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and has received about 11 so far, said Ellie Hill, executive director of the Poverello.

Later in the article, the Pov’s Development Director is quoted. And who was the Pov’s Development Director? Oh, just the daughter of Ellen Buchanan, the Director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency (emphasis mine):

It costs between $11,000 and $11,500 a month to operate the Salcido center, which offers day programs for homeless people, said Keenan Whitt, the center’s development director.

Last year, the Poverello ended up securing a $120,000 grant from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services’ Recovery from Mental Illness budget to fund the Salcido center for 16 months. That grant expires at the end of June. Now, the Poverello is asking for a second grant from the same budget – for $175,000.

The money source for that $120,000 is VERY interesting, and not just because SHP was honored by the State Department in 2019, but ALSO because it was a State Department-funded trip that Ellie Hill/Smith/Boldman was on in 2020 when the pandemic hit. From the first link:

Missoula nonprofit leader has been honored by the U.S. State Department for her work in helping build and sustain civil society across the globe.

Susan Hay Patrick, the CEO of United Way of Missoula County, is the only American winner this year of a prestigious Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award, presented by the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

The Professional Fellows Program is a “two-way, global exchange program designed to promote mutual understanding, enhance leadership and professional skills and build lasting, sustainable partnerships between leaders from foreign countries and the U.S.,” according to the State Department.

After the 2019 State Department kudos, the world changed in 2020, so of course a chameleon who serves our local power cabal had to change with it, deploying one of her human tools, Grace Decker, a duplicitous partisan who gives zero fucks about conflicts of interest when it comes to school board policy because the ends justify the means for these people.

Adapting to the world of woke is how United Way became perfectly positioned to scoop up the outrage after a University of Montana professors’ off-campus behavior toward his family was outed. I guess SHP saw a great opportunity in this sad domestic dispute between two adults and an innocent little girl, and thus the MONTANA BLACK COLLECTIVE was born!

Long-time readers of this blog probably know where this is going. On January 3rd, 2020, a black man by the name of Sean Stevenson was assaulted INSIDE the Poverello Center. On January 5th, Sean was removed from life support by the Sheriff’s Office/Coroner BEFORE his family was notified what was happening.

The young black man who assaulted Sean, Johny Lee Perry, was shot and killed the following summer, just days after I released footage of him making threats to law enforcement. Here’s the video:

https://vimeo.com/704427238?share=copy

One might assume the death of two black men, with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office as the common denominator, would be a BIG DEAL in a liberal town like Missoula, but barely anyone in this town even knows their names. Why is that?

My answer is that the mechanisms of narrative control are so pervasive, asking this community the question WHY would be like asking a fish why it doesn’t notice the water through which it swims. How else to explain this fucking garbage from United Way?

Yes, that’s right, when influential virtue-signalers want to use a local theatre, the Roxy is more than happy to accommodate, but when I wanted to use the Roxy for my Tax Increment Financing documentary, I was shut down. This is how narrative control flexes its muscles in Zoom Town.

If you want a more objective reason for a leadership change at United Way of Missoula, I’m going to conclude this post with a sentiment that causes SHP to consider stabbing herself in the eye with a fork. It might be important to note those are HER words, not mine. From the link (emphasis mine):

Reading this answer from SHP, Missoula taxpayers should shudder that this non-profit leader is helping our local government develop Public/Private Partnerships. I know I do.

If you appreciate my historical perspective on where the metaphorical bodies are buried, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support my work, and the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Some interesting conversations are happening ABOUT and AROUND the urban camping/shelter bed quandary, and part of that conversation includes frustration about WHEN the emergency declaration was made. From the link (emphasis mine):

Missoula Mayor Jordan Hess on Friday declared a state of emergency, citing the city’s lack of shelter space and the growing number of homeless individuals living on the streets.

He restated his rationale for proclaiming the emergency on Monday night, though some members of City Council said that Friday’s declaration came as a surprise and should have waited another week until council members had been looped in.

“I’m a little frustrated that it was declared an emergency on a Friday and it’s not opening for 90 days, so we could have discussed it on City Council,” said council member Mike Nugent. “A lot of us were left to answer questions we didn’t have answers to over the weekend. Some of the neighbors feel there wasn’t a lot of transparency in the process.”

On Wednesday, this anticipated conversation kicked off at 10am with a presentation that featured a new resolve by houseless service providers to band together for the greater good of increasing shelter beds to deal with this emergency. Here’s a slide that details who these houseless leaders are:

After the presentation, it was up to Mike Nugent (who made the referral) to explain why he wants this ongoing conversation for the legislative branch, and part of that is acknowledging how little has been communicated about this emergency declaration, not mention recent failures, like the Authorized Camping Site (ACS), and an unsuccessful effort to extend Johnson Street for JUST night services, closing the shelter during the day during the month of April (in 2021).

This latter effort didn’t work for a number of reasons, said Emily Armstrong, including an increase in negative impacts for neighbors in this area of Missoula (Midtown).

Council member Kristen Jordan was particularly glum during the morning committee session, stating explicitly that “Ward 6 is tired of being ground zero” for shelter services. Jordan also asked why her and another Council member have been shut out of the Urban Camping group. The tensions around this conversation are palpable.

Daniel Carlino had questions about MRA, since they are being talked about for funding Johnson Street renovations, and questions about private security, calling out both Rogers International and Black Knight security for alleged problems. Can we have a PUBLIC security force, ponders Carlino? I think we do, and they are called police officers. This conversation isn’t going in a good direction.

When it came time for public comment, Mr. J. Kevin Hunt got up and did his thing. Part of his commentary included a very astute, very concise statement to City Council that “YOUR POLITICAL CAPITAL IS RUNNING OUT!” Mr. Hunt further begged Council to think outside of the box and to avoid business as usual approaches to this crisis.

Another citizen who provided public comment lives in the neighborhood where the Johnson Street shelter is located and indicated he had a BIG concern for security issues, speaking to the perception that many clients DO NOT WANT help. This citizen claims there’s been what seems like disinterest from the city AND the Poverello Center to address neighborhood concerns, and this has left many in the neighborhood very frustrated.

The question posed in the title of the post doesn’t seem like it can happen–the assessment piece, at least–because too much pressure is presently building for any kind of honest assessment about past mistakes. Most of this pressure will come from the property tax freak-out about to hit, combined with the budget talk that heats up next month. Then, of course, there’s the politics of November elections this year, with our placeholder Mayor wanting to be the actual, voted-by-the-people Mayor.

If an assessment were to be made, and the scope unhindered by funding constraints and self-interested politics, what could/should be studied? I have some ideas, and those ideas include:

Current shelter capacity, including in-patient treatment beds and other emergency-oriented stabilization services

Current numbers of people on waiting list for Coordinated Entry System

Numbers for calls for service (911) in area of Poverello Center/Johnson Street Shelter with a focus on the Rogers International contract

Assessment of what went wrong at the Authorized Camping Site (ACS)

Assessment of punitive shelter policies restricting services for problem clients; example would be "violation out" policies, including permanent out individuals

Assessment on criminal justice interactions to identify where the gaps are, or if maybe the whole system is FUBAR'd--jail, municipal judges, probation, etc.

These are just a few ideas of things that need to be assessed off the top of my head, I’m sure there are more, but it’s hard to reflect when we are in an EMERGENCY!

Another slide shown to Council highlights barriers to shit happening. Here’s the slide:

With all these barriers in mind, wouldn’t it make sense to MAKE SURE we are serving people with ACTUAL connections to this community?

The need to set a proper filter–a reality dictated by limited resources–is NOT something service providers are inclined to do, for a number of reasons. Some of that is because of grant funding, and some of that is ideological, but the net result is a tremendous loss of faith, from the public, that limited public dollars are being responsibly stewarded, hence the loud NO to the crisis mill levy last November.

Later in the day, during a different committee meeting, my public comment was about the budget conversation and how it should include, in some way, the crisis of local media. Is there a potential public role for local government in empowering citizen journalism? For obvious, self-interested reasons, my answer would be yes, but I can easily see the slippery slope to simply creating another mouthpiece for government control.

That said, I don’t think there could be a WORSE time for local media to suck so bad. People need to know there ARE things being done, but much remains beneath the radar of a dying news industry.

If you would like to help MY local news effort, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!