Month: July 2023

by Travis Mateer

I did my best to listen to the youngsters providing public comment to City Council on Monday night, but some of the commentary got so obnoxiously utopian, I finally had to leave…and I’m glad I did, because otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten a heads up on a dangerous “homeless” man in the area.

Before I get to Justus Miller, let’s hear from a utopian youngster about how AMAZING being homeless can be!

But not in Missoula–no, 15 years ago, when Tides was 19 and transient in New Hampshire, she had the most AMAZING experience that you truly have to hear to believe. Like many comments, this one is OVER the 3 minute limit, but that didn’t seem to matter much throughout the long night.

https://vimeo.com/844438414?share=copy

I’m glad this young woman didn’t have a negative experience when she accepted the hospitality of a homeless crew in New Hampshire, but not everyone has a tent/bed/guitar laid out for them at the end of a long day being transient.

It was comments like this one that propelled me outside, where I was a little surprised to see someone flying a sign (also known as “panhandling”) right by the doorway to City Council. Since I know this panhandler pretty well (she’s not currently homeless), I stopped to converse.

Why was she in this unusual location with a sign? Because a scary guy with a knife by the name of “Justice” was making people nervous by the Courthouse. Oh shit, I said, that guy IS scary. And fucking nuts. Sure enough, when I checked the jail roster Tuesday, I found out what Justus Miller’s latest charges are:

While I await the inevitable KGVO cut/paste article about whatever crazy shit Justus is accused of doing now, you can read about how this guy threatened hospital security with box cutters in 2012, or how he rammed Walmart shoppers with a cart, then pulled a knife when confronted, in 2018, or how he was arrested for spray-painting swastikas in 2019.

Another article about a repeat offender I’m waiting to see should provide more details about the indecent exposure Trenton Holmgren is now accused of:

I spied Trenton tweaking and dancing shirtless a few months ago downtown, during a busy market Saturday. His antics were concerning enough, since I knew his history and there lots of kid around, that I thought about calling 911, but decided against it. I knew he would be picked up again for something, because that’s what happens to someone like this in an enabling community like ours.

Maybe I’m being too harsh about Missoula and should offer a second opinion. For example, a man who died homeless recently is getting a carefully crafted story (and well timed) by the Missoulian as one the Poverello’s administrative staff attempts to navigate the Poverello’s confidentiality policy. From the link:

Stephanie Dolan, the director of development at the Poverello Center, said it’s been a tough year.

“We have recently lost a few elderly folks at the Pov, and it has been particularly hard on staff,” she explained. “One of the things that is challenging about working at the Pov is that we get close to clients, and they are important to us. However, we can’t, or shouldn’t, share any of that with the community, or friends or family because of our confidentiality policies.”

The policy is in place for a reason. But there are frustrating consequences of that policy as well.

“We understand, confidentiality policies are important because being homeless is stigmatized and it’s important to maintain the privacy of vulnerable people,” Dolan continued. “One, we can only talk about the story of homelessness through data and anecdotes. Our confidentiality policies make it difficult to humanize the stories of our clients. Two, when we lose a client, we cannot share our grief with the community. We often try to do a private memorial for staff and clients only and those are meaningful and helpful. But it’s not something we share more broadly, like ‘this is Marty and we cared a lot about him. He had a family that cared about him too. He was part of our community. He mattered.’”

The Poverello staff are dealing with dying clients because nursing homes in Montana get to be selective, and addiction treatment programs get to be selective, and even jail is being more and more selective, so people live for extended periods at the shelter, and they die there to.

But it’s not the clients INSIDE the Poverello getting all the BIG attention right now, it’s the ones living OUTSIDE, so to add perspective, here’s the Executive Director, Jill Bonny, describing a dire situation up the Kim Williams trail where apparently helpless homeless clients are drinking from the river, without food, and having medical emergencies beyond the convenient reach of first responders:

https://vimeo.com/844464284?share=copy

In this emotional tug-of-war, I suspect the truth exists somewhere between utopia love camp, and Ethiopia-like hunger camp, so maybe later today I’ll take a quick bike ride up the Kim Williams trail to have a look for myself.

If you appreciate what MY perspective adds to this conversation, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support my work, while making a donation at my about page is another. You can even send me a check, which one kind reader did recently. Any little bit helps as I try to figure out our humble valley’s place in this rapidly changing world.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

There are people in Missoula who mistakingly assume the man pictured above is a reporter and NOT a politically motivated storyteller with an agenda, but Martin “Gomer” Kidston’s “reporting” on the action at City Council on Monday shows, in my opinion, his extremely biased narrative treatment of controversial topics, like urban camping.

Let’s take a look at how Marty frames this discussion on “urban camping”. From the link (emphasis mien):

From “swinging at midnight” to drug needles cast across city parks and sexual deviancy, the debate over closing Missoula’s city parks to overnight camping drew a wide range of stories and opinions into late Monday night.

Most members of City Council changed their votes after a flurry of amendments and hours of debate, supporting the ban at one point and postponing it at another. In the end, the issue was tabled.

“I don’t see the urgency passing this tonight,” said council member Mirtha Becerra. “This will directly affect what solutions we come up with.

“Banning overnight camping in city parks was once billed as an effort to protect children, give parents piece of mind and to comply with a Ninth Circuit Court decision. It was of such urgency that the city held a press event in early June to declare an emergency around urban camping.

But any serious threat once allegedly posed to the public and the city’s youth by transient and homeless campers in the city’s parks vanished as the debate wore into Monday night.

Usually a “news” article leaves a reader with a BETTER understanding of something that occurred, but after reading the excerpt above, I’m actually MORE confused about the dynamics I observed on Monday evening. Is Marty saying the threat itself vanished, or just TALK of the threat vanished?

I think the shift from EMERGENCY ordinance to POSTPONING the debate is making it difficult for Marty to keep up, but he tries his best and, really, what more can we expect from a “former” Democrat spokesperson?

From the link:

Did Marty ever STOP sharing the Party’s message? I’m sure that’s what he would tell the businesses and government entities that advertise with him, but his “reporting” tells another story, and that’s the story of narrative control, as evidenced by his treatment of me and the work I’m doing to remove meth shacks from the river bank.

Now, with this context in mind, let’s look at some more of Marty’s “reporting” from his propaganda rag, the Missoula Current:

Those opposed to a camping ban gave little mention to families or children but rather, they suggested homeless campers and transients deserved better from Missoula. That included Jill Bonny, the executive director of the Poverello Center, who opposed the ordinance banning camping in city parks.

Her organization has received millions of dollars in taxpayer support in recent years, but she suggested the community “can do better.” She urged the City Council to postpone its vote, which it did.

“Let’s pause a minute and take a look at this before we make it permanent,” Bonny said. “People are drinking from the river because they don’t have any other water to drink. They can’t call 9-1-1 because they don’t have any cell phones. Let’s find a solution for people and table this for now.”

Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a subtle tone of annoyance lurking within this “reporting” over the fact a controlled asset, like the Poverello Center, is getting all uppity with a direct (and successful) public appeal to City Council. Am I reading too much into this?

I’m also detecting some annoyance at the pie-in-the-sky dreams of urban camping supporters as they call for free everything. Here’s more hilarious Marty narrative control to show you what I’m talking about (emphasis mine):

The funding allocated by taxpayers to provide shelter, housing and other amenities for the homeless got little mention on Monday night as well.

Instead, opponents called for services they believe could make a difference for the homeless population including free camping spaces, free needle drops, free cellphones, free trust services, free showers, free shelter, rehabilitation, and simply “being left alone to exist.”

Wait, you might be thinking, aren’t these youngsters, and other urban camping supporters, supposed to be DEMOCRATS themselves? I mean, don’t they know AOC just endorsed Biden?

Yes, I’ve watched the corporate Democrat party apparatus restrain “progressive” inclinations for years, so none of this is new or particularly surprising, but it IS fucking obnoxious. Why? Because this political desire to control the narrative won’t result in any of these people actually UNDERSTANDING what’s happening, and, more importantly, what NEEDS to happen to actually help people instead of enable them.

Instead we get more of Marty’s war against Councilman Carlino and anyone who aligns with him:

Opposition to the ban on overnight camping was led by council members Kristen Jordan and Daniel Carlino.

“We’re spending a huge amount of money pushing people from place to place,” said Carlino. “We’re paying for this one way or another. We should spend it providing people bathrooms and a place to stay.”

Some council members have suggested the possibility of opening one or more city parks to homeless camping, but they haven’t said what neighborhood that would be.

The downtown area has been suggested as option, including the Riverfront Triangle, where redevelopment and economic opportunity was once eyed as a priority.

“These are our constituents, and they deserve a seat at the decision-making table,” said Jordan. “We need more time to consider all the moving parts of this issue.”

The Riverfront Triangle? That’s hilarious, I must have missed that part when I took my break for dinner.

Ultimately, the virtue-signaling campaign worked, so Marty has to do what he can to remind the uppity progressive wing about his role as a pro-development corporate whore willing to compromise the illusion of his journalistic integrity when a more aggressive narrative control strategy, when needed. Don’t ever change, Gomer!

If you appreciate the integrity I derive from being solely donation-based and self-financed, then consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I attend events–like the one promoted above by City Club Missoula–NOT to get an education about the reality of topics being presented, but to observe the political spin and damage control from people like our State Attorney, Jesse Laslovich, and our new Police Chief, Mike Colyer.

Is the drug epidemic in America bad and getting worse? Yes. Are Montana jurisdictions under-funded? Yes. Is the southern border a porous shit-show allowing cartels and Chinese raw-ingredient suppliers to run rampant? Yes. Did I learn something I DID NOT already know? Not that I can think, but maybe there’s something in my notes to justify the $10 bucks I shelled out for coffee and a cookie.

Ok, here’s something: Jesse Laslovich HATES federal prosecution guidelines, even though he signs off on them, because limited resources means its triage from top to bottom (I’m paraphrasing). To describe the explosion of Fentanyl, for example, Laslovich said it once only took 10-15 pills to get the attention of his office, but now it’s a minimum of 100 pills.

Is this like official, law enforcement give-a-shit inflation? I don’t know. I constrained myself from asking any questions, per City Club’s policy for media, though that policy doesn’t seem to apply to moderator, Rob Cheney (and editor of the Missoulian) who seemed to ask more questions of the two panelists than usual.

Sidenote: I learned Rob Cheney is working on a new book about Glacier National Park and the environment, so that’s cool! Is that why he didn’t seem to know what the hell was going on with one of his reporters the last time I reached out to him?

Anyway, another recurring theme that tracks with what I heard recently from the family of a resolved missing person case is that local jurisdictions DO NOT have the technological capacity to respond to the sophistication of the cartel threat. Well, duh, I thought, but what’s the solution? Continue throwing MORE money at the security state?

At one point Chief Colyer referenced jail capacity, but if any questions had come up about the jail (none did), Colyer wouldn’t have been able to address them. Why? Because the jail isn’t under the oversight of the police department, that’s Missoula County Sheriff Office territory. So why wasn’t Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen at this City Club presentation? Is he shy or bashful or something?

Supporters of URBAN CAMPING are certainly NOT bashful, and those decrying the TERRIBLE reality of SWEEPS, and the VIOLENCE of cleaning up piles of trash, turned out in force to treat virtue signaling like a fucking marathon race to a la-la-utopia land that doesn’t exist. Why wasn’t the Mayor in attendance, I wonder? Did he have something more important to attend to than all this municipal fun?

As the night dragged on, it started to look like the lawyers, and youngsters, and “houseless” victims were going to be able to stop the final vote on the whack-a-mole strategy by Parks and Rec. At one point Clayton Shaya, one of the self-appointed spokespeople for urban campers, described men coming at night with guns on their hips to the tell them to move, men supposedly with “the county”. Huh?

My comment was early on, and indicated that “adequate shelter beds” is a term I don’t think the youngsters, or other people without my experience working many years at the homeless shelter, actually understand. I pointed out the need to properly staff a facility with trained individuals, so an earlier claim that something could be opened immediately is totally unrealistic.

I know, reality is not something today’s youth are probably all that well-oriented to, and at least one young person took issue with me in her comment, but not the one with the blue hair.

Near the end of the marathon, Gwen Jones laid down some harsh reality for the youngsters about the Authorized Camping Site (ACS), acknowledging human trafficking was happening there, and ALSO acknowledging that private security (Rogers International) were the only ones left staffing the ACS at the end because they couldn’t staff it any other way.

These are actually big-deal disclosures that should be understood as a big deal, but probably won’t be given the context it deserves by conventional media.

Also, no Porta Potty service, or trash service, would even consider providing services anymore to an ACS type approach to this population, nor would any homeless service provider consider staffing it. I was a little flabbergasted at the degree of reality openly admitted by Jones, and I know I wasn’t the only one.

While I wait for some regular commenters to finish listening to the sound of their own voices (I am guilty of this also, but only made one comment Monday night), I should acknowledge that my own frustrations have limited my patience for some of the people I normally have more patience for. Put ME in charge of something, damn it, because I’m hearing some of the same uninformed shit I heard ten years ago and it’s one of MANY things driving me a little crazy!

Speaking of being put in charge of things, I’m doing some paid work for a bit, so depending on my schedule, City Council might be deprived of my public commenting during Wednesday committees for the rest of the summer. I know, if that happens, I’m sure I’ll be missed, right?

I don’t expect any disruption to the frequency of my posting schedule, so continue looking for new content at 7am, Monday through Friday, and a review of the week at 8am on Sunday.

So, what happened? After LOTS of commenting, and pontificating, and hand-wringing, City Council did a roll call vote to send this ordinance back to committee, but that vote failed on a 5-5 tie. Then Councilman Carlino introduced another amendment, one of two he had left in his municipal quiver, but that amendment failed. Did the second one fail? I’m not sure, things started getting a little fuzzy for me at the end.

Since the emergency ordinance had a 90 day shelf-life, discussion ensued about enacting a postponement. Every time a move like this is made, public comment is solicited, and often time comment IS made. Would this ever end, I thought at one point? Yes, it finally did, at least the ordinance part of the night, and the vote to POSTPONE the conversation until August 28th passed on an 8-2-1 vote. Whew!

If you would like to support my efforts, which includes the stamina to watch City Council meetings until late into the evening (I bailed at 10:45 after switching to virtual viewing), Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support my work, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

When you’re sitting on a 100 million dollars from the sale of Community Medical Center, in a town struggling mightily to deal with its drug epidemic pretending to be a homeless crisis, I would think something more significant than “beautifying” an outdoor space could be accomplished.

Perhaps the reason Headwaters has commissioned a Billings mural artist to beautify a Missoula alleyway is because so many consequential things happen in these liminal spaces. On Saturday I joined the joyful throngs (with my covert pessimism consciously concealed) to document some of the more infamous alleys so you, dear readers, understand what I’m talking about.

This stretch of alleyway between Broadway and Main is where Jermain Charlo was last seen alive on security camera footage. The Badlander is to the left, while the structure on the right is the parking garage. This is also the alley where the “father” of the flower girl took his little money-maker last summer after I called 911.

Another alleyway of note is the spot where our current placeholder Mayor was selected in a late night marathon process that finally ended sometime after 2am. It might not look like a consequential location here in Zoom Town, but I guarantee you, it is.

I know what you’re thinking. These alleyways are in desperate need of some colorful mural art! It’s too bad we don’t have more “non-profits” with a 100 million dollars to bring art to EVERY alleyway in Zoom Town.

Now that we’ve taken a brief visual tour of infamous Missoula alleyways, let’s look at the Missoulian article to see how the publicity for Headwaters is being framed (emphasis mine):

A new public art installation, featuring imagery of Montana, is being painted onto the back of the Confluence Center building at 119 W. Main St.

The building serves as the headquarters for the nonprofit Headwaters Foundation, which hired Montana artist Rilie Tanè Zumbrennan to work on the mural during First Friday on July 7.

Early in the day, she was operating a boom lift to paint on the background colors and flowers, and she’ll be in town for several more days to complete the project.

“We wanted to choose an artist with a strong connection to our state,” said Ruth Crystal, facilities and administrative manager for Headwaters Foundation. “We are confident that the mural Rilie creates will make this an event better place for our neighbors to come together.”

If the emphasized part of this quote reads weird, I think it’s because “event” should be “even”. Did Lee Enterprises do another round of layoffs targeting copy editors?

Anyway, the expectation is clearly that this mural will make things BETTER for Headwaters’ neighbors, like the Top Hat, which is owned by Nick Checota–which reminds me, I called Logjam Presents weeks ago about about the rumor going around that Checota is trying to find a buyer so he can go focus on the weed market full time, but I never heard anything back. I’ll have to keep digging on that one!

Well, let’s get a look at this alleyway getting the beatification treatment by Headwaters. Here it is as the artist’s team is setting up on a beautiful Saturday morning in Missoula:

Isn’t this exciting? But that’s not all. No, Headwaters is going to take up city staff time to pester them about MORE shit to make this alleyway more awesome. Because city staff don’t have better things to do. From the link:

“We’re working with the city right now, and the Missoula Downtown Association, to see if we can actually put in some planters, put in other kinds of decorations,” she said. “Eventually we’d like to have lighting in the alleyway and figure out if there’s some way, after business hours, to shut down the alleyway so that it becomes a walkway, and a destination where people can kind of hang out.”They installed electricity in their back patio so if someone wants to hold an event with food trucks and a stage for live music, it’s possible.

And, since this is a “non-profit”, the lovely space will be “helping” other non-profits. If fact, they already have! From the link (emphasis mine):

Headwaters remodeled its building as kind of a hub for nonprofits that don’t have enough of a dedicated space of their own. The building is now a user-friendly, multipurpose meeting space specifically catered to nonprofits. Since its opening, more than 50 events have been held at the Confluence Center. Local nonprofits like All Nations Health Center, Zero to Five, the Poverello Center and United Way have hosted networking events and gatherings. The space also served as the headquarters for the Western Montana Community Center volunteers during Missoula Pride.

I like how the examples emphasized makes it seem like Zero to Five and United Way are distinctly separate entities when, I am pretty sure, they are not. I don’t know if those details matter when an amazing influencer, like United Way ED, SHP, remains at the helm!

This is some pretty exciting stuff, and might put alleyways up there with bridges as critical infrastructure to keep my municipal eye on.

While this “non-profit” will be doing something nice for our community’s alley-system (which could help Nick Checota if he’s selling off is promotional assets), our healthcare system continues to be utterly deplorable and getting worse, as this headline from the Missoulian indicates–As psychiatric services decline, mentally ill patients are filling Montana’s ERs. From the link (emphasis mine):

“In Montana there’s outpatient care or inpatient care. There’s little in-between,” said Dr. Lisa Ponfick, president of the Montana Psychiatric Association and a practicing psychiatrist at Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena.

With nowhere else to go, severely mentally ill people are dropped into understaffed emergency departments where it’s difficult to access psychiatric care or have adequate supervision. Long wait times under fluorescent lights and a cacophony of sounds can exacerbate symptoms, putting patient and employee safety at risk. Last year, for example, a woman seeking treatment for suicidal ideation fired a gun inside Billings Clinic’s ED while she waited for treatment. Police officers on the scene eventually responded with gunfire.

Remember, the Headwaters Foundation was created by the sale of a PUBLIC hospital to private interests, so the money generated from that sale is actually supposed to go to help our community. I got a few ideas about what they could do with some of that loot, but for now, here are some links going back to 2018 for the context that local legacy media won’t give you about this foundation:

What Is The Headwaters Foundation And Why Does It Matter? (December 15, 2018)

On Taxes, Pilot Programs, And The Untapped Millions Held By The Headwaters Foundation (July 9th, 2023)

Who Is Behind The Headwaters Foundation And Where Did They Come From? (July 10th, 2020)

If you appreciate how I articulate what my municipal eyes are eyeing here in Zoom Town, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support my work, while making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

This week featured America’s birthday, but celebrating ANYTHING isn’t a sentiment I’m really into right now, so as official municipal work went on hiatus for the week, I kept my nose to the grindstone to provide cultural context and even an original song!

On Thursday I went to a neighborhood meeting to get zoning reform massaged into my brain, which I may write about more in depth next week. I also listened to this guy start the Department of Revenue TAX SHOCK EXPLANATION TOUR (not its real name).

Taxes and zoning reforms might not be sexy topics to analyze, but they’re local manifestations of a meta-shift being imposed on us by the psychopath class. Property taxes skyrocketing will put people out of homes and into the newly-zoned sardine cans owned by Blackrock, while the quaint freedom private vehicles once provided will be phased out.

Are neighborhoods ready to become little 15 minute cities with all the convenient amenities the psychopath class think us human cattle deserve? If the public knew the true of extent of what has been planned, and is now being rolled out, the answer would be a deafening NO. But many don’t know what’s coming.

Rosa Koire did, and she wrote a book about it called The Green Mask, which I read from for this week’s review.

Here is some context on Koire (emphasis mine):

Yes, though the excerpt I read for this week’s review isn’t long, there were many moments I had to stop to comment and/or guffaw at what I was reading.

Some Synchronicities On The Day Before The Rocket’s Red Glare (July 3rd, 2023)

The Apology Song (July 4th, 2023)

Montana’s Coroner Inquest Process Is Terrible And This Year’s Legislative Action Only Pretends To Make It More Transparent (July 5th, 2023)

Exploring A Film Wizard Named Christopher (July 6th, 2023)

When Searching For An Algorithm Leads To A Resolved Missing Person’s Case With A Theme I’ve Heard Before: Law Enforcement Needs Help (July 7th, 2023)

If you appreciate my local efforts, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for listening/reading!