by Travis Mateer

How shall our elected leaders keep the decorum muzzle on public animals like me, who persist in howling at their full moon faces while they blink in silent annoyance at the noise?

Would you believe me if I told you the new meat shields being deployed as the rationale for tightly enforcing decorum rules are fucking CUB SCOUTS? I shit you not, people, and with my potty mouth declare THIS IS BULLSHIT!

Maybe I can find a hint of what’s transpiring inside this old cub scout book, pictured above.

The conversation around the proposed amendment to rule 4 on Wednesday morning was no LARPing pantomime. As Councilperson, Gwen Jones, slyly referenced, a member of the public faced FELONY charges not that long ago for his use of the public’s right to comment on elected officials use of PUBLIC MONEY.

After this special, early-morning session of the Budget and Finance Committee, I tried engaging the panhandling first-responders who filed in and took their seat in the back of chambers behind me, but they mostly had their collective game-face on. I guess the indignity of panhandling local officials for MORE money, because the general fund has a giant TIF-created hole in it, takes a lot of energy and concentration.

The Public Safety, Health and Operations Committee got started at 9am, and I ALSO had my game-face on as I waited for our Mayor to turn on my microphone. Listen all the way to the end so you can hear my laugh at the direction from Gwen Jones for the public to call 911 if they see crimes being committed. Because that shit is HILARIOUS!

After making my public comment, I went to see how my windows are coming along at the Mexican restaurant that needed $50,000 in TIF money in order to look fucking awesome. What do you think, Missoula?

I stopped at another business, since I’ll be hopefully needing their services soon, and did my public education spiel about TIF and the drug crisis pretending to be a homeless crisis. Then I moved along to see how my bank project for First Security Bank is coming along, since even BANKS need our public money in order to build-out their bricks-and-mortar banking infrastructure.

One of the points I made in BOTH public comments (you can find public meeting info here) is that our treatment options for addiction services are CRAP across the entire state of Montana, so maybe those crap-options should be assessed before putting another mill (this is a term used for a fiscal bandaid that allows local money-addicts to increase their supply beyond state-imposed caps) on the taxpayers over-burdened backs.

I mentioned specifically the transformation of Recovery Center Missoula into a group-home type model, and how that change, if true, will reduce in-patient options for addicts. Does anyone care? I sure fucking hope so.

I’m glad Cub Scouts were brought into this conversation because it’s good to be reminded that there are people who lack life experiences and therefore need our guidance and protection as they learn about the world they were thrust into.

If you appreciate the public awareness you can glean from my daily posts and Sunday reviews, please consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or using the donation button at my about page.

Thanks for reading!