by Travis Mateer

What you are looking at is A NATURAL PLACE FOR MUSIC ON THE BANKS OF THE LEGENDARY BLACKFOOT RIVER! Why am I yelling this? Maybe a more professionally produced image will clarify why VOLUME will be an important concept for today’s article.

I have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get straight to my theory on the nature of Nick Checota’s freshly-announced deal with Live Nation Entertainment.

I suspect the bigger player with musical acts on tight, exclusive performance contracts (Live Nation) heard some kind of GROOVY pitch from Nick that went something like this (and this is entirely speculative) “Hey guys, I’ll audition Logjam for your portfolio if you give me premium Cannabis placement at shows and venues in states where it’s legal.”

Is this scenario plausible? I think so. And imagine the opportunity that would exist if the Federal Government finally took Cannabis (and its plethora of products) off the schedule I list. Having a relationship with an international concert promotion company could be VERY lucrative for an ambitious Cannabis entrepreneur.

Concerts can’t be lucrative, though, if people are overdosing and fighting from over-indulging in drugs and alcohol, so this is where a thing called SECURITY comes into play.

In Zoom Town proper (downtown Missoula), private security is being tasked with an increasing role in protecting municipal infrastructure, county infrastructure, private businesses, and the people who move through these spaces.

Some of the people who move through these spaces are frequently on drugs, like meth, and that results in them having not-good interactions with anyone they come across. I’ve been running into one of these people recently, and trying to ascertain what he might be actually experiencing is quite difficult.

What this individual is telling me, and WHO he claims is allegedly feeding him information, is so troubling that I called the private security company allegedly having these interactions with him. I can’t imagine a security company would be telling an active meth user bad things about a guy who runs a competing private security company, but I wanted to make sure someone got a heads up about what this drug user was saying on the streets.

As I scanned the guy’s Facebook page, I found a really sad example of the mental health issues he’s dealing with, which just highlights how careful professionals need to be when interacting with someone like him.

13 years ago another unstable person had some interactions with the PUBLIC security we call police. It didn’t end well. From the link (emphasis mine):

The family of a Montana man who killed himself earlier this summer say they believe he was driven over the edge by authorities who recruited him as a drug informant.

Family members told the Missoulian that 21-year-old Colton Peterson was given a deadline by the Missoula Police Department to hand over other marijuana growers’ names. Peterson shot himself on July 27, less than two hours before the deadline expired.

Frank Peterson, the father, and his mother, Juliena Darling, say the family tried to explain to police their son was nearing the mental tipping point and shouldn’t be pressured into snitching on other drug dealers.

“The bottom line is that the police are not trained to know if someone is suicidal,” Darling said. “They should have called me in to talk with Colton when they had him. They should have called a mental health professional. But they didn’t because they wanted information, and I don’t think he had any.”

After my kangaroo court appearance on Thursday, I took a walk and ended up talking to someone who claimed to be at the bonfire the night Joey Thompson was, according to her, murdered. Here’s the story I was told.

Joey was allegedly in a vehicle with Dylan Seat and Kasen Konop for a beer run, but Joey wouldn’t pony up money, since he was already drunk, so Kasen punched him, a knife was pulled, Joey got stabbed, and then they left Joey behind. The woman telling me this said Dylan and Kasen returned to the bonfire, then left shortly afterward. Not long after that people heard several gun shots.

I was then told that people returned to the area the next day, wrapped Joey’s body in a rug, then took him to Superior, Montana, where he was dumped in the river.

This is the second person who has told me a gun was involved in the death of Joey Thompson, but so far law enforcement has said there’s NO FOUL PLAY suspected in this case. Really?

I wonder, have they even talked to this kid?

The lack of professional investigations in suspicious deaths like Joey Thompson and Rebekah Barsotti (and so many more) have all kinds of consequences that can’t be easily quantified. For example, in May, the Rolling Stone highlighted how a P.I. has been exploiting tragedy for his own gain, the same P.I. who I spoke with last year, as did the woman who is now trying to use the courts for her own vindictive purposes against me.

Yes, those in the middle of dealing with tragic deaths must ALSO be on guard for the kind of people who come out of the woodwork to “help”, like the person who deeply entangled me in the Barsotti case, and is now “helping” the mother of Joey Thompson.

While desperate families look for help anywhere they can find it, I’m looking for the financial help of individual donations to continue my local coverage of local issues. Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, and making a donation at my about page is another. I haven’t seen a donation come in for awhile, so help me break $2,000 today!

If you need the money for drugs to keep you from losing your shit, like a nice Sativa strain from a local dispensary NOT called Groove, I totally understand. But if you have some spare loot, I’m looking at least a $2,500 dollar retainer to defend myself against a very troubled person.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the Week in Review on Sunday!