Month: August 2023

Travis Mateer

Let’s make a critical distinction for the purpose of this post: if I were to say something like YOU NEED TO BE PUNCHED IN THE FACE that is NOT the same thing as actually punching someone in the face. Are we all on the same page with this critical distinction? Good, let’s continue.

We have returned to some confounding public safety terrain here in Zoom Town that seems to put the FEELINGS of safety for our elected officials FAR AHEAD of the ACTUAL safety for this town’s citizens. And there’s no one who has taken bigger risks to bring this disparity to the surface for all of us to see than Veteran and whistleblower, Brandon Bryant.

Here is an image I selected of Bryant with the logo of DEMOCRACY NOW visible. I’m hoping this image will calm down some of our more skittish council members.

What did this Missoula native say to City Council that required a point of order on Monday? Well, watch the clip and see for yourself:

https://vimeo.com/853051837?share=copy

After this comment, something started happening away from the microphone and mostly off camera that resulted in a SECOND point of order being called for.

Here’s the clip:

https://vimeo.com/853067113?share=copy

It took me some time yesterday–time I wouldn’t have had to spend had I been present in Council chambers–but I determined that the claim I first heard regarding who was involved in the off-camera verbal exchange was not accurate.

The messy behavior of humans was front of mind when I returned to Council chambers on Wednesday to provide public comment at the Public Safety, Health and Operations Committee. While I intended to straddle the line between FIERY PASSION and OFFICIAL DECORUM, I was metaphorically disarmed by a gift of chocolate given to me by Council person, Mirtha Becerra. Damn you, Mirtha! How did you know one of my weaknesses (that’s sarcasm, by the way).

After a reminder that Sean Stevenson was NOT kept safe inside the Poverello Center on January 3rd, 2020, I briefly mentioned my very short chat with a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been in town the last few days researching a story about homelessness in Missoula, then I explained some of my own recent struggles with managing my anger and the action steps I have taken to alleviate the concern of others.

Finally, I quickly pointed out how there are differences between things like words/actions and pictures/reality. I used my own t-shirt as a visual aid. Here’s a picture of the t-shirt:

And here’s the comment:

https://vimeo.com/853171055?share=copy

While members of the public, including me, exchange WORDS with our elected leaders, the more visceral risk of PHYSICALLY DANGEROUS members of the public continues, like the non-compliant sex offender who assaulted two MDOT staff last September, and is alleged to be putting Fentanyl on his weed and OD’ing people.

Why is there no accountability for Todd Keith Spence? I have NO good answer for that question, but I DO have a new picture of Todd to share.

This image was taken from inside the Montana Department of Transportation offices, located on Broadway in Missoula, where Spence regularly harasses MDOT staff.

After my comment at Council, I learned of some kind of lethal accident that occurred just days ago, when someone fell off the Orange Street bridge. Here’s an image of the body left on the bike trail in a bodybag:

I went to this location and spoke to the same woman my source spoke to (pictured below in the tie-dyed shirt) and she told me the same story I heard from my source: the deceased, first name Matthew, was leaning on the rail above, fell over, and died. Her response seemed emotionless and rehearsed.

For more visual context, here’s a video clip I took on my bike. The abandoned car garage on the right is where Lee Nelson was brutally murdered, and the span of bridge visible at the end is where the young man supposedly fell to his death.

https://vimeo.com/853198156?share=copy

While the inherent violence of living homeless amidst rampant addiction and mental illness proliferates across our country (because it’s part of a larger war), law enforcement resources are being squandered locally on keeping more privileged people safe from mean words and strong emotions.

To wrap up this post, let me give an example of someone who used language (and a truck) to make me feel threatened, and explain what I did to deter further aggression.

Two young men in a big truck thought it would be funny to yell at me as I was biking on Brooks Street, so after they passed I took my phone out and snapped a picture.

When these assholes took a quick right and started turning around in order to come back at me from behind, I got on the sidewalk with my phone ready to shoot with the only shooting device I currently have access to. They must have realized that fucking with a biker who already snatched their license plate information wasn’t a very good idea.

If you appreciate the work I’m doing, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, while the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I wanted to do some research on a very important insect poem (poem song below), but it didn’t appear the Missoula’s insectarium is open just yet. Maybe because the insect crew was hanging out in Mineral County?

I called the phone number listed on the Facebook page and, sure enough, they are expecting to be open in late September, or early October.

Isn’t this exciting? I mean, I’ve been excited about this since 2021 because insects are COOL!

But, they can also be a little brutal sometimes, as this educational poem/song helps show:

Let’s face it, after reading the first-person account of the river otter attack, lots of things in nature can be, at times, kinda hostile.

Do we need a reminder that the world isn’t a child’s story, fellow humans?

Sorry, kids, insect town is a little more complicated.

I’m working on a story for later that should be pretty interesting, so stay tuned. And if you have the ability combined with the inclination, my local journalism (and art) can be supported through Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or you can use the donation button at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I rewatched the Watchmen series that HBO put out a few years ago and, man, I’m sure glad I did because maybe it can help me understand how INSTITUTIONAL BETRAYAL by the criminal justice system can really fuck a person up.

The historical backdrop for this alternative history narrative is the 1921 Tulsa massacre of Black Wall Street. One of the main characters, Will, is a young boy at the beginning, watching an idyllic and completely improbable movie showing a corrupt Sheriff being held accountable by a masked US Marshall who ends up, in the reveal, being black.

The title of the movie the young boy is watching before all hell breaks loose is Trust In The Law, which is the final line you hear the Marshall yell to the happy towns people on screen before the action REALLY starts.

Hooded Justice is the vigilante persona a grown up Will takes on after trying to do justice the official way, as a cop. Will is black, so obviously racism is the main reason he’s nearly lynched from a tree by his fellow badges, but the commentary the series makes about vigilantism, and the role of masks to hide from the pain of past trauma, goes far beyond race.

The character pictured above is Angela Abar, a traumatized woman who uses the persona of “Sister Night” to hide behind. At the beginning of the show, she thinks her fellow cops are her friends, but she slowly comes to understand the degree of corruption and manipulation she’s up against within her own department, which is how she rationalizes breaking the law herself to get answers.

Today’s post was going to be much different. I was reflecting on how this year began for me, with a post about the LifeGuard Group that included this:

One of the sexual assault investigations referenced in this redacted letter, which I took a serious risk to publish, didn’t go the way the victim hoped. If that person was you, and a County Attorney was going to meet with you to explain why they DID NOT charge the man you think is a danger to our community, what would you feel justified in doing?

Would you secretly record the meeting with the County Attorney? Or, take it a step further, would you plan to remove this threat by extra-judicial means?

It’s extremely ironic the author of the above letter considers herself a “watchman who foresees the danger and must warn the people“, considering she’s effectively neutralized MY ability to show up in person to comment at City Council meetings, thanks to the legal action this person has decided to take against me.

If I hadn’t been escorted out of council chambers last night by 3 cops and a member of private security, my comment would have been a warning about the Integrated Public Safety Department that’s being planned by our placeholder Mayor, and the possibility of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between police and private security, namely Black Knight.

Going back to the Watchmen series, there’s so much rich material in this show, I’ll probably have to write more about it soon, like how a creepy Panda mask relates to graffiti I documented earlier this year.

While my plans to leave this town behind for awhile progress, I’ll keep plugging away with the work I’ve been doing LONG BEFORE “Sister White” came into my life offering the false hope of a genuine partner in a shared calling.

Yes, it sucks when you realize how deeply fucked the institutions that run our criminal justice system are, but to then turn and use that system to do what’s being done to me? It’s impressive.

And, I do believe, it’s all a part of God’s plan, like the conversation I’ll be having later this morning, and the trip that will be happening soon.

If you would like to help me prepare for the next stage of my investigation into the case that started it all for me, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to do that, and the donation button at my about page is another.

Stay tuned, there’s surely more to come!

by Travis Mateer

This evening the same city leaders who have transformed our first responders into panhandlers will be throwing money at bullshit–money that has been debated over the last few weeks and is now ready for final approval.

For example, Missoula will spend $107,500 dollars for a lobbyist no one in Helena will listen to because they/them are representing Missoula, and outside this liberal bubble the rest of the state finds us absolutely intolerable. I can sympathize.

I clicked on the contract to look even closer at what we’re paying Central Housing Strategies to do, and I found this part interesting (emphasis mine):

The part of this emphasis that really interests me is the disposition of MDOT property, so I’ll try and find more on what this disposition of property is actually referring to. I was already planning on reaching out to MDOT in Missoula for a different reason, so I’ll add this to my inquiry list.

Another bullshit recipient of municipal funds this evening will be the Missoula Economic Partnership and the six figures our city will hand them so Grant Kier can yap on and on about economic development.

Again, I consulted the language of the contract to suss out the bullshit, and here it is (with my emphasis, of course):

Wow, Grant Kier’s organization does NETWORKING! And they engage in INNOVATION! What does that mean, someone told Grant to say WORKFORCE HOUSING while he’s constructing those PPPs (public-private partnerships)? What a fucking joke.

The panhandlers once known as firefighters have a more difficult road to obtaining their $7 million because that figure isn’t the throw-around kind, so mills have to be utilized, and that means a vote on the upcoming ballot.

Here’s the language from the link with my emphasis on the lie that this is a sustainable move to fund our fire needs:

Nope, NOTHING about our budget is “sustainable” because the property-owning piggy banks our elected leaders rely on to fund their schemes have limits to how much they can be squeezed before bursting. Unlike the rappers I listened to in my youth, property owners are NOT no-limit soldiers eagerly willing to fund the liberal utopia dreams of well-meaning idiots.

Now, how about a tasteless transition to that gang of urban campers who have held off Parks and Rec from doing their work for over a month. From the link (emphasis mine):

Crews moved campers out along the Kim Williams Trail Thursday and Friday.

We reached out to a Parks and Recreation official to find out what triggered the cleanup.

They tell us the department wasn’t able to maintain the area for six weeks because staff were being chased away. They also received complaints for safety in the area, adding a small group of people created a challenging situation for all.

I guess the unofficial plan of allowing a homeless death-dealer to poison people in this area isn’t coming along quick enough, so other methods had to be deployed.

Maybe if Grant Kier looks in the mirror and says WORKFORCE HOUSING three times something magical will happen!

Something magical will definitely need to happen to smooth over public opinions after what they’ve seen this spring and summer. According to Gomer’s MC, the funding wish-list for homeless services just got ANOTHER $2 million dollar request. From the link (emphasis mine):

While the Office of Community Planning, Development and Innovation submitted some budget requests several weeks ago regarding other needs, it returned to the City Council on Wednesday to request more than $2 million in funding for homelessness.

“What you have before you really does represent the most urgent need that is being recommended by all of those (provider) groups,” said Dale Bickell, the city’s CAO. “This budget does reflect the requests from that provider network as well as city staff recommendations.”

The requests includes the city’s $800,000 share to open and operate the Johnson Street shelter for one year at a cost of $1.7 million. The county would cover the remaining $900,000.

What, you didn’t believe me when I indicated our city leaders are NO-LIMIT soldiers on their mission to ignore the drug crisis they call a homeless crisis?

If you don’t me believe ME about the drug crisis, maybe you should listen to Ed Calderon. Here, I’ll make it easy for you, just click and listen.

Or don’t, and keep ignoring reality, like so many blissfully ignorant people successfully do in Zoom Town every single day!

If you’re like me, and you WANT to understand what’s coming, help me out by supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or you can make a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I didn’t expect to break down while reading the chapter I selected from I am Laurie, but, well, I’m not in the greatest of places right now, so I left the reading how it is, with my vocal-chords sounding like shit and me barely able to keep it together.

I erased a lot of the crap I was planning for this post because I’m trying to understand some serious ambition to see me pay for how I’ve poorly managed my emotions since leaving everything I thought I knew in April of last year.

This week’s review concludes with a poem I just wrote and I sure hope it passes the scrutiny of my new censors. If it hints at a geographical direction I might be taking, that’s because staying in Missoula has become absolutely intolerable for me (I’d like to thank the trusted third party who has ensured one focus of worry has been removed and safely secured).

Yes, it can be scary when someone has moments of wanting to disappear for good, so to combat that bullshit I’ve revved up my sense of purpose through my most trusted means–language! May my coping device be a song that doesn’t suck as I think about direction, and time.

Yes, I have questions for Colorado, and a growing sense of doom if I remain in my current state of Zoom Town, so something needs to change.

While I figure that out, I plan on regular posting, since Parks and Rec reclaimed territory in Hellgate Canyon from a gang of houseless ruffians at the end of the week, and I haven’t had the chance to cover it yet!

Now, here are the links to last week’s posts:

Some Words For The Decider, Whatever It Is (July 31st, 2023)

On Enduring The Missoula Democrat Mayoral Candidate Forum In The Trillion Dollar Library (August 1st, 2023)

What Kind Of Deal Did Nick Checota’s Logjam Presents Just Sign With Live Nation? (August 1st, 2023)

Heat Is Hot, And So Is Sex Work! (August 2nd, 2023)

On Turning First Responders Into Panhandlers And Cub Scouts Into Meat Shields As Budget Season Heats Up (August 2nd, 2023)

The Sharks Are Eating Montana Bite By Bite (August 3rd, 2023)

Some Thoughts For Whoever Comes After Me (August 3rd, 2023)

Some Thoughts On Drugs And Security In Zoom Town (And Beyond) (August 4th, 2023)

Since I am expecting more legal costs, I recommend Travis Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page, if you feel inclined to support my work, which a few of you recently have! Gracias!

And thanks for listening/reading, there’s more to come, whatever it will be.