Month: September 2023

by Travis Mateer

Who remembers the sidewalk controversy of 2018 in Missoula? I certainly do because that was the year I wrote a poem that got Gwen Jones so angry, she used her board position at Missoula Aging Services to pull me away from my work duties and chastise me, using profanity as she waved her phone at me.

Since I wasn’t in a position to point-of-order this angry woman yelling at me, I did the next best thing I could think to do, and that was stand up, tell her this was inappropriate, and leave. Because of that incident Gwen Jones was FORCED to write me a letter of apology in order for that organization to avoid a lawsuit. I think I was being too nice back then to accept that resolution to her aggression.

I didn’t realize until getting back to Missoula that Gwen is back to pathetic fear-mongering because the dude they tried sticking felony charges on got acquitted, and is now BACK HIMSELF causing a few privileged members of municipal government to experience serious consternation. From the link:

Yep, MORE cops will more than likely be standing at attention in council chambers because people like ME aren’t always super cordial when discussing things like euthanized black men, corrupt Sheriff’s Offices, and sex-offenders running rampant, assaulting state workers and allegedly peddling Fentanyl laced weed. Why can’t I be more polite when commenting on the breakdown of society? Shame on me.

Gwen Jones is in an interesting position because she received LOTS of documents from the woman who I once collaborated with, but now has me under a temporary order of protection after a substitute judge who she went to law school with ignored my objections and lack of counsel to “protect” her. From what? From what I know.

That is what everyone is REALLY terrified of, they are scared of the things I know about how they operate, and how easily I can call out someone like Martin Kidston for getting basic facts WRONG, like the length of time Eran Pehan was the Executive Director of the Poverello Center.

From the link (emphasis mine):

No, Eran Pehan started working at the Joseph Residence first, which was a residential program operated by the Poverello Center in conjunction with Missoula Housing Authority, if my memory is right. The person who came to Missoula from Boise went by the name Ellie Hill, and now she’s State Senator, Ellie Boldman. From the link (emphasis mine):

Yes, Ellie BOLDMAN used the Poverello Center to launch her political career as a Democrat, and I worked there during the VERY difficult transition period that Eran Pehan helped smooth over and was later rewarded for by Mayor Engen.

Martin Kidston ALSO worked for the Democrat machine in Montana before becoming a Missoulian reporter, then crapping out his online “news” journal, which he uses to go after non-compliant progressives, like Daniel Carlino, and non-compliant narrative warriors, like me.

One of the funny things about all this is that when supporters of issues these hypocrites agree with disrupt the STATE government, that’s all just fine and dandy, but it seems to be a different story when the anger comes from people with privileged skin and heterosexual penises. Is that the threat, that I’m a white dick, Gwen?

Or maybe it’s the traction I got with the documentary I made with some talented people about Tax Increment Financing, followed by all that work you guys had to do at the legislature earlier this year to stop us from passing SB 523. Is that getting a little closer to home?

Speaking of home, a big reason I’m making plans to leave the home I’ve known for 23 years is because that substitute judge I mentioned works at a law firm with a last name that seemed very familiar to me, so I put it in my search bar and found this post. Isn’t that curious, substitute judge McDonnell?

It sucks being denied due process, which is essentially what happens when no lawyer will represent you. The Stevenson family has experienced this, and now I am experiencing the same thing.

When I went to the Public Defender’s Office before going on my road trip, I was told their office could only help me if I violated the order and got arrested.

“You could file a counter order,” they suggested. “I did,” I said, “and it was denied within HOURS.” I was also told I could represent myself, or go to Montana Legal Services, the biggest joke of a referral that exists for legal referrals, and I should know, since I worked in a call center giving social service referrals.

It’s unfortunate that angry words are so threatening to some people that they require the criminal justice system to shield them from it while ACTUAL CRIMES are being committed with little to no accountability.

Three years ago Sean Stevenson was assaulted inside the Poverello Center, but the young man who allegedly choked Sean unconscious faced NOTHING like the felony charges thrown at Brandon Bryant for the WORDS that came out of his mouth. The passing of time has not softened how disgusting that juxtaposition still is to me.

Here’s a little more from the Missoulian article that shows how corporate media depicting public anger is DEFINITELY going to become a TREND, because that’s what corporate media has the power to create in impressionable minds.

Ah, Ginny Merriam. Not only am I familiar with her provenance with gramps, I also have an old, rare publication of his from 1933 that’s representative, in my opinion, of early narrative control.

The kind of book I’m writing wouldn’t make an influencer’s list, and that’s what old H.G was doing back in 1933, traveling around the northwest to find the right books to promote. I do like the idea of the traveling around part, though.

To conclude this post, here are the two comments I provided at a Wednesday Housing, Redevelopment and Community Programs Committee meeting. I decided to call in, since our local officials are getting so fucking skittish at the perceived anger of the public and what that means for THEIR safety. Here’s first public comment:

https://vimeo.com/864237865?share=copy

And here is my second comment, which is more specific to the conversation being had about the pilot program of rotating outdoor homeless sites proposed by Council person, Kristen Jordan:

https://vimeo.com/864239594?share=copy

If my perspective is something you value, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is still active, and you can always make a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

What happens when a state’s Department of Justice becomes so inept, local jurisdictions, like Sheriff Offices, never have to worry about their own ineptitude getting seriously scrutinized? You get what we’re getting in Montana under the inept leadership of Austin Knudson. From the link (emphasis mine):

On Tuesday, though, my questions about Knudsen’s egregious behavior were finally answered: The Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed 41 charges of professional misconduct against Montana’s attorney general, largely centering on his interactions with the Supreme Court and his open, public and repeated defiance of court orders, including a “Hail-Mary” attempt to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

While these are not criminal charges, they could be career-ending for Knudsen as a lawyer. A possible consequence is disbarment, and being an attorney in good standing is part of the state’s Constitutional requirements for the attorney general’s office.

The most egregious of these 41 charges includes refusing to return illegally collected evidence for months, even though he and his office were ordered to do so. The charges also include willfully and repeatedly refusing lawful orders. Surely, Knudsen’s office would have a hard time justifying such behavior from any defendant it faces: What happens if convicted felons simply refused to serve time in jail? Or if child molesters wanted to live in buildings that also housed a daycare?

How bad is it in this state? It’s bad enough that I delude myself into hoping some kind of FEDERAL oversight is possible. Yeah, right.

An entire book by Jon Krakauer was written about our broken criminal justice system JUST in Missoula, and JUST with some rape cases, and that was JUST focusing on CITY police and the University of Montana, NOT the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.

Maybe that’s why I was inspired to cc Krakauer’s literary agent, along with that Wall Street Journal reporter, on an email I hope drives home the point I am done fucking around with unprofessional people who expect incredible people to believe fairytales about magical chokeholds.

I’m going to tell a story now, and I think it’s the first time I’ve told it here, and that’s what I learned on the day our former Mayor, John Engen, announced his candidacy for his hundredth term (fifth, actually).

I remember this day distinctly because I was present, physically, at Silver Park, around this time, watching Engen and his crew setting up.

I was disgusted because this location has John Engen literally facing the Poverello Center, which is located just across the river from Silver Park, and accessed often by Poverello clients via the California Street bridge where those assaults just happened.

I was ALSO disgusted because I knew something happened AT THIS VERY PARK not long before Sean Stevenson was assaulted, then euthanized by the Sheriff’s Office. Here’s a partial look at the case report to back up what I’m saying:

The California Street bridge is the route I took over the river and past the Poverello Center (my former employer) and THAT is where I spotted Johnny Lee Perry for the first time, the supposed perpetrator of Sean’s assault.

I stopped my bike and struck up a conversation with Johnny, asking if he’d take a walk, so we went by the spot that used to be a Mexican Restaurant (and TIF recipient) to discuss what happened to Sean.

When I told Johnny that I didn’t think he was solely responsible for the physical damage described to me by the family in the autopsy photos (which I have now seen), he gave me an explanation that was GIVEN TO HIM by a police officer, and that explanation was a claim that EMTs somehow DROPPED SEAN’S BODY off the gurney onto the ground.

Yeah, no. I checked with an actual professional after hearing this claim in 2021, and the equipment used simply wouldn’t allow for that to happen.

It’s too bad Johnny never got a chance to be more forthcoming about what happened in that men’s dorm on January 3rd, 2020, and that’s because he was shot and killed by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office on August 29th, just 4 months after my conversation with Johnny, and less than 2 weeks after I released video footage of Johnny saying provocative things, which you can see at the end of this post.

My biking around town yesterday in-between emails cc’ing literary agents and a reporter who gets PAID to do this shit was quite prolific, and covered downtown, campus, and river trails.

I spoke with one person who was friend’s with Johnny, and upset at a recent Facebook reminder (which I confirmed are fucking horrible for me to), then I saw and chatted with a judge I think is decent, telling him LOTS, including the name of the guy at the state DOJ who is supposedly doing an investigation into local corruption.

Well, if Darrell’s “viewpoint” at the beginning of this post is an accurate depiction of an AG going legally berserker, then that spells trouble for family’s wondering how state entities, like crime labs, can fuck things up so badly, or how other methods of losing, compromising, or destroying evidence can be accomplished with relative ease.

I saw this first hand during the Lee Nelson murder trial where the clear mishandling of evidence and general sloppiness of Detective Guy Baker’s investigation was a big part of the now-convicted killer’s defense.

If such a thing as competent FEDERAL oversight existed, maybe relevant items in suspicious deaths could be located, like Sean’s cell phone, or a certain deceased woman’s computer, stuff like that.

Back in April I asked a question with the title of the following post, Have We Arrived At “Manifest Abuse of Discretion” Yet? If you can read that post, after reading this one, and still say no, then you clearly haven’t had the need for a competent investigation into tragically lethal circumstances.

And I pray you never do, especially here, in Montana.

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

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Once upon a time I liked helping out law enforcement. I didn’t bake them cookies or anything, but I did help provide timely information to ALMOST catch a killer in Missoula. You know, helpful stuff like that.

Being back in Missoula right now is fucking awful for me, but I’m trying to get a semblance of normalcy by seeing the above headline and taking a bike ride to an area I’m quite familiar with. Did I identify the two alleged perpetrators? No, but I listened to some other shit that sounds all too familiar.

I was graciously invited into a camp near the bridge where Clay Salcido was beaten to death, only to hear a woman tell me about her friend in Kalispell who met a very similar end in June.

The man hanging with her was a Native guy from Ronan, and knew many of the names I knew from my time working at the shelter. I was especially interested to find out he knew the family of Jermain Charlo, so I told him my theory about how Detective Guy Baker may have slow-walked the use of FBI dogs (instead of Missoula County canine resources, which he had access to) so, when bloody clothes were found on the ex’s property, the 4 month time period that had elapsed ensured the sample was indeterminate. Isn’t that convenient?

I’ve also seen Detective Baker’s work up close by watching, in person, the Lee Nelson murder trial, and then there was that flower girl incident last summer.

What I’m trying to say is I’m familiar with how it appears HELP is definitely needed by local law enforcement, which brings me back to why I took a bike ride over the California Street bridge in the first place. From the link (emphasis mine):

The Missoula Police Department’s Detective Division is asking for the public’s help to identify two men that attacked and beat up two individuals Saturday night on the north end of the California Street Footbridge.

The following was sent out by the Missoula Police Department:

Our detective division is requesting the public’s help in identifying two males who attacked and beat up two individuals in two separate incidents Saturday night, Sept. 2nd, at 11:25 and 11:35 PM on the north end of the California Street Footbridge. Video footage before, during and after the incidents shows multiple bicyclists and pedestrians walking by the two individuals, and it appears that their first victim might have known them before he was beat up.

The video footage of the assaults is too grainy to determine anything other than it appears to be two male suspects.

While I was out in the area I spoke to one more person who is worried about her son because he hasn’t messaged her in awhile after going to Spokane. I took his name down, since I may be back in that area for my birthday. Then I took a picture of some local graffiti.

Did I mention the woman worried about her son ALSO mentioned seeing a guy with demonic looking eyes? I’m sure it’s just the drugs and nothing to worry about. Carry on, Missoula!

I ran into lots of people during my first weekday back, biking around, and usually that makes me happy, but not anymore. I do get some mild pleasure from seeing a judge I trust on the street and telling him LOTS about the Sheriff’s Office, but I doubt anything will ever come from it because the corruption goes to the top of the state, and that’s not good for someone like me.

While I continue to figure out what the hell I’m going to do, you can ease the monetary part of my worries by supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

What are your impressions of this building at first glance? Can you tell what it is? And is it even open? I wondered the same thing as I attempted to open the door of this CHURCH node of a curious organization I’ve written about before, called the Dream Center. Here’s a closer look at that door of this building, which is located in Pasco, Washington (Tri-Cities area).

CULTO? Yes, I did chuckle a bit when I read that, then I went to the establishment next door selling leather goods and confirmed this was, indeed, a church, and a church that actually opens its doors on Wednesdays and Sundays. Unlike the leather store in Eureka, this one didn’t use the name of a mystical Archon the Catholics consider demonic to sell shoes.

The day I visited this little Pasco was a busy day for me. Earlier, while using a rest stop, I saw a phone number. NO, people, get your head out of the gutter, this number was to HELP people in the sex/labor exploitation trade. You know, TRAFFICKING!

Two things happened with my call to this NATIONAL anti-trafficking number. The first thing is I waited on hold for 30 minutes, which is a time frame that I’m not sure is conducive to getting help at an interstate rest stop.

I’ll explain the second thing that happened in a moment, but first I want to show how long 30 minutes can be. For a poet with a road-bored mind, it can be enough to compose a fantastically obscene poem like this one:

I can’t pretend to poop this long 
what excuse will last?
too much fast food hot sauce 
blowing fire out my ass?

unusually high call volume 
when street pimps love their guns? 
like any slippery hole 
can make their clients cum?

oh, you are offended?
rough trade, town to town
moving fast the product 
while I listen to the sound 

of pre-recorded messages 
and music, on a loop 
over 20 minutes now—
the public has no clue 

Yakima is up ahead 
but Kennewick is next 
Tri-Cities, mother fuckers 
and motels are the best 

if I wanted something 
more than weed and joe 
with a little cream 
to help me as I go

Right around the 30 minute mark the second thing happened, and that second thing was SOMEONE ANSWERED THE PHONE!

The woman on the other end of the line ended up being VERY helpful, so helpful I pulled over to make sure I had the focus and cell-service to tell your LOTS about Missoula, and the LifeGuard Group, and Lowell Hochhalter, and sexual assault victims, and the Governor, and a Guy I now have a SECOND source regarding a personal fondness for heroin.

After talking to this woman for about the amount of time I was on hold, she asked me a few questions. Did I want to remain anonymous? Hell no, I said. And would I give permission for any follow up? Hell yes, I said. Because it’s time more mainstream media personalities, like Jon Krakauer and Connie Walker, stop getting conned by people who may have unhealthy relationships with unofficial street informants and unprofessional non-profit dudes like this guy:

How do you spell that last name again, the woman asked me? You spell Lowell’s last name like this, I replied: H O C H H A L T E R.

I couldn’t remember the name of the guy profiled by the Dream Center who is allegedly connected to a cartel and ALSO formerly hired by the smiling one to do some fence work on that “safe house” for victims of human trafficking somewhere in the Bitterroot, but that’s probably for the best.

I do, however, remember the name of the guy at the state who is supposedly investigating all this, but I’ll keep that under wraps, for now (I sure hope he got my message).

I also have some information that Lowell Hochhalter may be leaking information to family members of Joey Thompson about how he ended up dead in the river. Lowell, are you being a naughty boy? It’s not like you were ever reprimanded for violating the CCJI statute (Confidential Criminal Justice Information) when you went into creepy detail about how Jermain Charlo applied makeup.

Ok, enough for now, but trust me when I say there is LOTS MORE I know that I’m not writing about.

If you’d like to help my efforts, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Returning to Missoula is going to be bittersweet because I think my time living here is coming to an end. I don’t see how I can move forward with my life in a town so full of ignorance and hypocrisy when it comes to the realities of what’s happening here, on the ground.

I’ve spent the better part of the last three years trying to understand how a liberal town like Missoula can stand by as two black men were murdered by authorities. Where is the outrage? Where are the calls for justice? Where are the virtue-signaling artists with their murals?

Public art is just another way of telling stories and during my travels I’ve learned that you can glean a lot by looking at the images a town helps facilitate. Here are some images from just one large mural in Eureka, California.

I’ll be including some more images from my travels this week, along with some posts about topics I’ve been covering, but may have to leave for others to pursue, because I can’t keep doing what I’ve been doing here, for reasons I’ll explain in the days to come.

Now, here are the links for the week’s posts I managed to publish while traveling.

Laboring Through Cartoon Clown World (September 4th, 2023)

Burning Man, Then And Now (September 5th, 2023)

The Eureka Inn Is The Funniest Place In The World To Be With Very Little Money (September 6th, 2023)

Is The Johnson Street Facility In Missoula Going To Be A Shelter, Or A Ticking Time Bomb? (September 7th, 2023)

Why Did Sean Stevenson Come To Montana? (September 8th, 2023)

If you want to continue supporting my work during this transition, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is still active, and you can still make donation at my about page.

Thank you for everything.