by Travis Mateer

I was feeling down yesterday for a number of reasons, one of them being all the shit I know that makes me appear crazy if I don’t filter this knowledge for the benefit of others. For example, this picture you see above–am I going to write about smiley faces and clowns? Nope, not today. That crazy shit is going into a different piece of writing, where the REAL fun stuff is being kept for posterity.

Instead of writing about smiley faces and clowns, I’ve got some videos I’m going to share to show Zoom Chron readers some easy-to-use techniques that ANYONE can use. That’s right, you don’t have to be an independent journalist taking big risks for small donations (and thank you for each and every one!) to benefit from the information I’m hoping these videos will impart.

This first technique is one I learned from a bud-tender who exited the Cannabis dispensary where he was working to begin video taping the homeless woman yelling and assaulting the trash can on the sidewalk. The appearance of the camera quickly deescalated the woman, who stopped yelling, stopped assaulting the trash can, and walked away.

Though I wasn’t conscious at the time of the fact I was using this same technique to deescalate MYSELF, that is precisely what happened when, once again, I was told that being IN PERSON at City Council is simply not possible when you have angered someone who knows how to use the courts to punish you.

I should add that the Missoula Police Officer ALSO did an excellent job of keeping his tone and demeanor at a lower level than my initially escalated level of frustration, which my f-bomb clearly indicates. I can tell this officer has clearly taken the Crisis Intervention Training that Theresa Williams leads for the city.

Was I going to make it to a spot in time to phone in my public comment? That’s what I was thinking as I drove back to my studio, obeying ALL major traffic laws to arrive just in time IF our local officials were on time to start the meeting, which they weren’t, because of technological problems.

It’s not just the possibility of technology not working that lead me to try and make an IN PERSON public comment last night, it’s the visual aid I had with me to emphasize the point I was going to make.

Why did I bring a copy of John Coston’s book about Missoula’s serial killer, titled To Kill And Kill Again? Because I think there are STILL things that can be learned about how Wayne Nance was able to elude local authorities for so long. Here’s an excerpt from the epilogue that details the interest that the FBI has in this case:

The primary reason he’s of such interest to us is because of the fact that he committed, to the best of our knowledge, all of his crimes within a very, very small area and was still able to evade apprehension or identification. Even though he was strange, even though he arose as a prominent suspect in what they think may have been one of this first murders, he was able to mislead the people, and that’s what we’re interested in.

Yes, and now this case interests me as well, since nearly 50 years later our local law enforcement STILL has trouble catching a killer, despite a citizen like ME doing my best to help them out.

In the case of Wayne Nance, it took a lethal citizen intervention by two of Nance’s targeted victims to ultimately stopped the killing. Would you believe that Dusty Deschamps was heavily involved in the NOT catching of this killer?

With all this context in mind, here’s my public comment:

If you listen to the comment, you hear me reference my new breathing technique, which I learned in therapy. Thanks to the tech glitch, and Bob Moore’s casual exposing of Mayor Hess’ hilarious impotance when it comes to imposing the 3 minute time limit, I had time to BREATHE as instructed. I think it worked!

For further proof that I didn’t spiral into fuming on rant-mode, here’s the beginning of a song about some funny characters I’m developing, who I imagine live in a future Missoula not too far away. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Detective Gordon Shaker!

If you appreciate the results of how deescalated myself, then consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page…because therapy ain’t cheap!

Thanks for reading/listening!

UPDATE: I was told by the officer involved (while stopping by Municipal court today) that he has NOT received formal Crisis Intervention Training–could have fooled me!