by Travis Mateer

It’s fascinating to juxtapose my own personal situation of managing incredible amounts of anger with the excuses people make for those without conventional homes when THEY act out. Let me give an example.

Last week I publicized my lease termination and the messy entanglement of social connections that’s driving me OUT of Incest Town (Missoula). Today I’ll add that the First Baptist Church has officially trespassed me by calling the police after I texted the Pastor about my GOOD SAMARITAN GONE BAD tour. I guess just the thought of me showing up with a bullhorn was enough for this church to involve law enforcement.

Getting the police called on you as a homeless patron of the library is much more difficult, especially in a stupidly liberal town like Missoula. Here’s an article that describes one outburst involving a chair, a description that arrives near the bottom of the article for a reason (emphasis mine):

At other times, the library’s serene, friendly atmosphere is disrupted by outbursts from people struggling with mental illness, drawing attention from patrons.

Llewlyn and Zarate-Romero shared one incident they obseved when an unhoused man became frustrated and threw a chair. A safety specialist quickly calmed him down and asked him to leave. According to Llewlyn and Zarate-Romero, shortly after, a library patron, apparently upset that the police weren’t called, yelled at the safety specialist, “If I was your boss I’d fire [you] on the spot.”

Police typically don’t get called, Bloom said, because the library’s safety specialists de-escalate uncomfortable situations before law enforcement becomes necessary.

Is throwing a chair in a public space an “uncomfortable situation” or a crime? Clearly that depends on WHO is throwing the chair. I seriously doubt an outburst like this would be tolerated in City Council chambers, for example. So why do we put up with this shit from those without conventional homes?

Missoula has no fucking clue what coddling homeless drug addicts is doing to our community because our local media is too busy “reporting” shit like this instead of investigating dead bodies and growing violence on the streets.

In the past week I’ve heard several anecdotal stories about guns increasingly showing up in conflicts around town, like two incidents of guns being flashed at the Bodega downtown, and another story about a guy who tried helping out some “urban campers”, only to have a gun put in his face and belongings stolen.

In Billings, local officials seem much more aware about where this violence is coming from.

From the link (emphasis mine):

The two shooting incidents during the last week that have left three people dead in Billings are apparently unrelated, but they do share several alarming elements in common.

Both crimes were committed by known gang members, and both involved guns that were almost certainly stolen.

In fact, there’s nearly a free flow of guns in the Billings community that is contributing to a rise in violent crimes, city officials said during a press conference held Thursday to address the recent string of homicides.

Do I know about illegal guns in Missoula? Yes I do. Have I tried to report what I know? Yes I have, but no one in local law enforcement seems to give a shit about what I know. I wonder why?

Today I’ll be making public comment at Spokane’s City Council and I’ll be warning them about cartel infiltration of homeless communities across the west and the corresponding danger of irresponsible, excuse-making reporting coming from our local media. Then I’m going to look for a new place to live, because Missoula has become intolerable for me.

On Facebook, someone claiming to have lived at the Authorized Camping Site here in Missoula recently claimed that drug dealing and human trafficking were NOT happening there. I asked this person why they were lying, since it’s easy to confirm a guy selling meth was indeed arrested INSIDE the Authorized Camping Site, but I haven’t received a response yet.

No one benefits from the excuse-making campaign I see evident in too much local reporting, including those living marginally, and dangerously, amongst sexual predators and gang members who send their drug dollars back home to head-chopping psychopaths, who then buy politicians and local law enforcement to keep the death machine grinding away. Ignoring this reality is insanely reckless.

If you appreciate my persistence in bringing REAL context to what’s happening on ACTUAL streets in this country, then please consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!