Is Montana Making A Mistake By Trusting These Christian LifeGuards To Help Victims Of Human Trafficking?

by Travis Mateer

My answer to the question posed by the title of this post? Hell yes Montana is making a mistake by trusting the smiling Hochhalter family as they celebrate getting over $20,000 from our Governor to supposedly help victims of human trafficking at their “safe house” somewhere in the Bitterroot valley.

Does our local law enforcement trust Lowell Hochhalter, the chaplain of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, as he listens to the voice in his head he calls “God”? Bob Campbell, the former Missoula police officer who is now a City Council member, seems to trust these “LifeGuards” enough to publicly “like” the Facebook post announcing this nice gift.

If Bob Campbell had called me back BEFORE the municipal election, I would have told him some shit about the dynamics in this town, but he didn’t. I also haven’t received a call back from the Attorney General’s Office, so I guess they’re going to have to find out what I know when the information is published.

Maybe Penny Ronning will call me back? I spoke with her awhile ago, but that was before her failed bid to achieve higher political office. In any case, I sent her an email this morning. Here it is:

If I get a call back I’ll update Penny on what REAL journalism can produce locally. For an example of what real journalism does NOT look like, here’s KGVO “reporting” on the $20,000 dollar check gifted to the LifeGuard Group (emphasis mine):

As part of his ’12 Days of Giving’ effort, Governor Greg Gianforte and his wife, Susan, visited Missoula on Tuesday and donated a portion of his salary to help fund The Lifeguard Group, an organization that rescues human trafficking victims in Montana.

KGVO News spoke with the founder of The Lifeguard Group Lowell Hochhalter just before the Governor arrived at the Florence Hotel lobby. He described the important mission of his organization.

“At The Lifeguard Group we work with victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, and we have a home safe house for adult victims of human trafficking here in Montana,” began Hochhalter. “The Life House (residence located somewhere in western Montana) has been set up and we’ve been open for the last six months, and it’s exciting, but challenging all at the same time.”

Yes, that’s right, KGVO is reporting the words coming out of Lowell’s mouth claiming this “safe house” has been open for the last six months, which puts its opening operation date around May of 2023. That’s kind of odd, considering this article from the Missoulian, published in February of 2022, was talking about this same safe house, and the buy/sell agreement signed a year previous. From the link (emphasis mine):

The property cost just over $1,000,000, Tami said, half of which was paid for via a donation from the Gianforte Family Foundation. She also mentioned the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation along with the Gallagher Foundation and Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association as donors.

Tami said Lowell signed a buy-sell agreement on the property about a year ago. They originally had their sights set on another location, but were contacted by a family member who found the current parcel and they decided to go that route. 

In terms of selection process for who will get to stay in the house, Tami said it will be based on initial need. The goal is not to have to turn anybody away.

Lowell Hochhalter and his trafficking-fighting family should be glad that local media is so pathetic that an obviously problematic timeline isn’t scrutinized or questioned at all, just regurgitated for an audience that doesn’t know any better because how could they?

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Thanks for reading!