by Travis Mateer
After last week’s exploding homeless camp it was a little galling to listen to regular homeless commenter, Clayton Shea, complain about “amenities” that our placeholder Mayor, Jordan Hess, supposedly promised, but never delivered.
Here’s a portion of the comment (sorry for chuckling at the end, I couldn’t help it):
While Clayton Shea did his bitch and moan routine, another appreciative homeless man showed HIS gratitude by using a blow torch. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. From the link (emphasis mine):
On January 4, 2024, at approximately 11:43 a.m., a Missoula Police Department Officer was inside the Poverello Center for another call when a staff member approached and wanted to report an incident that had just occurred. The staff member reported that she was threatened by one of their clients, 36-year-old Richard Schreck, and that he also assaulted another member of the staff.
The staff member stated that she was checking people in for lunch when she saw Schreck enter the center. She explained that Schreck had been placed on an “out” from the Poverello and that he was not supposed to be inside the building.
According to court documents, Schreck then grabbed a blowtorch out of his pocket and put it in the other employee’s face. The officer interviewed the other employee who stated Schreck pulled out a “click button torch” out of his pocket. He stated that he took a step back but Schreck raised the blow torch approximately six inches away from his face, lit the torch, and then told him “I’ll burn your a**”.
This lovely individual continued to exhibit displeasure in a manner that eventually led to his arrest, but how many charges did he get? KGVO says Shreck got TWO felony charges for his behavior (emphasis mine):
While Schreck was walking out of the door, he stated to the first staff member, “You’re gonna die”. She said Schreck had a history of assaulting staff before and she would not “put it past him to do it again”.
A short time later, officers found Schreck walking west on Pine Street and placed him under arrest. An officer asked Schreck if he had any weapons on him and Schreck became argumentative. The officer then specifically asked Schreck if he had a blow torch on him and he stated that he did. Officers performed a search incident to arrest and found a handheld blow torch in his right pocket.
Schreck was then transferred to the Missoula County Detention Facility without further issue. He is currently being charged with two counts of felony assault with a weapon.
TWO counts of felony assault, you say? Sorry, KGVO, but I only saw ONE felony assault when I consulted the Missoula County Jail Roster.
What kind of amenities does blow torch guy need? How about some behavioral health services so he can find ways of expressing his frustration that doesn’t include threats of burning alive Poverello staff members?
Well, if blow torch guy identified as a Native dude, it appears behavioral health services have been paused at the amidst a shakeup that doesn’t bode well for patients of the All Nations Health Center. From the link:
Here’s what sources tell me started it all – the Behavioral Health Supervisor was fired late last month creating a ripple effect in the department.
Five service providers are working under a candidate license and must have a fully licensed supervisor to do their job, according to Montana Law. We also pulled the records to confirm this.
We were told these providers paused services with clients and two interns were forced to do the same.
I reached out to All Nations’ Executive Director Skye McGinty about pausing behavioral health services and how many patients were impacted.
McGinty confirmed that there is a pause for behavioral health services, but they hope to have services restored sometime this week.
What’s going on? Whatever happened, it looks like there will be several job opportunities at the All Nations Health Center, including the Executive Director.
In an unexpected turn of events, executive director McGinty submitted her resignation last week. She confirmed in an email to NBC Montana that her last day will come in February.
I guess providing amenities for marginalized populations isn’t the easiest thing to sustain. At least they have a nice, warm venue to complain in, right Clayton?
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Thanks for reading!