Month: June 2024

by Travis Mateer

The title of this post is the question I’m asking myself after reading this piece of Poverello propaganda from the Montana Free Press. Here’s the excerpt that has me asking if I helped the man who broke his hip so he could be murdered by a homeless psychopath (emphasis mine):

The organization’s Homeless Outreach Team — which has grown from one to five people since 2011 — builds relationships with people living on the street and provides food, gear, support and connection to services. The team also works with businesses to help them understand the issues and better interact with unhoused people. 

About five years ago, the team found a man who broke his hip by the river and got him to medical treatment, Border Patton said. 

“They’re kind of the only ones going out to these camps and making sure folks are OK,” she said. “Just checking in with them, having relationships has been really good.”

Yes, that ONE PERSON who started the H.O.T. program in 2011 was me, and after working my ass off to establish a credible program, I left my position in 2016, so I’m not sure if the homeless man with a broken hip, who was found and helped by my former program, was Lee Nelson, the homeless man brutally murdered in November of 2020 by Charles Covey.

Lee Nelson had a broken hip and needed massive amounts of help to recover from his injuries, which I believe he sustained from a drunken fall. He was living under an overpass near East Missoula at the time, so maybe the article I’m quoting from is referring to a different homeless person with a broken hip.

Some of the successes I used to reference when I was working at the shelter included how I connected some very difficult clients to family OUTSIDE of Missoula. One guy, Duane, came to the shelter from prison and required significantly more medical care than the shelter could provide, but after getting kicked out of EVERY nursing home in Missoula, he was left to drink and shit himself in the streets.

The last nursing home I got Duane into lasted only a few days because Duane quickly broke rules by accessing porn on the computer, then he removed his adult diaper and shit directly in the bed as an act of protest. When Duane was dropped off back at the shelter, where we refused to let him back in, a community member almost got in a fight with me as I tried explaining, without violating HIPPA, that some clients just can’t be served safely in our shelter facility.

When I found a family member in Helena willing to let Duane stay with him, I sprang into action, got Duane cleaned up, found funding for a bus ticket, and physically put him on that bus and verified it left the station with him on it. When I reported this relocation success to staff at St. Pat’s ER, I received a standing ovation.

Another “frequent flier” of emergency services maintained he came to Missoula to “retire”, but really he was just drinking himself to death at a camp down the Kim Williams trail. The more I got to know him, the more he would share about his life, so when I discovered he had a sister in Florida, and I finally convinced him to give me her number, I called and found out this “homeless” man had a condo he could stay at because his name was on the lease.

After setting up this guy for a long bus ride east, which included little bottles of vodka for the DTs he would start experiencing WITHOUT booze, I got a call from a brother who wasn’t happy his alcoholic bro had returned home. Tough shit, I thought, but on the phone I said to this angry family member that Montana simply didn’t have the resources to help him.

That was before 2017, when this happened:

In 2017, the Legislature cut $49 million from the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget, leading to the loss of a wide range of medical and behavioral health services across the state, according to Montana Public Radio. That included roughly halving the Medicaid reimbursement for case management, which helps coordinate services for an individual’s specific needs, KFF Health News reported.

As those services declined, more people showed up at the Pov needing additional support to maintain housing, Border Patton said. That included one woman who would lose her house key daily and previously had a case manager who would keep an extra key to let her in. After losing that support, that woman couldn’t keep her apartment on her own.

“There’s dozens of anecdotes like that,” Border Patton said. “If somebody just had a little bit of help they could be successfully housed, but without anything, those people are just left out in the cold.”

Yes, they’re left out in the cold, and sometimes they bang on doors and grab the little girl who answers the door, like Lorenna did last month.

Below is a brief interview I did with Lorenna in 2022 after she got into housing, but didn’t have a case manager to help her MAINTAIN housing. Is that why she got back into a crazy, desperate situation that has negative ripple effects in our community when her behavior threatens a little girl?

https://vimeo.com/758733505

Tomorrow at Western Montana News my weekly article will continue providing insights into reality of living marginally in Missoula, but from the perspective of now BEING someone without a conventional home. If you’d like to throw some dollars at my digital panhandling effort, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is the place to do it.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I observed the energy of the PRIDE weekend from the vantage point of a cynic who doesn’t slam alcohol and isn’t impressed by the politics of the homeless conversation happening right now in Missoula, especially the grandstanding coming from Zooey Zephyr. Here’s how the Missoulian framed the politics of the weekend:

Some attendees did not wait until Pride was over to take action. As Mayor Davis began her speech at the rally on Friday, a group of protesters lined up silently in front of the main stage. They held signs with messages like “Homelessness is a policy choice” and “Don’t ban camping day or night.”

The signs referenced an ordinance passed by the Missoula City Council on June 11 that places new restrictions on urban encampments on public property. Both Zephyr and Akilah Deernose, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, criticized the ordinance in their speeches, citing the Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ community’s vulnerability to homelessness.

“For a city that claims to be welcoming of diversity and caring of the Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA community, that policy actually does the opposite, right?” Deernose said, encouraging those booing in the crowd to boo louder.

Do these two political grandstanders have any clue about the violence and degradation associated with drug addiction and alcohol abuse? And do they have any clue about how little treatment options exist in this state? Or is it just easier to ignore those aspects of homelessness because it doesn’t jive with your political agenda?

By the end of Friday night I had plenty of puke puddles to avoid, and I even saw a very drunk woman erupt like a volcano, puking all over herself at an outside table. Her friends were trying to get me to take her drink, but I declined.

The “minority report” from the critics of the resolution that emerged from the urban camping working group got some attention from NBC Montana about their complaints. From the link:

The ordinance is “vastly different” than the minority report, council member Kristen Jordan said. The proposal is “short-sighted” by Mayor Andrea Davis, specifically her staff, Jordan told NBC Montana.

“I think why did we even do the urban camping working group if staff were just going to be able to roll out what they wanted to roll out since last summer,” Jordan said. “It just felt like a really disingenuous process.”

Davis addressed the work group’s role in committee last week and what she called a “misunderstanding” by some that the group was a policy-making body.

“I want to clarify for folks that the working group was not set up to write a resolution nor an ordinance,” Davis said. “It was established to discuss the issue, to bring forward concepts, to learn from one another and make recommendations, and those recommendations are exactly what happened.”

When it comest to homelessness and pride, there is a common denominator I see and that common denominator is NARRATIVE CONTROL. Locally this will mean ignoring the fact SOME people transitioning are so mentally disturbed that they pose risks to others, like the alleged murder that occurred at the beginning of June in Missoula.

Another example of narrative control is happening at the national level with a journalist potentially facing jail time for NOT giving up the source that provided a copy of the manifesto from another mentally disturbed individual who committed horrific violence. From the link:

A public records case over a leaked manifesto belonging to Audrey Hale, a transgender individual who shot up the Covenant School in a Nashville suburb – killing three 9-year-old children and three adults, has spiraled into a contentious legal battle which could see a journalist tossed in jail if he doesn’t reveal his source.

On Monday, Chancellor I’Ashea Myles of Davidson County ordered Michael Patrick Leahy, editor and owner of the conservative news website The Tennessee Star, to appear in court. Leahy is to participate in a “show cause hearing” on June 17 to address why he should not be held in contempt over his publication’s use of the leaked documents.

Yes, narrative control is interesting when it comes to protecting local politicians from things they themselves have said and done, like this tweet from Zephyr describing her ideal relationship with a man, which only saw the light of day thanks to an obnoxious right-winger.

Another topic referenced at Saturday’s pride party was Israel’s genocidal violence, to which Zephyr said this:

Zephyr also emphasized the need to stand up for marginalized people. She was one of several speakers at Friday’s rally to bring up Palestine and specifically criticized the city council’s decision in January to table a cease-fire resolution regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

“It is incumbent on us to stand up and tell our electives that if they ignore all of our suffering, if they ignore suffering in any form, they harm our community,” Zephyr said.

This grandstanding won’t do anything to alleviate the broad suffering of the economically squeezed Missoulians who don’t have victims cards to play for public sympathy, so it will be interesting to see where this goes, especially as the political season heats up and Democrats try desperately to keep their favorite Jon in power.

If you appreciate my local perspective on controversial issues, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

On Saturday I walked with my little girl to the river, but we didn’t stay long. Why? Because, in broad daylight, a woman had JUST had her car window smashed and purse stolen. She was on the phone and nearly hysterical as she told us about the young dude in red she saw lurking in the parking lot.

The previous day, Friday, a shooting occurred at the Sha-Ron river access spot. Here’s the worthless news article about the gun incident with the boilerplate response from our worthless Sheriff’s Office that there’s no risk to public safety.

The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a gunshot incident Friday near the Sha-Ron Fishing Access in East Missoula.

According to a press release, deputies responded around 4 p.m. for a report of a gunshot wound. When authorities arrived they found one person injured.

That person was transported to a local hospital, but the current medical condition of this individual is not known at this time.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to avoid the area if possible as they investigate this incident. 

There is no risk to the public.

Actually, Sheriff’s Office, the risk to the public is YOU and the joke of a criminal justice system we have with our activist Municipal judges and all the other jokers involved in this stupid fucking charade.

Another article at KPAX describes the doubling of shoplifting incidents since 2020. From the link:

The Montana Board of Crime Control collects data from the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office and the Missoula Police Department on various reported property crimes, including theft from a motor vehicle, theft from a building and shoplifting.

The numbers include data both from the City of Missoula and Missoula County, but most of the shoplifting crime happens within city limits, according to Missoula County Attorney, Matt Jennings.

The recent Board of Crime Control data shows there were 600 shoplifting reports in Missoula in 2020 and 1185 reports in 2023.

The Board of Crime Control says the numbers for 2023 are likely underestimated, as they were not updated past November.

In the article I wrote for Western Montana News last week, I highlighted a quote from an article about Thompson Falls and the growing pains they are experiencing. Here’s the quote (emphasis mine):

Heather Berman, Sanders County Resource Advisory Committee coordinator, said there’s no plan for development on the public land known as Mule Pasture, a common concern spread within the group. Berman said there’s been misinformation about the property.

In some ways, this opposition can be traced to a worry of irresponsible growth.

“For me, I know where I came from. I watched our town explode and change into a place that you didn’t recognize,” Wing said. “Missoula. Look at Missoula. There’s crime. There’s gangs. There’s all kinds of things happening.”

Yes, Heather, it’s true, and there’s one main political party in Missoula we can thank for turning this town into an epicenter for crime, and one of those worthless politicians was filming a political ad on the lawn of the Missoula County Courthouse yesterday.

Would it be better with Republicans running this town? No, the Republicans in Missoula are equally pathetic, as evidenced by the candidate they put forward for Mayor a few election cycles ago, Jacob Elder.

I retweeted something from Elder yesterday because I think his antics are still newsworthy, and instead of responding on his social media, he started texting me. Here’s the tweet:

And here’s some of the texts I got for the offense of retweeting this former Mayoral candidate:

For additional context on this black refugee the Missoula Republicans used to troll our former Mayor, John Engen, with, here’s an article about the law school debacle Elder was a part of:

In July 2020, UM hired Grand River Solutions, a private firm based in California, and paid them more than $73,000 to investigate a series of Title IX complaints out of the UM law school. The complaints included retaliation allegations against the dean and associate dean of students and sexual assault and retaliation allegations against Elder.

UM earlier said the firm’s investigation found Kirgis and Weaver did not retaliate. In June, Elder said on social media the investigation cleared him; he had described the allegations to the Daily Montanan as sexual assault and being a sexual predator. Elder has not been charged with any crime. 

But law student Jennifer Robichaud, a complainant who had alleged retaliation by the deans and by Elder, appealed the findings of Grand River Solutions. Robichaud declined to comment on the appeal committee’s decision, but she confirmed she plans to file a case with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.

The following year Elder faced even more legal problems after being issued a no-contact order by his baby-mama, so I take threats from this asshole pretty seriously after covering his joke of a campaign, which you can read more about with these posts:

Zoom Town: A Conversation with Mayoral Candidate Jacob Elder (March 23rd, 2021)

Missoula Needs Another Mayoral Candidate Because Jacob Elder’s Campaign Just Imploded This Week (May 16th, 2021)

Examining The Claim That Mayoral Candidate Jacob Elder Is An Agent Of Change (August 1st, 2021)

In summary, I think it’s safe to say that Missoula is DEFINITELY the crime capitol of Western Montana, and it takes a bipartisan effort to suck this bad at dealing with it.

If you appreciate my perspective, consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Does the director of the Poverello Center, Jill Bonny, know how to play politics with homeless people? Yes, I think she does, and her skills go far beyond photo-ops with Senators like Jon Tester.

In a recent Missoulian article about the “urban camping” resolution, Jill referenced a homeless person who had just died on Wednesday. Here’s how the corpse was immediately politicized by Jill Bonny:

Bonny criticized the resolution for including service providers when she said most disapprove of the new policy. She also cited a death outside the Poverello Center early Wednesday morning, which she said might have been more inhumane under the city’s new policy.

“He passed away in front of Winds of Change, and it was our staff that reported it, it was our staff that identified the body, and that location would have been in a buffer zone,” Bonny said.

Did Jill Bonny say anything last May about Glen “Harley” Stephens when he died right outside the offices of County Commissioners downtown? No, she didn’t, and NO ONE at the Pov has ever spoken to the family of Sean Stevenson, who was assaulted INSIDE the homeless shelter, then euthanized by Sheriff’s Office when they took him off life support at St. Pats.

Those homeless corpses weren’t useful like the corpse found outside Winds of Change on Wednesday, so they weren’t referenced in any conventional news sources by a director who gets a six figure salary to control narratives around homelessness.

Going even further, Jill Bonny politicized the program I launched–the Homeless Outreach Teams–when she demanded any reference be removed from the resolution:

Bonny said she opposes the new laws and requested the Pov’s Homeless Outreach Team not be included in any policy during the Wednesday hearing.

Councilors approved an amendment to remove the Homeless Outreach Team and any mention of service providers from involvement in the ordinance.

Now that Jill Bonny is using a politically expedient homeless corpse to bash a resolution she doesn’t agree with while politicizing the program I created, I’m changing my previous stance of non-interference with the Pov’s 50th anniversary celebration.

For some context, here is an old Facebook post from a time when I was a celebrated member of this organization:

Yeah, this post hits a little different 14 years later as I continue exposing the Homeless Industrial Complex in Missoula and the corpses they DO NOT want to talk about, like Sean Stevenson and Johnny Lee Perry.

If Jill Bonny is worried about what this former rock star who believes in unadulterated social justice is planning, then she is free to join her fellow influencers and their campaign to smear me into shutting up. So far that campaign has been a failure.

Am I now excited for the Pov’s 50th anniversary celebration? Yes, I am, because I’m thinking of all the fun things I can do to bring more attention to what this organization is doing to control the homeless narrative

Cool, an exhibit. I wonder if any of MY work is documented in this exhibit, because someone who spent 7 years and developed a program like the HOT program SHOULD be included, right?

If you appreciate the work I’m doing now to expose the role of my former employer in the larger issue of narrative control, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Earlier this week I exhibited an impressive degree of restraint when, at Break Espresso, I saw our County Commissioner meeting with Skiggy, our newspaper editor. Part of being able to have this impressive restraint is the fact I now have weekly pieces published at Western Montana News, so that’s where you’ll need to go if you want to know more about my WMI (Weapon of Mass Instruction).

When you click the link to read my piece you’ll see a notorious German man with a mustache next to Ernie, the muppet. This is just a small glimpse of my powerful weapon for fighting the culture war, a weapon more powerful than a THOUSAND MEMES!

If you’re feeling a little sad that exclusive content is appearing on a conservative-leaning news site, don’t worry, I’m goddamn prolific and have a new song inspired by our County Commissioner you can listen to ONLY here, at Zoom Chron.

But before I get to my original tune, here’s the opportunity to support the most Gonzo of journalists here in Zoom Town: Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF).

Thanks for reading!