One thing I didn’t get into with that piece is the sudden proliferation of pigeons in my life. Since the location of my first two nights sleeping in my truck was right in front of the Wilma, I consider the appearance of pigeons everywhere to be a fortuitous sign.
How many pigeon signs did I receive? Well, first there’s the fact that the Wilma was once owned by Edward Sharpe, an eccentric man who is pictured above with his “dove”, the pigeon Koro Hatto. I’ll be writing about Ed and his pigeon sometime next week.
As I was parked outside the Wilma, a woman I know from my shelter days hopped in, but she couldn’t stay long, since the pigeons she is raising were back at her camp and needing their pigeon mom. Then, the next day, I caught some scenes from the movie Migration, where a pigeon gang helps a duck family get a snack in New York City.
After that, pigeons were referenced on a podcast episode by the booking asshole who blacklisted me from reappearing on Sam Tripoli’s show. Then, after I relocated my house on wheels beneath a bridge, the sound of pigeons cooing has become one of the background sounds I’m falling asleep to.
Today is First Friday in downtown Missoula, so I’ll be around working on my complex narrative delivery system constructed with plastic bricks and other trinkets, while soliciting feedback on which Lego figure should get the coveted part of Detective Guy Baker. The figure on the left is definitely in the lead so far.
If you appreciate the work I’m doing here in Zoom Town, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). I may not be paying $800 dollars for a little room anymore, but there’s still PLENTY of bills that need to be covered. Any little bit helps.
During Wednesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting Kristen Jordan flipped out. Why? The homeless camping ban, of course, and the sneaky way the rest of Council (sans Daniel Carlino) have constructed the “balanced” policy recommendations that will now move to the next Monday Council meeting on June 10th.
Here’s how the Missoula Current reported on Jordan’s freakout:
Council member Kristen Jordan, who has proposed many of the recommendations included in the proposal in the past, including authorized camp sites and needle drops, broke into an outburst on Wednesday, grabbed her purse and darted from the meeting while cussing her peers.
“I’m not voting,” she shouted. “Bullshit. Bull fucking bullshit!”
Over at NBC Montana, the “outburst” from the Ward 6 Council Members was reported like this (emphasis mine):
Jordan, a Ward 6 council member, stormed out before the meeting ended, after Sherill informed her that proposed amendments would be taken up at the June 10 meeting rather than Wednesday.
Jordan called the decision “bulls—,” eventually saying, “I can’t even believe you did this.”
Why can’t Kristen Jordan believe her peers are duplicitous narrative controllers who exploited the Working Group process to create the illusion of inclusivity, then wrote up the policy recommendations outside of public view? Is it because Jordan has spent so much time NOT attending Council meetings?
Ward 6 council member Kristen Jordan has missed 30 meetings since the first of the year, placing her attendance at roughly 47%, according to the city’s meeting minutes.
Jordan said she had a family medical emergency that required her to take nearly a month away from her responsibilities as a Ward 6 representative. She said she followed protocol in doing so.
“Before taking this time, I spoke with our mayor and our Legislative Services Director to ensure that I took the correct steps to do so, obligated by me and according to statutory requirements,” Jordan said. “I followed these steps, took the time necessary to focus on my family, and am now back doing my work as an elected official.”
Jordan asked the Current to respect her family’s privacy regarding her absence and added, “I feel a deep responsibility to my constituents, who voted me into office, to be a faithful, attending representative. I will continue to do so.”
If you want evidence of naiveté, Jordan’s request for respect from the most underhanded Missoula media outlet in existence shows she doesn’t understand what she’s up against. Maybe if Jordan had paid attention to what happened to me around the same time she was no-showing at Council, she wouldn’t be so naive.
For context, here are some links exposing Gomer’s propaganda rag, the Missoula Current:
The other Council member who often expresses opposition to our local cabal, Daniel Carlino, seemed to better manage his strong opinions by NOT freaking out, grabbing his purse, and leaving, and because Carlino kept his cool, he was able to ask some pertinent questions.
Since I’m not currently allowed to attend Council meetings on either Mondays OR Wednesdays, I have to rely on local media’s account. Here is a Carlino question NBC Montana reported on:
“Who wrote this resolution, and were any unhoused community members of Missoula involved in the drafting of this process? Carlino asked. “And if not, why not?”
And here is the Gomer’s reporting:
“How will people who need somewhere to camp know where these designated areas are without a map?” asked council member Daniel Carlino. “How will our law enforcement know where people are able and not able to camp without bringing out some sort of measuring tool? How will people that need somewhere to camp know what’s outside the buffer zone?”
It should be interesting to watch Monday’s Council meeting, which I’ll be doing remotely if I can find a better internet connection, since my phone’s connection keeps dropping the live stream feed when I try to watch Council meetings. Hopefully Jordan takes a chill pill before the meeting begins.
If you appreciate my local perspective, then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Every little bit helps.
The Monday before Tuesday’s crisis camper press conference, a resident of the Johnson Street Shelter attended City Council to provide her suggestions for improving morale at the shelter. Instead of lining up, like cattle, how about sitting down to a meal like a family? Or how about a barbecue? Or maybe a PAJAMA PARTY for residents?
I’m not relating this comment to make fun of the woman’s suggestions, but to make an important point, and that’s how some people receiving services are missing the point about the SHORT-TERM NATURE of those services, a problem the Authorized Camping Site experienced as well when residents spent personal money on building permanent structures.
Besides the confusing math of buffer zones, the idea that campers are going to break down their tents every morning will NOT go over very well, so it will be interesting to watch the reaction after this resolution gets discussed on Wednesday.
Homeless people would be banned from living in tents in large swaths of public property in Missoula under a new resolution that will be heard by the city council on Wednesday.
The so-called “buffer areas,” where living in tents would be illegal, would include anywhere within 100 feet of any residential dwelling units, 100 feet from commercial businesses or nonprofits, 300 feet from any school or daycare, 1,000 feet from any shelter facility, 50 feet from the Clark Fork River and its tributaries and 10 feet from any bike lane, public path or trailhead.
The new resolution would also ban unsheltered living, sometimes called “urban camping” or “crisis camping,” within McCormick Park, Caras Park, Westside Park or within 100 feet of a playground, splash deck, sport court, athletic field, fishing pond, bandshell, pavilion or aquatic facility in the city. There would be no unsheltered living on any conservation lands as well.
…
After 8 a.m., an individual without access to shelter must dismantle the camp facility and remove all personal property and camp facilities from the camp site until 8 p.m., according to the resolution.
“For the purposes of this resolution, camping means to pitch, erect, create, use or occupy a hard or soft-sided structure intended to provide more than rudimentary protection from the elements (e.g. tents, lean-tos, and similar),” the document states. “City staff may enforce the provisions of (Missoula municipal code) at any time of the day in the (buffer areas) irrespective of whether an individual has access to alternative shelter.”
Some online groups aren’t waiting for the Wednesday conversation to depict every CRISIS CAMPER as a helpless victim with no where else to go. Here’s the Missoula Tenants Union on Facebook with an URGENT ACTION ALERT reposted from Montana Women Vote.
While these stupid online groups promote the “humane” consumption of dangerous drugs while ignorantly pretending crisis campers just need basic services, and not more serious interventions, like forced inpatient treatment, residents clinging to more conventional housing have their tax bills due this week.
Tyler Gernant, the clerk and treasurer for Missoula County, said second-half taxes are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, or midnight if you pay online and want to avoid the late fee.
But this year’s second-half taxes also include 17 additional school equalization mills, giving the state it’s full 95 mills.
“These are the second-half taxes, but we added on the 17 mills to get to the full 95 (school equalization) mills. It includes that part and the second-half year of real estate taxes,”Gernant said on Friday.
What does this mean for the housed members of our Missoula community? It means assume the position and get ready for some serious pain.
When you paint large social groups with broad brushes, the nuance of individual situations gets lost in the messaging. Take, for example, the alleged murder just committed by a man transitioning into a woman here in Missoula. When the victim card is constantly played for those who are confused about their sexuality, necessary interventions for dangerously mentally ill individuals might not be as vigorously pursued as need be.
Here is John “Joan” Eikens mugshot after being taken into custody. What a way to kick off PRIDE month.
Tomorrow at Western Montana News I’ll be describing my first weekend of official homelessness in Missoula, so stay tuned, and if you’re finances aren’t totally decimated by the inflationary collapse of America, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.
When I started thinking about places to work out, I had some idea of places I did NOT want to go, like Michael Burks’ Fuel, or the somewhat meth-cured YMCA. Regarding the previous gym, here are two entertaining articles from 2022 that really make you go HMMMM.
Since the above-pictured VRTX popped up on Russell a few years ago, I’ve been curious, so I took the opportunity Monday to check it out. It didn’t take long to cross this one off the list as well.
Was it my mentioning of meth smoking at the YMCA that caused the owner of this gym to rescue the receptionist from my inquiry into monthly rates? Probably, and I’m glad she did, because behind closed doors I felt more comfortable asking about gym culture, and if that “first responder discount” meant a bunch of badges, like Detective Guy Baker.
“I know Guy,” she said, then confirmed that plenty of Sheriff Office “protectors” use the gym and all the fancy amenities, so maybe this place wouldn’t be a “good fit” for me, she suggested.
After asking her if she knew the name Sean Stevenson (she did not), I explained in stark terms why I agreed that her gym would NOT be a good fit for me and all my energy, which includes building cool stuff out of Legos.
Speaking of Legos and Guys who wear badges, I have a very serious problem. More texts from Detective Guy Baker? No. My problem is the choice I need to make, and that choice is which figure I should choose for the coveted part of Guy Baker in my future toy brick project.
What do you think, dear readers? The one on the left, or the one on the right?
I got feedback from one Missoula local so far, and I’m definitely partial to her preference, but knowing I’m also a sucker for a beautiful smile, I’ll need a little more to go on before making my very important decision!
Most of the people I interact with on a daily basis don’t know about my blog and don’t really follow local news, so these conversations in meat space are slowly expanding the reach of my writing, and THAT is what makes me dangerous to the narrative controllers who are working overtime to assassinate my character.
Even anonymous assholes like “webdoodle” feel the need to remotely diagnose me when they don’t get what they want from my lonely crusade.
Even anonymous commenters seem to feel the need to remotely diagnose me when they don’t get what they want from my work, like this recent comment from “web doodle”.
For those keeping score, I’ve been depicted as a narcissistic, schizophrenic sociopath spouting nothing but falsehoods in my local terror campaign against benevolent community members like Ellie Boldman and Pete Talbot.
Why are they so intent on shutting me down? Let’s take a look at some of my articles exposing Ellie and you’ll see precisely why this influencer is going out of her way to publicly slander me:
This nice collection of links exemplifies what influencers like Ellie are worried about, and why the response to me has shifted from ignoring what I’m writing to this latest effort of running a smear campaigns against me.
Will it work?
Well, some of that depends on YOU, dear readers, and the discernment necessary for every individual to make their own, independent assessment of the perspective I offer here, for free, six days a week.
If your assessment is that my perspective has value, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). If your assessment is that my perspective is derived from a deranged brain, then why are you reading this in the first place? Go read some Gomer and keep pretending we aren’t in a late-stage of societal collapse.
On May 13th the famous medical examiner who called bullshit on magic bullet theory passed away. He was 93 years old. Here’s some details from a local report:
Dr. Cyril Wecht, a pathologist and attorney whose biting cynicism and controversial positions on high-profile deaths such as President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination caught the attention of prosecutors and TV viewers alike, died Monday. He was 93.
Wecht’s death was announced by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, which did not disclose a cause or place of death, saying only that he “passed away peacefully.”
Wecht’s almost meteoric rise to fame began in 1964, three years after he reentered civilian life after serving a brief stint at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. At the time, Wecht was serving as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County and a pathologist in a Pittsburgh hospital.
The connection Wecht has to Missoula was highlighted at this blog last September after I called up Cyril on the phone while exploring Pittsburgh. Why did I call a famous medical examiner on the phone? I called because I wanted his expert opinion on whether or not a rear naked chokehold could produce bruising ALL OVER a victim’s body. His quick and professional response? No, a rear naked chokehold can NOT bruise a person’s entire body.
The case my question stems from involves the murder of Sean Stevenson here in Missoula at the homeless shelter where I used to work, the Poverello Center. Since Sean’s death I have become quite close to his family, and Sean’s family has known Cyril Wecht for many years. Sean was born in Pittsburgh, after all, and it was his father’s church in Pittsburgh where scenes from the movie Dogma were filmed. That’s how this picture came to be:
While America was expected to believe that a single bullet could make an insane, zig-zagging path around John F. Kennedy, Missoula was expected to believe that Sean’s assault was the result of just ONE person’s violence, Johnny Lee Perry, a young black man who was conveniently shot and killed by the Sheriff’s Office on August 29th, 2021.
After watching the Coroner’s Inquest into Johnny’s death, I wrote an article with the following provocative title:
After meeting the family in person last year, I was able to see a small portion of the documentation they have regarding Sean’s death, including the autopsy pictures that show the extensive bruising and a strange mark that might be from a taser.
Before the Sheriff’s Office killed Johnny, I spoke with him near the Poverello Center. This was four months before Johnny was shot. When I told Johnny about the bruising, and how it seemed improbable that he had caused it, Johnny said he was told by the police that Sean’s body had fallen off the gurney while he was being loaded into the ambulance. When I ran this by a retired firefighter source of mine, he said that scenario was virtually impossible.
I listened to an interview this morning that William Ramsey did with Cyril Wecht and some new data points emerged that I find fascinating, like how Wecht tried to win a Senate seat Pennsylvania against John Heinz in 1982. For anyone interested in the strange phenomenon of synchronicities, this interview with Michael Wann has some very interesting and esoteric connections between the death of John Heinz and the death of Kobe Bryant.
Wecht never stopped working, providing his expertise on cases like the Jon Benet Ramsey case, and at least one of the deaths ascribed to the Smiley Face pattern of killings, a pattern I’ve been investigating myself, and which led to me having an interesting falling out with William Ramsey, covered in this article I wrote last February: Is The Smiley Face Theory A Distraction To Protect A Sub-Culture?
Wecht also inserted himself into the George Floyd case because, apparently, when black men are choked to death OUTSIDE of Missoula, it’s a big deal.
From the link:
I have been involved with other cases involving positional asphyxiation, compression asphyxiation. You’ll recall Jonny Gammage here in Pittsburgh and Charles Dixon, also in Pittsburgh, an African American male (who, in 2003, was smothered by police officers who had posed him face down and applied pressure while arresting him). And I’ve had probably over the years now a dozen cases like this, of different kinds. I truly mean, without engaging in hyperbole, that this was the most egregious, savage, barbaric. It was absolutely atrocious.
What this Derek Chauvin is doing is going on for about nine minutes. For approximately, two minutes and 53 seconds – and these are the official records – George Floyd has gone completely limp, is not uttering a sound, let alone a word, and for almost three minutes Chauvin continues to apply that pressure. He looks at people, he knows he’s being videoed, he knows other officers are there. I think what he is saying is “screw you” to the world, to the African Americans – and there are white people there too – who are screaming and yelling and trying to get him off, and he is saying “screw you.”
I know this is going to make me even MORE unpopular in this little mountain town I’ve called home for the last 24 years, but how is Missoula’s attitude any different than the SCREW YOU attitude displayed by Chauvin? I’ve spent the last FOUR FUCKING YEARS saying black men in Missoula can be euthanized and executed by law enforcement, and because this town thinks of itself as liberal and inclusive, and because our media is absolutely fucking terrible, no one seems to care enough to do anything about it, and that’s IF they even know these deaths happened in the first place.
Instead, the influencers in this town are going into overdrive to assassinate my character and neutralize my ability to report on what’s happening, or NOT happening, as the case may be, and if this town truly doesn’t care about what I’ve uncovered, then the influencers could be successful in shutting me down.
If you appreciate what one intrepid journalist can accomplish against nefarious narrative controllers, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps. And stay tuned, because later this week I’ll be writing about my first few days of homelessness, but that article will be appearing exclusively at Western Montana News.
