by Travis Mateer
Before I get to our broken, busted state, you might be wondering where I got his interesting image from. This image is a result of me going on a second date with ChatGPT and finally paying the $20 bucks to access the good stuff. I’ll be writing about my second date, and sharing some more images, at Western Montana News later this week.
Today I’ll be quoting from two articles about two types of organizations that are supposed to be helping people. The first article is about a survey our Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, seems a little sensitive about. Maybe that’s because his State Troopers are NOT happy about the leadership driving Montana’s justice department? From the link (emphasis mine):
New context in an internal survey at the Montana Highway Patrol unearthed by the Daily Montanan showed troopers had serious concerns about the influence of the attorney general and human resources staff over morale in the agency.
The survey results, provided in part by the state justice department to the Montana State News Bureau earlier this year, suggest a strong level of trust among troopers with their immediate supervisors and team members, but that reliance appears to fade further up the chain of command.
The full results of this survey were not released by the AG’s office. When they survey results DID get released, the person who did so no longer has a job. Isn’t that interesting?
The Department of Justice has so far declined to release the survey in full, citing state rules about employee files with human resources information. And while a highway patrol spokesperson this year framed the results as “overwhelmingly positive,” the agency fired the union president when she shared it with the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the state’s public employee union, due to the concerns troopers raised in the survey. After the survey was submitted to MHP, Col. Steve Lavin retired from the agency.
Last week, the Daily Montanan obtained and published the entire survey results, including hundreds of pages of comments that shed more light on the contours of troopers’ responses to the survey. The comments are anonymous.
So, how bad is it here in Montana? Here’s a response from Ben Alke, the Bozeman attorney running against Knudsen for the AG office, about what’s NOT happening in Lake County (emphasis mine):
As crime increases, Montana Department of Justice needs to provide more support to local prosecutors and law enforcement. The attorney general must also coordinate with federal and tribal law enforcement officers to combat drug traffickers.
What we are doing today is not good enough. The State is not stepping up to provide help where it is needed most. For example, Lake County does not have the resources to prosecute felonies on the Flathead Reservation and there are around 2,000 outstanding warrants. The attorney general needs to spend more time fighting crime and less time on politics.
I included this lack of prosecutorial action in Lake County in a post I wrote in May, titled Montana Is A Jurisdictional Joke With Politicized Cogs Creating An Illusion Of Criminal Justice, and I will CONTINUE writing about this deplorable state of affairs that puts politics WAY AHEAD of citizen safety.
Shifting gears, the program I once coordinated for the Poverello Center is getting some interesting media attention I feel compelled to document and respond to. From the link (emphasis mine):
For those who are served by both the center itself and the outreach team, help is not always received well, or according to those outside the Poverello Center that MTN spoke to, received at all.
“[The] HOT Team doesn’t do a lot,” said Robin Trustee, someone who shelters outside of the Poverello Center.
Trustee went on to tell MTN that over the years the center has stopped providing many resources, whether that be meals, clothing, water or cleaning the porta potties outside the center.
“They want us out of sight, out of mind.”
On top of the seeming lack of care for those in and outside the shelter, Trustee also claimed that staff at the Poverello Center are siphoning off donations — like a $120,000 check — and are abusing substances like meth themselves.
Trustee claimed that he witnessed staff unload a truck full of donated items and take some things home with them. He also claimed that he had witnessed staff members picking up meth paraphernalia only to be later seen being used by the same staff members.
While it’s not unusual to hear complaints from clients about the work being done by service providers, it is unusual for local media to put THESE types of accusations into print. Curious.
The director of the Poverello Center had some decent responses to these claims, but when it came to the concern about meth use among Pov staff, this is Jill Bonny’s suggestion:
Addressing the claims of the staff using substances, Bonny stated that she hoped that if someone saw a staff member using a substance like meth, they would report it to another staff member.
Is this a good suggestion? If we’re only talking about ONE staff member using meth, sure, tell another staff member. But if we’re talking about a CULTURE of permissiveness at the Pov, then I don’t think Jill Bonny’s suggestion is a good one.
Last year, when a Poverello staff member was arrested for allegedly filming his co-workers in the bathroom, we were told by the Pov’s communication coordinator how important they take the safety of their staff and clients.
Ty R. Grimmett, 37, is charged with 18 counts of surreptitious visual observation or recording in a public establishment, or an alternative charge of attempted surreptitious visual observation, Missoula County court filings show. The first two charges of illicit recording are misdemeanors, while the third and subsequent counts are felonies.
If convicted of all charges, Grimmett faces a total maximum sentence of 80 years in state prison and a $160,500 fine.
In an emailed statement, Poverello Communications Coordinator Beckett Redinger said, “The Poverello Center views the safety and privacy of our staff and guests with the utmost importance.”
A few days ago, someone claiming to have worked at both the Johnson Street Shelter and the Poverello’s main shelter asked for inquiries, which implied there would be response. I’m still waiting.
I was hoping someone at the Pov would finally have the decency to comment on a client being brutally beaten in the men’s dorm of this facility, but I guess this “anonymous participant” isn’t up to the challenge of actually responding to serious inquiries.
Don’t worry, NO ONE in leadership positions across this entire state seems capable of dealing with what’s happening to our state and country, which begs the question: what are YOU going to do about it?
I know what I’m doing, and that’s countering the bullshit everywhere I find it, but I’m only one person with VERY limited resources. You could help me with that by donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), but that assumes you WANT to know what’s going on in your own backyard.
Am I wrong to assume enough people in this town give a shit about what’s happening to lift a finger and do something about it? I guess we’ll see.
Thanks for reading!