Month: August 2024

by Travis Mateer

Before Chris Larue showed up in Missoula, he was in Billings. How do I know this? The Billings Gazette profiled him four years ago, that’s how, and thanks to shelling out a whole dollar for a 6 month subscription, I can excerpt the following from the article (emphasis mine):

Back in late October, when snow was falling fast over Billings and temperatures dipped into single digits, Chris LaRue was zipped into his tent in a little hollow at the base of the Rims. 

It was cold but it wasn’t terrible, he said. He believes he can last the winter in his tent with the gear he’s cobbled together. But he hopes he doesn’t have to. LaRue is trying to get a replacement state ID card so he can land secure employment and get himself into stable housing. 

“I’m just really trying to make a new start,” he said. 

Is Chris really trying to “make a new start”, or is he just looking for a new jurisdiction to fuck around in? I consulted Facebook to see what I could find out and discovered Larue was in Apple Valley, California, before coming to Billings for that “new start”.

For more on the art of making excuses for transients like Chris Larue, here’s the Billings Gazette bringing in a professional excuse-maker to explain how AGENCY is important to transients like Larue (emphasis mine):

LaRue, 43, knows he doesn’t have to stay in his tent all winter. Billings has resources available for those who have no shelter or secure place to spend the night. But for LaRue, staying out of the shelters is the easier option.

“We call them untouchables,” said MarCee Neary, director of the Community Crisis Center in downtown Billings. 

She explained that among those who experience homelessness or transience in the city, a smaller group exists that chooses to stay out on their own rather than use a shelter. 

Some of it has to do with the responsibilities associated with shelter life. The various shelters in town each have certain requirements for staying and using their services. Some people simply don’t want to have to answer to someone, Neary said. 

But the other component is agency. Neary explained that homelessness and transience can leave those who experience it feeling like they no longer have a choice or a say in their life. Sometimes the decision to avoid a shelter can feel empowering, as though they’re able to exercise some control over their situation.

“Ultimately, people want to have a choice,” she said. 

While transients like Larue move from state to state, looking for places to do whatever they want, locals in the places he calls home don’t really have a choice when it comes to the increased cost of living being imposed on them.

As I scanned the jail roster this morning another name popped out. I’ll tell you why after the screenshot.

What does Russian culture look like in Western Montana? It looks like cars and drugs, at least that’s the impression I get from Nikolay’s Facebook account.

At Western Montana News this week I explain to readers that journalism is NOT the same thing as a popularity contest. Along with the journalistic words, I visited the California Street walking bridge area and visually documented the nasty persistence of trash right next to the river. One image I saved for Zoom Chron readers is a page from a journal I found in the trash. Here it is:

I find ephemera like this very interesting because it helps me understand who we’re “helping” and where they are coming from. The other page I documented will be available in a hardcopy zine I’m working on, so stay tuned for details.

If you appreciate my local journalism, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). I’ll be taking a little trip next week to Hamilton for my Western Montana News article, so any extra funds would be very appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

Did you know that apples are NOT the same thing as oranges? It’s true, and hopefully this example of things being dissimilar will help you understand the difference between a tax levy, which taxpayers get a say about, and EMERGENCY mills, which taxpayers have to just take. From the link (emphasis mine):

Mayor Andrea Davis on Monday will ask the City Council to levy two emergency mills to help cover expenses related to shelter. But she said the crisis services levy and the two emergency mills aren’t an equal comparison.

Among other things, she said the crisis levy sought $5 million annually to fund a wider range of programs, including addiction and mental health services, pretrial services and authorized camp sites, and it would have been a permanent levy on both city and county taxpayers.

In contrast, Davis said the two emergency mills represent a one-time expense and, if authorized, will go only to shelter services. She said the two-mill levy will reimburse the city around $414,000 for shelter costs.

If this was JUST about squeezing more money from your cavernous pockets, that would be bad enough, but the money will go to transforming parks into open-air drug markets, which some residents are strangely opposed to. Why? Don’t they know how much FUN people have in open air drug markets?

This map is the one released by the city and it shows all kinds of fun locations where you can poop, drink water, and distribute drugs for the cartel. Whoops, did I accidentally say the C word? Sorry, it’s important to depict ALL homeless people as helpless victims and NOT agents of organized crime, so please disregard my slip up.

Another article that caught my attention this morning positions City Councilor, Bob Campbell, against the three-headed beast of Municipal Court, The Excusinator. What does The Excusinator do? It makes excuses for homeless people, like the guy who “lost access” to court when he chose to move into the Johnson Street Shelter.

One of the things Bob needs to understand is that he does NOT have local legacy media on his side, as the framing of this Missoulian article clearly indicates (emphasis mine):

A Missoula city councilor used the threat of budget cuts on Wednesday to rail against a municipal court that he says has “thrown out any sort of accountability” for property crimes.

Councilor Bob Campbell, a retired city police officer who was elected to the 11-member council last November, introduced an amendment to cut $255,000 from the municipal court’s annual budget. But his explanation of the proposal quickly turned into an extended critique of the court’s operations under a trio of former public defenders elected the bench in 2021.

“We’ve totally thrown out any sort of accountability for those that commit criminal acts within the City of Missoula,” he said, referring specifically to theft and shoplifting charges. “I feel like we’re taking into account the needs of the offender over the needs of the safety of the public, quite frankly.”

What Municipal Court needs is an effigy of a homeless person, or someone that can stand-in as an effigy, to ritualistically destroy. That way the public can see how punitive the court still is. I wonder, who would make for a good ritual sacrifice? It has to be someone broadly despised, someone who doesn’t shut-up about the bad things that happen in a liberal utopia like Missoula. Do you know anyone who fits this description, Missoula?

One of the judges, Jake Coolidge (who had the pleasurable distinction of being MY volunteer when I was the Homeless Outreach Coordinator) displayed how butthurt Bob made him by referencing the separation of powers concept. Interesting.

Judge Jacob Coolidge has previously pushed back on Campbell’s suggestion that the municipal judges are failing to hold repeat offenders accountable. During a presentation of the proposed municipal court budget in July, he noted the judges are not asking for an increase in their budget for the next fiscal year.

He told the council Wednesday he feels strongly that the proposal violates the separation of powers between the city’s legislative and judicial branches by attempting to influence judicial policy with the threat of budget cuts.

“Mr. Campbell made it very clear that the motivation for cutting our funding is that he disagrees with our judicial philosophy and our approach to how we run a court,” Coolidge said. “When we ran, we ran to be elected to run a court. We were vocal about how we were going to run a court, and the people voted in accordance with that.”

Well, I understand how Jake feels because, like Jake, I FEEL STRONGLY that his court is violating my first amendment right to be a citizen journalist. I’d like to say more, but that probably wouldn’t be advisable.

Instead, I’ll shift to my daily request for financial support through Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). But since I go months without any donations, I’ll be moving toward a revamp of this website soon, and there WILL be ads.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

After getting a call from a supporter of the blog earlier today, I’m providing one of the first substantive reports you’ll see that around 6:30am a Mountain Line bus was involved in a fatality while traveling east bound on West Broadway, near the Poverello Center. From a conversation I stumbled onto and recorded while walking on the bike path near the California Street walking bridge, the fatality was a woman.

I’m pretty sure this is accurate, since the white suds visible in this image, near the cop cruiser, is apparently from the blood being washed off the street.

Tomorrow’s article at Western Montana News will be about my value as a local journalist, and the first-amendment-challenged bureaucrats who don’t like applying the first amendment to my email inquiries.

Stay tuned, my reporting WILL CONTINUE whether they want it to, or not.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

It may sound crazy at first–advocating for Missoula to get directly involved in meth production–but what do you call a city that suddenly needs emergency levies for homeless services after already prepping taxpayers for a million dollar expenditure for new homeless services? Would you call that an example of SANITY? (emphasis mine):

The City of Missoula this week may dust off a proclamation that declared a homeless emergency two years ago, clearing the way for the mayor to levy 2 additional mills to fund homeless services and support nonprofit providers.

On Monday night, Mayor Andrea Davis addressed the city’s new ordinance on urban camping – a move that authorizes overnight camping in public parks and directs the city to provide hygiene stations, trash collection and needle bins, among other things.

The city placed the cost of the ordinance and the measures it calls for at around $1 million.

What will this money go to? It will go to things like “education” so that a newly hired government worker can find car campers like me and tell me I need a permit and that I need to park in proximity to cartel-supported drug addicts enabled by local leaders with clear cognitive problems.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

To manage the vehicle camping program, the city is seeking $152,000 to hire two additional employees. It’s an ongoing expense that covers the cost of educating, permitting, cleaning and ensuring camping compliance.

“I have requested some resources to do that. People are sleeping in vehicles and parks already,” Davis said. “We’re doing our best to put a thoughtful program together. It’s not going to be perfect.”

I wouldn’t be so hostile to this bullshit if there was ANY accountability at the top for the immense failures I have documented over the years, especially from United Way of Missoula County. Since there is not any accountability at the top, why would I subject myself to ANOTHER program that these failures masquerading as leaders are pushing on this Missoula community? I would have to be as retarded as Susan Hay Patrick and Ellie Boldman to place myself in the programmatic hands of these political hags.

What about YOU, Missoula taxpayers? Are you retarded enough to vote YES on this levy? Here’s the funny thing, though, that you may want to consider: it doesn’t matter HOW you vote, this shit will get funded one way or another (emphasis mine):

Regardless of the outcome of that levy, the city and county both have pushed to fund the programs anyway, including those in the urban camping ordinance and the emergency levy now proposed by the mayor.

This year, voters were also asked to approve a fire services levy, which they did. Missoula County will also ask voters to approve a levy to fund roads and bridges.

While the county’s budget remains unknown, the city budget would include a tax increase of around 16%, which includes the fire levy but not the emergency proclamation.

What does the smile of certainty look like when local leaders know their serfs are too timid to do anything about their failures and obvious corruption? I think it looks just like this:

For more information on local homeless policy failures, check out the following posts. If you do, then you might start understanding why the Executive Director of United Way is deeply involved in the legal issues I’m currently embroiled in.

Susan Hay Patrick’s Damage Control Op-Ed About The Temporary Safe Outdoor Space: A Rebuttal (December 21st, 2020)

Missoula Goes INCIDENT COMMAND TEAM On Homeless Camps (June 2nd, 2021)

A Compilation Of Links Regarding Missoula’s Reserve Street Homeless Camps And Who Benefits From Our Community Response (I’m Looking At You, Blue Line Development) (July 19th, 2021)

The Homeless Industrial Complex In Missoula Is Fucking Adorable (May 3rd, 2022)

40 Tons Of Homeless Trash Removed While Clueless Service Providers Allow A New Shanty Town To Be Built (May 18th, 2022)

Will United Way’s Magic Touch With Homelessness And Meth Now Be Extended To Child Care? (June 1st, 2022)

The Homeless Industrial Complex Shell Games Will Go On Forever, As Intended (June 10th, 2022)

For Christmas I Want The Executive Director Of The United Way To Realize It’s Time To Retire Before I Expose What A Despicable Person She Is (December 24th, 2022)

The Time Has Come…For A New Plan To End Homelessness! (March 9th, 2023)

AA#7-The Meth Den Clean-Up That Synchronistically Culminated With A Press Conference On Homeless Camps (April 27th, 2023)

The Meth Den, Homeless Camp Clean Up Video I Spent $1,200 Dollars To Make Because Someone Needs To Step Up And Get Shit Done! (April 27th, 2023)

Saving The Homeless Sex Offender From The Clark Fork River (May 4th, 2023)

Missoulian Profiles Homeless Friend Of Meth Dealer For Propaganda Article Omitting Substantive References To Illegal Drugs (May 15th, 2023)

Can We Assess Recent Failures To Triage The Near Future Of Homeless Shelter Services In Missoula? (June 15th, 2023)

It’s Time For United Way Of Missoula To Find A New Executive Director (June 16th, 2023)

Insanity Is Doing The Same Thing And Expecting Different Results (September 1st, 2023)

Making Excuses For The Homeless Is NOT Helpful (November 13th, 2023)

A Compassionate Outgoing Mayor Talks Homelessness And…Accountability For Bad Behavior? (November 22nd, 2023)

Obnoxious Non-Profit Panhandling From A Pathetic Non-Profit Professional (November 27th, 2023)

Homeless Man Discovers Politician’s Promise Is Worthless! (January 9th, 2024)

On Why Missoula Officials Should Be Apologizing To MDOT And ALL Montana Taxpayers (March 14th, 2024)

Goodbye Homeless Sex Swing! (April 9th, 2024)

Watching The Supreme Court’s Homeless Policy Showdown With Oregon (April 23rd, 2024)

Finally, A Homeless Corpse The Poverello Center Can Use! (June 16th, 2024)

Did I Help A Homeless Man So He Could Be Murdered By Another Poverello Resident? (June 19th, 2024)

Setting The Homeless Record Straight For National Media (July 4th, 2024)

Did The Supreme Court Decision On Homeless Camps Really Change Anything? (July 17th, 2024)

I think these 27 links to SOME (not all) of the articles I’ve written over the years on this subject are a good representation of my unique perspective. If you appreciate this perspective, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Last night I read the most delightful rant from a neighbor of the house at 1435 Gerald Ave where filming for the show, Yellowstone, has been going on. What makes it so delightful is that the behavior of the crew is the reason cited by the author for choosing NOT to help these assholes PRESERVE their mighty narrative.

Before we get to the rant, it’s time we meet the owner of this house at 1435 Gerald Ave, and to do that we begin with the Montana Cadastral website online where simply plugging in the address produces this:

I already knew Chris Warden owned this property, but until seeing the rant from one of his neighbors, I didn’t think disclosing his name was all that relevant. Well, that’s obviously changed, so now that we know the name, let’s see how important Chris Warden is to Missoula’s billionaire, Denny Washington.

A Silicon Valley man? Yep, Mr. Warden spent 15 years in Silicon Valley before coming to Missoula for Denny. Good to know.

For more context on my Yellowstone reporting, here are a few articles to check out:

A Question Of Worth And Cost As It Relates To Selling Our Community Out To Costner’s Yellowstone (June 23rd, 2022)

Talking With Some Missoula Cops About Keeping The Yellowstone Production Safe (July 7th, 2022)

Here’s What Ross Douthat Thinks Of Montana In His New York Times Yellowstone Op-Ed (July 29th, 2022)

A Yellowstone Skirmish On West Main Street As The Larger Narrative War Continues (August 11th, 2022)

A Morning Beer And An Extra Story About Yellowstone (August 11th, 2022)

On-The-Ground Yellowstone Reporting…But Who Owns The Ground? (August 18th, 2022)

Is Yellowstone A “Fictional” Pressure Release Valve Meant To Mesmerize And Pacify Its Audience, Or Something More? (November 15th, 2022)

The Irony Of Missoula Current “Environmental Reporter” Complaining That The Show Yellowstone Is Helping Ruin Montana (November 17th, 2022)

Week In Review: July 17-21 (July 23rd, 2023)

Is Missoula Ready For Its Close Up? (May 22nd, 2024)

Ok now the rant. ENJOY!

*

This is long but I am livid! I know this has been discussed on this sub before (I’m on a throwaway because of my coup de grace here) but give me a moment to vent about this show and the obnoxious people who run it. I’ve been dealing with this shit in our neighborhood for 2 years and I just need to unload.

I admit I’ve watched the show and didn’t mind it but after their treatment of me, my spouse, and our friends the past few days, I truly hope there is some unsatisfying conclusion and the numerous spinoffs fail.

Throughout the summer and again the past few days, they’ve been filming at a house in our neighborhood at Beckwith and Gerald (it’s where the lawyer son lives in the series). We live around the corner. On Tuesday, they snap at my spouse for parking near one of their “crew” vehicles and start yapping about how they’ve paid good money for this street (?) and done deals with neighbors and city blah blah blah. They threaten to call the police if my spouse won’t move the car. My spouse is not confrontational and moves the car.

Then last night they have massive stadium lights illuminating the entire street on enormous cranes – and not one or two sets of lights, they have like 5-6 cranes positioned all around the neighborhood from various corners BLASTING stadium light everywhere. Mind you they put the lights up at like 10 pm for a night shoot. There are some police cars and an ambulance they move in front of the house and start rolling all the flashing lights on those vehicles. This goes on for at least 2 hours. We have a 10 month old who starts screaming because the lights are in his nursery. Move him but the lights are still blaring into the house and he’s still worked up. THIS GOES ON TIL PAST MIDNIGHT. WTF. Have some courtesy, you are in a neighborhood!

I am so irate at about 11-11:30 that I am about to go yell at whatever officious little twit is running this clown show, when two of our friends who were staying with us from out of town come in and are like, “The Yellowstone people harassed us and told us to leave because we were going to see whatever they were filming and it was supposed to be some big secret. The production people were so rude and going on about how they needed to ‘preserve the narrative’ and how it’s a ‘critically acclaimed show’.” First of all, it’s a public road, they can’t just force people to leave, much less harass them. Second, ‘preserve the narrative’? What narrative? It’s an incoherent male telenovela involving a bunch of semi-literate men on horseback with ridiculous plotlines that make no sense. And ‘critically acclaimed’? You have to be kidding me. This is no Succession and it sure as shit ain’t Breaking Bad or the Sopranos. 

Stop reading now if you don’t want a spoiler because I am effing pissed and burning this thing down. 

I talk to a colleague this morning who, for some inexplicable reason, was an extra in this “secret scene” last night as well as a neighbor who looks down over the house, and both of them spill the beans on what happened after hearing about our baby, my spouse, and our friends. Beth, Costner’s delusional, insane daughter, is carried out on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. They think she was shot. There had been some big fight scene they’d filmed in the house the past few days between her, her brother (the lawyer son — literally the only sympathetic character and the only one even remotely capable of acting), and her mass- murdering, sociopath of a husband, who, by the way, I have met and is also a massive asshole in real life, so probably not a real stretch to play Rip. Jamie, the lawyer, is probably dead inside and who knows about Rip. I’d like him dead too. 

If that was the big, “secret” finale/fight, Yellowstone, your crew’s shitty conduct towards the neighbors the past few days/over the summer, and even 2 years ago when you filmed at the house, as well as your condescending attitude towards Montanans in Missoula, the Flathead, and the Bitterroot earned you no friends and spoiled it. No one would have bothered sharing this “secret scene” had you treated everyone with some modicum of respect. You didn’t. This is the outcome. Goodbye, do not return.