On Saturday I capped off a long week by doing some community awareness work at the Clark Fork Market with my Lego sign, the one that puts my Marijuana DUI up against Missoula’s State Senator, Ellie Boldman’s, alcohol DUI.
Did I learn anything? Yes, I learned it’s definitely not the quantity of people I talk to that can be so impactful, it’s the quality, like shit-talking Detective Guy Baker to the retired police chief who hired Baker in the first place. How’s THAT for a quality audience!
Did I know I was talking to retired police chief, Pete Lawrenson, when the conversation started? No, he didn’t give me that context until I was three or four anecdotes in, anecdotes that compelled Lawrenson to finally assess that my informed opinion sounded “exaggerated” and “judgmental” to him.
“I hope you’re right and I’m wrong,” I said after telling Lawrenson stories like the time I shamed Detective Baker into investigating the “flower girl” who turned out to be just an innocent little Russian girl, according to Baker, who I assume is an expert on little Russian girls.
Earlier in the week I attempted to schedule a mental health assessment in order to check off the last box for my court-mandated attitude adjustment program. Could Partnership Health Center help me? No, after I went in person to their main facility to get this simple task done I was given a phone number so the poorly-trained woman at the other end of the phone could give me the brush off.
When I told my probation officer about this she was confused. None of her other clients had ever had trouble getting this requirement taken care through this “health” recipient of LOTS of federal funds, dollars earmarked to specifically help poor crazy assholes like me.
On Tuesday I was nearly run off the road by a man in a brown Toyota Tundra. After veering into the bike lane and nearly hitting me, I called 911 and reported this incident. Nothing happened.
The next day I saw the same exact truck at a stop light on Front street, so I took a picture of the license plate and called 911 again to see if THIS time something would happen. Did something happen? Yes, the cop assigned to this incident contacted the man, and the man said he wasn’t on that side of town the previous day. Since I hadn’t contacted any local businesses to do the cop’s job for him and get video footage to back up my claim that this asshole tried to hit me, or was driving recklessly at the very least, the cop said that was the extent of what he could do.
When I realized this cop was going to give me the I’d-rather-be-eating-a-donut routine, I hung up on him and went down to the station to get the incident number. If I’m being targeted with a more serious level of harassment, I’m going to document the shit out of it.
The incident some Missoulians think expedited the departure of Pete Lawrenson–the “Hell’s Angels” riot– happened the year I moved to Missoula, though Lawrenson contested this rationale for his departure in this Missoulian article:
At least 200 people came to say farewell and shake hands with the man who led the Missoula Police Department for the past six years until his retirement Dec. 31. After serving nearly 25 years on the Missoula force, Lawrenson is taking a new job as chief of security for Montana Rail Link.
“I’m not here to thank him for being police chief,” said Carousel Foundation Board Chairman Paul Johannsen. “I’m here to thank Pete for being Pete Lawrenson. His folks always treat people with respect, and that’s because Pete leads by example. That’s not always an easy thing to lead or be an example for, but Pete’s been willing to do that.”
Missoula County Sheriff Doug Chase added that Lawrenson’s dedication to the United Way, Youth for Christ and the Blizzard Ball Foundation, among others, kept him high in the public eye.
“I have never known Pete to duck an issue,” Chase said. “He has excellent emotional stability, especially under stress. Everything that community policing is supposed to be, you did it, Pete.”
Rock ‘n’ Roll Daze promoter Chuck Rose credited Lawrenson with helping make his event a regular occurrence in Missoula, and added he was frustrated and saddened to see his departure. He called it a “tremendous injustice inflicted on you by a few city officials” that Lawrenson’s retirement came after a controversial clash between police and citizens during a national Hells Angels Motorcycle Club gathering in Missoula last July.
By Thursday other simmering issues started metastasizing on me so, when Friday finally arrived, I was more than a little ready to engage in ecstatic religious testimony where our loose-knit gathering of musicians, artists and homeless people perform. When the cops arrived it was with a renewed vigor, we discovered, to shut us down.
Was this just another regular response to local noise complaints, or is something more directed brewing? Let’s say the lead CRIMINAL prosecutor for the city is involved–Keithi Worthington–my first question would be why her and not the lead CIVIL attorney, Ryan Sudbury?
For more context on the different jurisdictions I regularly make fun of for being incredibly duplicitous and corrupt–like when Keithi Worthington LIED in her closing statement in her one successful prosecution of me for violating a restraining order (the other one in her jurisdiction was dropped because it wasn’t a credible case, just a stacking strategy)–check out this post.
To finish this post off, here’s a KGVO article I read last week that raised a BIG red flag for me. I’ll expound why after the quote:
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced on the KGVO Talk Back show on Wednesday that he is proudly introducing the new Chaplaincy Program for the entire Montana Department of Justice.
He said the program is of great importance to him and his staff.
“Probably the most important thing I’ve got going right now, and this is actually on the positive side, right?” began Knudsen. “A lot of times at the Department of Justice, we deal with crime, we deal with drugs, some of the not-so-fun things in life, but we just rolled out a new program yesterday that I’m really proud of and I’m really excited about, and that is our Department of Justice Chaplain program.”
…
Knudsen said former Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Jason Johnson is heading up the volunteer program.
“I can’t thank Jason Johnson enough,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you folks in Missoula who he is. Jason is your former Undersheriff. When I got here to Helena and got this job, he was an investigator at Gambling Control, and Jason’s a guy that I identified pretty early, and he’s now joined my leadership team…
Jason is the PERFECT selection for this narrative control job. Like a priest gathering dirt in confession, Jason will now be privy to statewide skeletons instead of just the shit our Missoula County Sheriff Deputies get up to. For anyone paying attention to what I’ve pieced together over the years regarding the Chaplain for Missoula County Sheriff skeletons, what does it say that AG Knudsen had “identified pretty early” Johnson for this role?
I don’t know, but I’d like to find out, so stay tuned to see if I do.
Thanks for reading!