Friday Quick Bits

It’s Friday, and we’re looking at a 3-day weekend.
 
I’ll be driving to Helena today after I pick my son up from kindergarten.
 
The meth summit is in the Capitol tomorrow…some time.
 
I can’t find the time anywhere. I even emailed someone from the legislature’s contact page, but they didn’t know.
 
Oh well, I’ll figure it out.
 
Until then, let’s discuss a few things.
 

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Missoula Mayor John Engen has admitted to drinking everyday starting at lunch.
 
This level of drinking began around October 2015, which was when he got done with his weight loss surgery.
 
I wonder what the ramifications of this are.
 
For one thing, I’m not sure how people will feel about voting for Engen come the mayoral election this year.
 
He’s admitted to drinking on the job.
 
Another aspect is the legal angle. Can any of his rulings or the city’s rulings be challenged because we know he was drunk?
 
Should be interesting to see how this unfolds.
 
Moving on…
 
I see that the legislature has cut the state’s higher education budget by $23 million.
 
This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
 
One student says their semester bill will go from $6,500 to $8,000.
 
I know I couldn’t come up with an extra $1,500 over the course of 3 months, not in this town, not in this economy.
 
That’s what young 18-to-20-somethings are going to have to do now, however.
 
And how about those out-of-state businessmen?
 
I bet a lot of them are clamoring to relocate here now, considering how much we care about education.
 
Yeah, right.
 
Moving on…
 
I’ve received a 10-page letter detailing numerous problems in the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.
 
There are about 10 names mentioned in the letter, which came to me with no return address.
 
I’m not sure what to do with this. It’s clear there are problems, but what to do?

​Personally, I feel the Sheriff's Office would retaliate against me or anyone else that tried to air their dirty laundry.
 
To me, the charges that some high-ranking employees are abusing the overtime system might be the issue that leads an actual investigation, mainly because of the paper trail.
 

• If this is a $70,000 a year job, why are these folks making $100,000...mostly by doing patrol duty at $60 an hour?

 

• Why is one individual selling Isogenix diet products from the office, even after they’ve been warned?

 

• Why are people being promoted because of who they’re sleeping with?

 

• Why are people showing up to patrol calls while wearing their gym clothes?

 

• Why are people driving patrol vehicles while off-duty?

 

• Why are administration officials getting shiny new black SUVs and Cadillacs?

 

• Why is the public complaining about harassing behavior from one or more officers?

 

• Can you alter your department-issued gun to have a hair trigger?

 

• Are deputies allowed to drink at a bar and then drive off in their county vehicles?

 

• Are friends being hired for important positions, even though they have no computer or transcription skills?

 

• Are people with past problems/transgressions in law enforcement being hired by the Sheriff’s Office?

 

• Is there an inappropriate relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and Neptune Aviation?

 

• Why are some employees being pushed out of the Sheriff’s Office while others are being promoted?

 

• Are favors being granted to cover up past transgressions?

 

• When you retaliate against other people in the Sheriff's Office, how can you expect to not be retaliated against yourself?

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​
​These are hard questions.
 
Like I said, I’ve been sent a 10-page letter detailing these problems.
 
It’s hard to say how deep the corruption in Missoula is, so it’s hard to say what to do with this stuff.
 
There sure are a lot of names in the letter, I’ll tell you that.
 
Maybe the local media will dig into it…if it can even be dug into.
 
Moving on…
 
There was a very good comment on Cowgirl from Kevin Curtis, the husband of Amanda Curtis.
 
He details all the ways that the Montana Democratic Party heads sabotaged Amanda’s 2014 run.
 
They didn’t like social media, they didn’t like…go into more.
 
I just can’t understand why these ‘leaders’ are still in place in the Party.
 
Is there an option to get rid of them at the special nominating convention?
 
Hey, it’s a gathering, there’s a quorum of delegates…why not shake things up and call for a vote of confidence with leadership?
 
Usually these things happen around the state Party’s convention in June, but I feel it needs to happen before the Special Election takes place.
 
Or else we’ll see the same kind of fuck-ups we’ve seen time and time again.
 
I hope regular, county-level Democrats in this state can stand up straight and challenge leadership.
 
It’s time for a change, and not just with the candidates we run or the issues we discuss.
 
Regular people from the counties need to take over the job that the pinheads in Helena are doing.
 
It’s well past time.




Lastly, please visit tomorrow afternoon/evening...I hope to have a lot of information about our meth problem by then.