I’ve talked with some folks in Missoula, Montana who wonder if the remnants of the Rainbow Family Gathering are now here to stay in the Garden City.
Meanwhile, the City of Billings and Yellowstone County have apparently filled up several truckloads of transient camps in south central Montana. And in Bozeman, a shooting occurred at a homeless village.
Here’s another item I found of interest in The Billings Gazette transient camps article:
Like others who deal regularly with transients and homeless people, Cady said the worst solution to the problem is giving money to panhandlers.
Often they are not even homeless, he said, and usually they want money for alcohol or drugs. Last year on Black Friday, the big shopping day that kicks off the Christmas shopping season, Cady said, he saw seven panhandlers hitting up West End shoppers. He recognized four of them as registered sex offenders, and none of them were homeless.
“We have so many programs available for truly homeless people,” Cady said. “My whole point is, if we make our community less attractive for the homeless-by-choice, we’ll have more resources for the truly homeless.”
KTVQ-TV: Man shot multiple times at local transient camp (Bozeman’s KBZK reporting)
One man is in custody and another hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds after an incident at a Bozeman transient camp tonight.
The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. near the railroad tracks under the 19th ave bridge next to the I-90 frontage road.