Editor's Desk
The Police Blotter
It’s easy to say that I grew up at UM. I came here a wet-behind-the-ears eighteen-year-old from Montana’s eastern plains and left an eyebrow-arching twenty-one-year-old with a journalism job in another state. Becoming editor of this magazine was a sort of coming home. Needless to say, it was disorienting: same place, so much different.
One welcome element in my daily working life quickly became the Montana Kaimin. I had my own memories of working on the Kaimin. So it came as a surprise to me that, although I appreciated much of what the student newspaper had to offer in news stories and editorials, the section I most enjoyed was the Police Blotter.
I’ve spent many happy hours reading the “just-the-facts” reporting of the strange, often hilarious, and always human happenings on campus. I won’t get into the vaguely illegal or decidedly tawdry occurrences that find their way into the paper (still no censoring—thank you, J-school!).
What I’ve appreciated is the gestalt more than the actual occurrences. I can see the budding journalists’ brains working behind each sentence. The five w’s—who, what, where, when, why. Why, of course, often being the most difficult if not impossible to explain. For instance, one day Public Safety responded to a report of a bicycle chained more than six feet off the ground in a tree. Officers notified a maintenance crew, which cut the lock and brought the bike to Public Safety for impound.
Or this one: A person collecting recycling from bins at the Physical Plant found a suspicious powder in a bin, Officer Lemcke said. Tests later showed that the powder was laundry soap.
There’s a certain amount of tolerance on a college campus: Officers saw two men tipping over a portable toilet at the Griz home football game. No one was in it at the time. One officer noted, “someone will have to clean it up.” The men will be punished according to the Student Conduct Code.
And patience: Police said a male trying a key in various vehicles in Lot W was identified and released. Lemcke said the man had borrowed a car and was uncertain of which vehicle it was. “He tried doors till he got the right one,” Lemcke said.
Sometimes a sort of Zen-like acceptance: Officers found a shopping cart with alcohol in it perched on the bear statue on the Oval. “The bear gets a lot of attention,” Lemcke said. The officers confiscated the alcohol, and the cart was placed at the northeast end of the Lommasson Center so its rightful grocery-store owner could pick it up.
Officer Lemcke is a favorite source and—possibly because I’ve never met him—I swear I can see him as Sergeant Friday, grimacing a little as he says, “just the facts, ma’am.”
One recent story was broken on the front page of the Kaimin, but went on to bigger press in the Missoulian. It seems a UM custo- dian watched a rodent make a valiant attempt to enter Craig Hall. Thinking he might be a dorm resident’s pet (unsanctioned at UM), the man captured the small animal and turned him over to Missoula County Animal Control. He told them he thought it was a chinchilla. They promptly reported the little guy was just a pack rat and said they’d prob- ably just turn him loose somewhere. Stories in the Missoulian brought on a flood of concern. Girls called in saying that they were convinced the rodent was a degu, like their pets, and would die if left to his own devices. The debate about his species went on for a few days, ending when he was adopted.
Another story featured a woman and her seeing-eye horse. The woman had called cam-pus security, complaining that in-line skaters in the UC had spooked her horse. The story was written in a clear and concise way and I learned everything I needed to know. The horse was only thirty-six inches tall; the woman was traveling through town; the skaters weren’t actually skating, but were walking by her and her horse; the woman had been in and out of the UC several times and had reprimanded her horse earlier in the day, resulting in the animal crashing into a window. The reporter ended with, “the horse was not injured and the window wasn’t broken.” The main source for the story: a woman working in the coffee stand for The Market who had witnessed just about everything.
Journalism often isn’t pretty. But it’s nice to know UM’s students are up to the task.
Joan Melcher
Editor, Montanan
Letters
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The Montanan welcomes letters to the editor. We ask that letters be signed and include the writer’s graduating year or years when appropriate, home address, and phone number or e-mail address. Send them to: Montanan Editor Unfortunately, because of space limitations we are not able to include all letters sent to us. Letters that appear often are edited for length or clarity. While universities are places of discussion where people of good will do not always agree, letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Opinions expressed in the Montanan do not necessarily reflect those of The University of Montana. |
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Peace Corps Connection
When Kassy Holzheimer told her colleagues in UM’s University College that she was heading for Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer, we gave her the usual advice: Get plenty of sleep, eat well, and write to us. [Kassy was featured in the Winter 2004 Montanan’s story, “Volunteers in Time.”]
Kassy had been a peer adviser for a couple of years [with University College] and a special populations/re-admit adviser in her last year with us. We knew her as a sharp cookie. We also knew the breadth of her compassion and her interest in other cultures.
Kassy took us at our word and, writing back recently, asked us if we could send a few things that were desperately needed in her village. She mentioned such basic supplies as toilet paper and Kleenex. She also told us about the environmental club she had started at the primary school where she was volunteering. She needed books to help with teaching both English and environmental concepts, and she needed supplies for the club—lots of supplies. University College decided to make Kassy’s school project in Togo our Christmas giving project.
Big cardboard boxes appeared in our department workroom and objects began to fill them: toilet paper, tea, incense, markers, pencils, simple children’s books, even a book on teaching math. Kassy’s Togo box was mailed in early December.
Melanie Hoell, M.A. ’97
Director of University College, UM
Grizzlies in Idaho
We have lived outside of Montana longer than we care to remember, but the Montanan always brings our minds back! Thank you for all of the interesting articles about the people of Montana and UM. We are always proud to tell everyone here that we are proof that Grizzlies live in Idaho.
Bert and Teresa Cole ’80
Lewiston, Idaho
A Friendly Voice
I noticed that you are honoring Emma Lommasson on the occasion of her ninety-third birthday. Emma played a significant role in my attending UM, although she probably doesn’t realize it. In 1964 I graduated from high school and wanted to study wildlife management. No one in my family had ever attended a university and we weren’t familiar with how one was admitted.
We lived in a remote part of Saskatchewan, north of Glasgow, Montana. We had an old-style crank phone on the wall and my mother was able to have the operator find the University of Montana (MSU then). She finally got through to a woman named Emma. It was Emma who patiently explained that if we mailed transcripts down she would see if I met the requirements. I did, and thanks to the kind and thoughtful efforts of Emma Lommasson, I was able to complete my degree in 1968. Thanks for your help, Emma. I hope you live another 100 years. My mother is ninety-two now and still remembers talking to you on the old crank phone.
Ray Glasrud ’68
Shauanvon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Forgive Us
The last issue of the Montanan contained several errors. There was a mix up of page numbers on the Contents page for the story on Marc Racicot and William Kittredge’s essay. Sorry about the dyslexic number placement. Then a letter writer noted that his name was Earl Christensen, not Ed Christensen. There’s just no excuse for that sort of error and we’re even sorrier about that. Another letter writer, Atiyyeh Mahmoud, corrected us when we read his letter to imply Emma Lommasson visited Jordan with ex-Dean of Women Maurine Clow; she didn’t—he was just passing his regards to Emma. Whew. One of our writers weighed in with another correction: in the story, Volunteers in Time, the person quoted was Kevin Fiori, not Kevin Novotny.We did have one more reader e-mail in we should know Marc Racicot played basketball for the Carroll College Fighting Saints, not football. We checked that out, and what we had there was an error of omission. Racicot played basketball and football and ran track for Carroll. We regret the errors and promise to do better in the future. - JM
