The Traveller Committed

33 comments

• R RR Anderson November 21, 2008

  if you watch the KIRO extended hill interview you get his side of the story… he was handing the replica gun to her with the barrel pointed down, pistol grip out in the proper gun safety method.

  The report says the guard was visibly upset and had to go home. Maybe she couldn’t tell which part of the fake gun she was looking at.

  important to remember that they were in the process of checking the items (guns) in with the security personnel for safekeeping while they conducted business in the building.

  that said, I hope Mr. Hill finds some help at the mental hospital.

• J J. Cote November 21, 2008

  “Hmmmm. Not sure what to make of this.”
  How about: This guy is a fricking nut job that is going to get shot pulling this kind of crap some day.
  This man has been treated as anything ranging from eccentric to cute on this blog as well as others.
  It’s not funny, it’s not cute and the man needs SERIOUS help, not to be held up as a funny little man that gets on the nerves of the City Council.
  Someone pulls a gun out on me, I’m not waiting to see if it’s the barrel or the grip, he’s going home in a plastic bag, or I am. Guns are NOT toys. They are instruments of death.

• R RR Anderson November 21, 2008

  he is a curiosity. and he’s OUR curiosity. If the mental hospital cant cure his madness, maybe they can convince him that the world is crazy and that he’d better stop with the cosplay guns if we wants to avoid suicide by cop.

• T Thorax O'Tool November 21, 2008

  Oh man!
  That strip reminds me of my childhood growing up on 23rd & M in the mid 80s.

  I miss the block parties tho… the one day of the year that the bloods and crips would put down their guns and PARTY!

• R RR Anderson November 21, 2008

  it is too bad the police couldn’t have committed David Brame to a mental hospital before it was too late… before Mr. Brame became a cop killer.

  man, guns are just not cool.

• T Thorax O'Tool November 21, 2008

  It’s also too bad that the police will protect their own at the expense of the lives of innocent people.

  Really, in my opinion every cop who knew about the Brame family issues and turned a blind eye should have lost their badges, benefits and pensions FOR LIFE.

  This is the freaking 21st century people. We live in a land of ungodly wealth and opportunity. There shouldn’t be any violence.

• T tom waits November 22, 2008

  @2…you had me until the end, but i agree, that it is not funny, nor cute.

  he is not a cult hero. his behavior has escalated. from the “female masturbation” stunts to the more recent display of replica, toy or whatever firearms, this has gone from an eccentric person who seeks a public forum to something a bit more insidious.

  i am not qualified to decide whether his actions constitute a real viable threat to public safety, but i can say that interactions with him by public employees cause a lot of concern.

  free spirited, eccentric, politically incorrect or whatever is one thing. i dig that. and we have a lot of these in tacoma, for better or worse, bless their hearts.

  mr. hill vaccilates between being lucid and eloquent – though off key – to being downright incoherent. along with the incoherence comes behaviors that many people, in my opinion rightfully so, have found to be increasingly aggressive and intimidating.

  i really don’t want to read the paper one morning and see something horrible involving mr. hill, and worse, also involving someone i know.

  maybe this is not a possibility, but i have seen enough to feel that it is.

  he is not a cult hero. he does not need to be glorified. what he does need is help.

• R RR Anderson November 22, 2008

  Nobody denies he needs help. The media has found him because people find him intriguing and the media shows people what they want to see. Lets tap that media and turn it into something positive.

  The local news helped that guy with the tumors all over his face get an operation and helped that little kid with leukemia… why cant we as people interested in the story help to influence the media to help the traveller?

  The Traveller is not a cult hero just like the guy with tumors or the little dying kid is not a cult hero. The Traveller is a man who appears to struggle with mental health issues. Lets direct the spotlight onto how we as a community deal with a population that is continually marginalized.

  This dialogue for one thing is a start.

• R RR Anderson November 22, 2008

  insanity is not a crime.

  how the mentally ill are treated in our post 9-11 patriot act fueled zero-tolerance cover-your-ass dance of paranoid psychosis is an intellectual challenge made relevant by our friend the traveller.

  to deny or somehow make dirty this problem is truly revolting.

• T Thorax O'Tool November 22, 2008

  It’s not just the mentally ill who are treated with a zero-tolerance attitude in our post-9/11 world. God help you if you’re of Arab persuasion, have a non-European last name, disagree with the current administration, actually care about humans more than the almighty dollar, etc.

  I’ve seen mental illness up close and personal, and what it does to people and their families.
  If the news covering the The Traveler brings mental illness more into the light and helps people forget about their material obsessions and get off their self-righteous bandwagons and actually have compassion for fellow human beings, then I consider it worth all the hubbub.

  I know not everyone is self centered and drowning in apathy.
  I know that. We see all kinds of examples of kindness on a daily basis. But there are still too many who are apathetic to others.
  Far too many for the continued health of our species.

• C crenshaw sepulveda November 22, 2008

  I just want to know how Mr. Hill could actually get almost 20 per cent of the vote for Sheriff. I saw no fancy yard signs for Mr. Hill. Hill got significantly more votes than did Mike Lonergan who sits on our city council and had many yard signs all over the county. More sobering, Hill got more votes than Darcey Burner or Ralph Nader in Pierce County.

• T Thorax O'Tool November 22, 2008

  Well, it’s not exactly hard to get more votes than Nader.

  But yeah, 20% of the vote with no advertising is nothing to sneeze at.

• C crenshaw sepulveda November 22, 2008

  I forgot to mention Hill got more votes than former lawman, Dave Reichert in Pierce County. Hill got more votes for anyone running for County Assessor except for Dale Washam. He got more votes than household names such as Gelman and Shabro.

  What was the appeal of Jesse Hill and how did so many people select him as their first choice in voting for sheriff in Pierce County? Was his voter’s pamphlet statement enough to sway all these voters? Was it his appearances at the city council meetings?

  I know Obama was about Change we could believe in. In Hill’s case the only change he apparently advocated was changing hands when giving yourself pleasure.

• O offbroadway November 22, 2008

  Haha! I know there was some confusion on the ranked voting system, where many people believed one had to rank all three candidates. I wonder how those third-place votes tallied up.

• T Thorax O'Tool November 23, 2008

  Gelman and Shabro are household names?
  What strange households are you exposed to?

  Anyway…
  I think that Hill got a lot of votes for any one or all of these 3 reasons.

  1) Many (possibly even most) people don’t even know who is running. They get the ballot and choose a name that sounds good.

  2) Buzz, plain and simple. Tacoma is the biggest little town you’ll ever find, and just about everybody knows somebody who knows somebody; think of it as the Six Degrees of Tacomans. If my neighbor’s uncle’s estranged first wife’s third cousin twice removed saw Hill making a ruckus at city hall, be assured I will hear about it.

  3) Could it actually be that Hill actually has a message that is (for whatever reason) resonating with the good citizens of our fair city?

• J J. Cote November 23, 2008

  I’m glad that there are people that agree that this just isn’t funny any more. There comes a point in time when you have to stop laughing at the sick joke, because the joke has become harmful or hurtful. Like the cartoon that was posted: Crows and monkeys speaking in “E-bonics”. It’s NOT funny, it’s racist and has nothing to do with a sick man’s cry for public attention and adulation. Frankly, I expected better from the source and I’m offended by the racist overtones.
  As for why people voted for Mr. Hill, why did they write in Pat Paulson in ’68? Make a political statement? A “None of the above” vote? Reasons differ with each vote and I wouldn’t put too much weight on the vote being a statement FOR the candidate as much as AGAINST something else. Maybe those same reasons are what got Washam elected. Who will ever know?

• M marumaruyopparai November 23, 2008

  @J. Cote

  J. Cote, you sound a little scared and more so than that you sound very angry. Fear and anger are two of the most dangerous emotions I’m familiar with outside of hatred and jealously. Let’s take a look at a couple of things.

  Could the Traveller be dangerous? Based on what I’ve been reading it seems entirely possible (Though so far not validated, why take chances right? That’s why he’s been denied the right to carry a real weapon).

  About your criticism of RR. First, there is no ‘joke’ here. RR features “The Traveller” on his blog as part of continued coverage of the ongoing theatre of the absurd that is local government, that is community, that is REAL LIFE. He doesn’t glorify Hill, but he does feature him and his antics because they are first: entertaining, and second: because Hill is a human being too with real social validity as a member of a society.

  Why should Hill be denied coverage because he has a mental illness. What RR does along with people at The Melon like Electric Elliot and Chris Van Vechten is put a human face on a guy with real mental problems. Once you illuminate the humanity in someone it gets alot harder to morally justify hunting them like a witch simply because they suffer from some mental issues, which seems to be where you’re headed with this.

  Finally, about the comic. I don’t think RR wrote that, and pretty sure he was just making a point about guns. Maybe there was no better comic available that didn’t use ebonics? And what’s racist about ebonics anyway? The reality is that ebonics is a real grammar. It’s been studied and written about by linguists.

• C crenshaw sepulveda November 23, 2008

  Cunning linguistics aside, I think the comic made a good point, germane to the subject at hand, unlike the criticism of the character and dialect selection of the comic in question.

• A altered chords November 23, 2008

  The mentally ill have been under-treated, mis-treated and un-treated LONG before 9/11.

  We used to have State hospitals where they were “treated”.

  Now we just have the streets of every city in America where they are ignored if possible.

  Rather than fixate on this problem, let’s fix it.

  Get a degree in biology, go to medical school, do your internship while getting your Ph.D. in psychiatry and then treat these people.

  I’d do it but I’m too busy.

• M morgan November 23, 2008

  Topic hijack:

  I still find it amazing that voters decided to change the Sheriff’s position BACK to being elected after all the problems associated with the position being elected. We have a short institutional memory around here and our media is not helping.

• R RR Anderson November 23, 2008

  it’s all about positive reinforcement. If we all encourage the positive aspects of the traveller… (the humor… the politics, the disguises) maybe he will spend less time doing anti-social things that would make a policeman want to kill him.

  I could be wrong. I’m no doctor.

• J J. Cote November 25, 2008

  Some clarity:
  First: I’m offended by the use of stereotypical animals to depict minorities. I was raised in a bigoted household, in a bigoted neighborhood, in the deep South. It offends me to see people of color depicted in that fashion. Additionally, the cartoon was not germane to the subject. It was a bad choice.
  Second: If R.R. and the stated publications wish to bring to light the sham that is Mental Health, I applaud them. But then why not do it without propping up a sick man and saying, Isn’t this unique? Why not go to the man and try and get him the help he needs BEFORE he puts a (fake) gun in the face of a public servant?
  Mr. Hill’s latest “antics” reek of a man trying to commit suicide via a police officer. There is NOTHING funny about a man trying to end his life and taking someone with him for the ride. Ask David Brame’s parents. They still can’t show their faces in public.
  Regardless of the “pain that he has caused to …government groups”, it is not acceptable to behave the way he has, it is not funny and I implore those that have plied him on in the past to rethink this course of action. It’s NOT newsworthy and it certainly is not funny.
  ADD: I doubt that the police would “want to kill him” It’s a trained defense tactic called shoot or be shot. Taking a life is a horrendous, life-altering act that nobody should have to experience. For an officer to have to shoot a man with a plastic gun would be a terror worse than having to shoot a man with a real one. Mr. Hill should spend his Thanksgiving being thankful that he made it to the hospital. I’m sure that the officers are equally grateful.

• S Steven November 25, 2008

  I can’t speak to the particular use of animals, but, wasn’t the point of the cartoon that the police can’t assume that what your are pointing at them is a toy even it looks like one?

• M Mofo from the Hood November 25, 2008

  Thanks for explaining that the cartoon character was spraying orange paint on his gun to make it look like a toy.

  It used to be common knowledge (on the street) that stupid thugs buy chrome plated revolvers. Shiny guns are highly visible—-“Hey people, I’m a thug. Can’t you see my shiny gun?”

  Here’s a tip for anyone that has a gun that needs to be disposed of—-bring it to the police department, and maybe call first. Seriously. You may also try to sell the gun to a pawn shop; but again, the police department will accept guns for disposal.

  This Hill character has been disrupting local institutions that serve and protect the public. Governments must have the right, beyond the use of suggestion, to coerce in order to protect the vulnerable and the innocent.

• R RR Anderson November 25, 2008

  Mr. Cote’s remarks about cartoon animals and racism reminds me of a cartoon I drew in highschool that depicted after school programs personified as wild animals.

  I remember the school newspaper editor upset that I had drawn ‘drill team’ in the form of a beaver.

  thus and so, I think you can draw more conclusions about the people who see things in cartoons than the actual cartoons.

• T tom waits November 25, 2008

  “…I think you can draw more conclusions about the people who see things in cartoons than the actual cartoons…”

  especially if the cartoons aren’t all that clever and really not worth worrying about. i’m talking about maakies, of course.

  there indeed are a number of things about this thread that remind me of high school.

  but, this thread has had me thinking a little bit about the folks i have dealt with over the years at work in public service who have had some apparent mental issues.

  when i worked for an engineering organization, there was the guy building a spaceship. we talked on the phone all the time. not tremendously disturbing, we never felt threatened, and it was actually interesting talking to the guy. he was nuts, but a highlight of the job. our policy required us to monitor and track these calls, which we did, but the only real creepy thing about the interaction was his obvious paranoia.

  there was the guy who heard voices in his head and was conducting “research” about how to alleviate the problem. it had started when he was an undergraduate student (classic young adult onset, apparently). he was very rational about trying to get these things out of his head—and was aware of the literature on this stuff (fillings, dissimilar materials creating circuits that may pick up radio waves, etc). mostly not a big deal, except one day his tone lead another staff person to suspect he might hurt himself. we reported him.

  tacoma all stars is sometimes absolutely hilarious…but i think it is a little much to describe it as some sort of high browed documentation of the human condition. it is snarky, punky, funny commentary. hill gets up to the podium and does his thing – it is true that you cannot make this stuff up.

  however, aside from that rather enjoyable blog, i do believe that hill has been lionized beyond just being an interesting participant in our community, on this blog and others. and it has gone to the point that some people, upon seeing the news story about his arrest, are questioning the motives of the law enforcement personnel (they just want to keep him quiet). this is absolutely ridiculous…i’d hope we can all agree that he is in trouble for a legitimate reason.

  hill, unlike my examples above, is somewhat adversarial in addition to being off. his tone can be combative—there is a fundamental mistrust of government that colors his actions. he is looking for something that he and others think government is hiding. mix that with a very loose grasp on rational reasoning, and it gets a little dicey.

  as someone who has worked in the public sector, this particular flavor of nuttiness is particularly disturbing because it objectifies public employees and creates this false impression of a massive monolith versus the common person. to those who are already a little paranoid, and perhaps prone to some delusional behavior, egging this behavior on can lead to some bad things happening.

  someone earlier commented on the fact that this blog thread is beneficial in that it raises awareness of mental health. maybe so, but this seems to discount the many many people who are in fact very aware of these issues and deal with them on a daily basis.

  tacoma’s own lenny bruce? come on. although i was a great fan of hunter s thompson’s writing, i don’t think i’d like to have him in my office toting a .357 and making a public disclosure request, either.

• R RR Anderson November 25, 2008

  thanks for your highly interesting comments Tom Waits. is the space ship guy still active?

• T tom waits November 26, 2008

  not sure. but perhaps he did know what he was doing, and how would we know?

• D Derek staff November 26, 2008

  To the several folks that have been accusing us of lionizing Mr. Hill on this thread and via email, I would note that we kept our writing about him to a minimum. The TNT has written about him repeatedly. Feed Tacoma is littered with stories starring Mr. Hill and The Volcano put more words in their feature than everybody else combined. Our only stories about him were when he was relevant to the news of the day; when he filed for Senate, Sheriff, when he was outspending his opponent in the sheriff race, and this one. No features. No interviews.

  He has been mentioned in City Council summaries many times, however, we’ve always mentioned him with a raised eyebrow.

  The fact that we sit in every council meeting means that the regular public participants are going to get a mention. And, unfortunately to some, to the extent that we’ve written about him, it’s news within the context of civic participation. His running for office while being a public gadfly is an eyebrow raising curiosity. If we were sitting in the election office and watched some other citizen-forum regular file for candidacy using cash and coins, we would write about that too. But, it wasn’t somebody else.

  Please note, however, that we have never defended Mr. Hill’s actions, methods, antics, and words. In fact as regular observers of Mr. Hill’s antics we are wary. As a matter of editorial voice we attempt to remove judgement statements and thus have refrained from publicizing our opinion of him. However, if you review our articles you would be hard pressed to find any glorification or lionization.

  We sincerely hope that Robert Jesse “The Traveller” Hill gets the help that he needs.

• T tom waits November 26, 2008

  regarding lionizing, as far as my own comments are concerned, i am referring to the postings by specific readers, and not the articles per se.

  as a point of clarification.

• P P November 26, 2008

  Tacoma Cultural References re Hill:

  Are they cultural references if all the citations come from one person? In this case, R.R. Anderson and his postings on every Tacoma site?

• J J.Trinnes December 2, 2008

  Wow! What a load of paranoiac ramblings. Yes, Mr. Hill is a full blown nut case. But so also are all these people who worry about him being a danger to himself and others. I hope such phobias do not turn into mass hysteria. A little perspective is in order here.

  Mr. Hill claims he did not point the toy gun at the security guard. The security guard alleges he did. My suspicion would normally assess creditability with the security guard. But who would hire a security guard that becomes so emotionally upset at having a gun pointing at them that they would need to leave work early for the day. This raises a creditability question about both employer and employee. My experience is that such extreme uncontrolled emotions are typically accompanied with extreme face saving exaggerations. Any judgement of Hill here should not be based upon testimony of either him or the security guard. Both lack creditability.

  I do however have a serious concern here. Prejudicially assuming Mr. Hill to be the danger that some of the paranoids believe him to be, I wonder whether his actions with the toy gun that day could have been intended to be a distraction so as to enable his friend behind him to slip past security with the real firearm. The purpose being to hide it in the building for later retrieval by Mr. Hill. Then with a firearm in hand, Mr. Hill could possibly fulfill his imaginary Jehovah’s directives in bringing harm to our sheriff. The friend could have been given some other elaborate explanation and not been informed of the real intent. The possibility of such a plan working is quite real considering the quality of emotionally fragile security guards, as described on this thread.

  At any rate, if Mr. Hill is to be locked up, drugged, or subject to whims of our modern day witch doctors, I hope its not based upon simple preponderance of the evidence. If he has committed a crime, consider his past record, then throw the book at him. The time to stop pandering him is long past. If he has not committed a crime, then leave him alone and let him go about his business of making public officials and employees feel a little uncomfortable.

• R RR Anderson December 3, 2008

  like Nelson Mandela, may someday The Traveller be delivered from bondage.