Browning!

We wrapped up this leg of the Great Montana Roundup in Browning last Friday. We had a chance to speak about scams and prescription drug abuse with about 40 residents and community members over lunch at the New Eagle Shield Center.

Our presentation coincided with a Blackfeet Manpower Program conference, and the organizers of the conference graciously invited us to speak for a few minutes. We talked about prescription drug abuse and MHP Trooper Kurt Miller was on hand to discuss impaired driving, encouraging everyone to be safe on the roads and avoid getting into a car with an impaired driver.

We also had our take-back truck set up outside of the New Eagle Shield Center; we collected over 60 lbs. of paper in just a few hours!

Thanks to Terry Flamand and Connie Brenner for welcoming us to the New Eagle Shield Center and for helping to organize the events there.  Thanks again to Trooper Miller and Trooper Babinecz for joining us on the road this week.  We really appreciated your hard work.

Chester and Shelby

The Shelby Roundup: Note the lack of rain!

Chester: The new Liberty County Senior Center is beautiful.

We started Thursday in Chester at the new Liberty County Senior Center. (We were their first event in the new building). A great turnout of 18 folks -- some of whom even brought their papers and pills for us. We took the paper to shred in Shelby, but unfortunately had to refuse the pills as we didn't yet have law enforcement officers with us.  

Then we hit lunchtime at the Shelby Senior Center where a dozen people listened to our presentation.

The rain held off for the Roundup and we got right to work with our shredding. One woman who came said it was her birthday and she told us, "I couldn't think of a better birthday present to myself than getting rid of these stacks of paper." We also shredded our oldest documents yet - bank statements from 1962. In total, we hauled in 228 pounds of paper and locked up 7 pounds of drugs.

Thanks to Julie Gagnon and the community of Chester for making us feel so welcome.  Liz at the Shelby Senior Center for setting up today's presentation.  The Shelby Albertson's for letting us set up in their parking lot and for helping us to spread the word about the Roundup.  And again, big thanks to Trooper Babinecz for all of your hard work this week - we couldn't do it without you!

Rocky Boy

We had a good, busy day in Rocky Boy Wednesday. Kicking things off, we spoke to about 200 students at Rocky Boy High School -- a great turn-out -- and spoke about prescription drug abuse, what these drugs do to your body, your mind and your life.

We gave another prescription drug presentation at Stone Child College that afternoon.

As luck would have it, a driving rain blew in just in time for our drug drop-off and shred-a-thon, but despite the weather, we still shredded 24 pounds of paper.

A packed house at Rocky Boy High School.

Told you.

Springtime in Montana: Our shred-a-thon and drop drop-off site in the cold rain.

Again, we couldn't do it alone. Thanks to Superintendent Voyd St. Pierre and the teachers and students for welcoming us to Rocky Boy High School. Thanks to Judi Houle from Rocky Boy Senior Center. Thanks to Mike Geboe for organizing the event at Stone Child College and for helping us to spread the word about the Roundup. Thanks, too, to Trooper Shellie Babinecz and Trooper Mark Botsch for spending the last two days with us.

Havre Day Two and Heading South

Our lunchtime presentation at the Havre Senior Center.



Attorney General Steve Bullock headed back to Helena Monday night, but the Roundup continued and we had a great day Tuesday talking to seniors in Havre before heading to Fort Benton for another drug drop-off and paper shred-a-thon.

We started our day at the Havre Alternative High School, where a small, but lively group of students asked some of the best questions of the Roundup thus far.

We spoke to a packed house of about 90 people at the Havre Senior Center for lunch. Even before our presentation, while we were eating lunch, it seemed that almost everyone at our table had either been targeted by a phone scam or knew someone who had. We also heard several reports of a new “vacation scam.” We don’t know all the details, but chances are: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Then we headed down the road to Fort Benton for another good conversation at the Golden Age Center. Again, we heard stories of people being hit by the ‘grandparent scam.” (One woman was actually in her car getting ready to wire money away when she decided to stop and double-check. That’s how these scams work: They prey on people’s emotion.)

And despite the fact that Fort Benton had hosted its own local drug take-back and shred-a-thon just the week before, we still shredded 49 pounds of paper and gathered up another 2.6 pound of drugs.

Thanks to Debbie Kirby at SUNS (Havre Alternative High School), Carly Ahern at Eagles Manor Retirement Apartments in Havre, Evelyn Havskjold at Havre Senior Center, Judy Remick at the Golden Age Center in Fort Benton, and Shannon Sykes and Dawn Skogan at Price Rite Food Farm in Fort Benton for welcoming us to their facilities and helping to spread the word about these events.

On the Hi-Line: Chinook and Havre

Attorney General Steve Bullock chats with students at Havre High School before his presentation.

Attorney General Bullock at the Havre prescription drug drop-off and shred-a-thon.

Speaking with Havre community members about prescription drug abuse and avoiding consumer fraud.

This young man from Havre came to our event and said he's always wanted to be Montana Highway Patrol trooper. He's getting some tips.

We rounded up 16 more pounds of unwanted drugs this week on the Hi-Line, but some of the best times of our stay in Havre and Chinook was talking to people and hearing their stories. We talked to scores of people, young and old, and had some great conversations.

Earlier Monday, we spoke with folks at the Chinook Senior Center, spreading the word about common scams targeting seniors. At least one woman in the audience said someone had tried to victimize her with the ‘grandparent scam.’

Attorney General Steve Bullock made a special trip up and spoke to about 80 students at Havre High School (Go Blue Ponies!) and made a surprise visit to the residents of Havre Eagle’s Manor.

Again, we shredded some paper and locked up prescription drugs. (Sixteen more pounds! That brings our roundup total to 53 pounds.) We finished up the day with the Attorney General speaking to a group at the Northern Montana Hospital about scams and prescription drug abuse.

It’s been great to spread awareness of these topics. Every prescription drug pill we lock up is one more pill that cannot be abused. Every Montanan who is aware of common scams is one more who will be armed with knowledge if a scammer ever targets him or her.

Thanks, again, to all the people in Havre in Chinook who made this chapter in our Roundup such a success: Marilyn Berger for organizing event at Chinook Senior Center, Principal Jerry Vandersloot and the teachers and staff at Havre High School for welcoming us; Gary and Leo's IGA for letting us hold the Roundup in the parking lot, Kristi Thatcher, Mim Tchida, and Claire Wendlend for helping us to spread the word and organize the event at Northern Montana Hospital.  Also, Trooper Mark Botsch and Trooper Shellie Babinecz for setting up our rig, helping us and generally educating the people who came to our event.

Catching Up

A portion of the unwanted prescription drugs gathered in Miles City.



It’s been a productive couple of days. Since you last heard from us, we’ve been to three more towns, shredded 200 pounds of paper and collected more than 24.5 pounds of prescription drugs to be destroyed. We’ve talked to high school freshman in Miles City and answered dozens of questions from curious residents of Miles City, Lame Deer and Crow Agency.

Shredded papers from Miles City on their way to recycling.

A Miles City man dropping off old prescriptions.

Our set-up in Lame Deer. We took in 140 pounds of paper and 7.6 pounds of drugs here.

In Crow Agency. These boys just took a tour of our truck.



We’ll be in Havre this evening, setting up our shred-a-thon and drug take-back site at Gary and Leo’s IGA from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. If you’re in the area and need a place to pitch your papers and pills, stop by.

We’re overjoyed at the success we’ve had so far on the Roundup, but we also know we couldn’t do this alone. Thanks to all the tribal law enforcement officers, the Montana Highway Patrol troopers and local people who have helped us along our way. This list is by no means everyone: Cary Veis in Miles City and the Miles City Albertsons, Sandi Olson in Lame Deer, Agent Oceola Red Shirt and Lame Deer Chief of Police Algin Young.



Baker!

We shredded 80 pounds of personal paper in Baker yesterday; the shredder was running constantly the entire time we were open. Another success!

We also secured 6.2 pounds of prescription drugs and had a great talk at the Fallon County Senior Center. Sadly, senior citizens are among the most frequent victims of scams and criminals often prey on seniors' devotion to their families as way of cheating people out of many thousands of dollars. Reports of the so-called 'grandparent scam' began picking up across Montana last fall. In this scheme, a criminal pretends to be a victim's grandchild in need of bail money to gain release from a foreign jail. Here's the story of one Montana family who were victimized by such a scheme:

And here are some photos from the road:

 At the Fallon County Senior Center

 Spitting rain

High, wide, handsome -- and underwater: The view near Baker

More Details from Terry

Setting up outside the Prairie County Courthouse

The shredder took down everything Prairie County threw at it.



Despite the rain – and snow – the first day of the Great Montana Roundup was a success.

We destroyed 54 pounds of personal papers: old bank statements, tax documents, checkbooks, etc. And we safely locked up 14 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs.

We were also pleased to talk to the entire Terry High School about prescription drug abuse and the kinds of consumer scams targeting teens and young adults.

We posted more pictures here, but one of the most important things we gathered you won’t see in the snapshots: The stories people told. In a community this small and tightly-knit, drug abuse and consumer scams are not theoretical. Almost everyone we spoke with had first-hand stories of either a senior citizen targeted by the grandparent scam or a friend or relative affected by prescription drug abuse.

The pervasiveness of these problems is exactly why we’re here.

Thanks especially to Joan Hubber, Megan Olson, Janet, Sheriff Bill Klunder, and Brittany Straub who made us feel welcome.

First stop: Terry

Here's a photo of our mobile shredder unit at work today. It was a great day -- despite the snow in the air.

What is the Great Montana Roundup?

You have dutifully saved your tax records for seven years. Now you have boxes of old ones down in the basement. What do you do with them? What about those old credit cards? Do you cut them up? And those checkbooks?

What do you do with those painkillers from your shoulder surgery three years ago? The heavy duty ones. You know you’re not supposed to throw them away, but do you just keep them?

We all know there’s a safer way to handle old pills than flushing them down the toilet. And a better way to get rid of personal papers throwing them in the garbage.

The Great Montana Roundup is a project of the Montana Attorney General’s Office to take the guess work out of disposing of these materials and, in the process, help prevent two pervasive crimes before they happen:

Identity theft and prescription drug abuse.

Roughly 300 Montanans die each year from incidents involving prescription drug abuse, making it the deadliest form of addiction in our state.

Identity theft continues to strike Montanans, ruining citizens’ credit, making it difficult for people to buy cars, homes – or even obtain a credit card.

In both cases, criminals often obtain drugs or financial information from the garbage or ill-secured medicine chests.

We've put together a mobile shredder unit and a secure prescription drug drop-off container and we're driving around Montana helping people securely pitch their old pills and papers. We'll shred the personal papers into tiny triangles -- about the size of this capital "D" -- on the spot.  

As for the pills, we're going to collect them in a locked container, stored in a secure law enforcement truck. Then, we'll dissolve them all, mix them up with something undesirable like cat litter, and deposit the mixture in a Class II landfill.

The Roundup is not just about disposal. We’re also going to community centers, senior centers and classrooms to educate young people and seniors about prescription drug abuse dangers and how to avoid falling victim to scams and fraud.

Montanans lost at least a quarter of a million dollars last year to fraud. Teenagers and seniors are particularly vulnerable, with scam artists targeting them with schemes tailored directly to those age groups.

Our first stop is Terry, but we've got a long road ahead of us. If you want the Roundup to come to your town, just call us at 444-2071.

You can find more information about the Roundup and Attorney General Steve Bullock’s efforts to educate Montanans about consumer fraud and prescription drug abuse on the Department of Justice website at www.doj.mt.gov.