Free Speech Newspaper
Failing health and a long winter excursion
to Thailand and Laos are excuses Robert Schmidt gives for the lengthy time since
his last issue of his publication. The Whistleblower was established by
Robert Schmidt in early 1993 and consists of a 12 page hand typed, photocopied,
and stapled "newspaper" with Schmidt's sometimes comical commentary
and investigative reports on small town life in eastern Montana.
The spicey reports were typically accurate and staggering. For example, Schmidt's Whistleblower exposed a Custer County Clerk of Court's assistant and her spouse's ad published in a mate swapping magazine. Other Whistleblower revelations involved identification of the perpetrators of a series of man-set business fires in Miles City; attacks on a "grossly overpaid" Miles City Fire Department; or the cover-up of a criminal assault with a handgun conviction for a prominent Miles City attorney. The Whistleblower was distributed through a single coin operated machine on Miles City Main Street next to the Log Cabin Bar, or by mail subscription, and at times the Miles City locals would buy as many as 600 copies from the rack of a single issue.
Publisher Schmidt says about his novel publication , "Miles City is an isolated town. What Montanans have from the outside world is very limited.... and the big city newspapers don't give a true view of the news to readers... We have a media filter before it gets to the streets." The secret to the Whistleblower's success, according to Schmidt, "...is meticulous investigations of sources, and an open mind to consider both sides of an issue.." Whatever the technique it worked, soon unauthorized bootlegged photocopies were found distributed throughout Montana and the Dakotas. "Those jerks out there stealing my papers with photocopiers have ripped me off for many thousands of dollars..." laments Schmidt... "if I have the guts and take the risks... then the Whistleblower should receive the rewards..... I take the bad blows to the head, too."
The Whistleblower publication has brought Schmidt some problems as well, "...it all began when I began to receive reports from Lambert about law enforcement being involved in drugs up there... after I obtained affidavits and interviewed forty or fifty people in Sidney, Fairview , Lambert, and Chinook..... it was obvious the authorities were covering up for key people... but as I dug deeper I saw that a string of unsolved deaths were also related all across the Hi-Line." What followed according to court records were a string of false arrests for "criminal libel" and related charges all which were dismissed after the local American Civil Liberties Union became involved. "Sure the criminal charges were phoney.... but they were not what really agitated me... a primal fear ran through my body when a local Sidney detective made an unauthorized visit to my house with a gun.... after I ran the drug and murder exposes."
The news reports sometimes gleaned from private investigators made the Whistleblower part of Montana contemporary folk lore. "Every big city newspaper sent reporters to interview me and get back issues of the paper.... the Butte Daily Standard and the Great Falls Tribune dedicated front page photo articles to my work. "But there was also embarrassing stories for Schmidt. The Associated Press carried a story about vandals who burned a 12' cross on Schmidt's front lawn after the Whistleblower published scandalous reports of a civil lawsuit between two local priests who were, according to court documents, involved in a sexual liaison.
Late last fall Schmidt left the miles city area to travel to tropical Southeast Asia. "The Montana folks are right when they say 30 below keeps the riff-raff out...", said Schmidt with a chuckle. The trip was relaxing though mostly uneventful. But when Schmidt returned to America, self described as "grossly overweight and a habitual smoker" he has suffered health problems which have left him hospitalized in the cardiac unit of Deaconess Hospital in Billings. "I'm getting back on my feet now... soon I'll be able to work and get back to the true love of my life... the paper... I've got months of new stories...." no doubt new issues of the Whistleblower will be interesting.
Free Speech Newspaper
18631 North 19th Avenue
Suite
128-200
Phoenix, Arizona 85027
BUS (602) 587-9604 FAX (602) 587-9628