Homeless man unhappy with park's request that he stay away
Jim Brodniak enjoys "the peace, the quiet, the serenity" of Lone Pine State Park, but he has been asked to stay away from the park until the end of August.
Brodniak, 59, is homeless and lives out of his Toyota van with his 7-year-old dog, Mica. He visits Lone Pine possibly 16 to 17 times a year - often hanging out at the picnic pavilion. Sometimes he will grill a meal there. Or he'll go to a more private spot for a sponge bath.
Dave Landstrom, a park manager for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said park employees received complaints from people about Mica barking and charging at them. The park rules require dogs to be on leashes.
Landstrom said the park cut Brodniak some slack at first, but then decided to ask Brodniak to stay away - solely because of Mica - until August was over. August is a busy time for the park.
The homeless man, who sports many tattoos on his body, said he was also asked to leave partly because he looks scary, with a long goatee and hair, but Landstrom said that is not true.
Brodniak, who moved to Kalispell with his family in 1951, said he first went to Lone Pine as a 6-year-old, and has visited and hiked there off and on ever since. He has been unemployed since 1997 and homeless since March. He had lived in his mother's Kalispell home, but she lost it to a combination of Alzheimer's disease and not paying taxes. Brodniak lives on $881 a month in federal disability payments, which mostly covers van maintenance plus food for himself and Mica. He suffers from gout - a condition in which crystallized uric acids collect in joints to cause swelling, inflammation, stiffness and pain.
He acknowledges being a convicted criminal. He served almost two years in the state prison at Deer Lodge from 1972 to 1974 for selling one ounce of marijuana. Then in 1984, he was convicted of rape. Brodniak contends he and a woman got drunk, fooled around in a bar, went to her place and had consensual sex. A jury and a judge didn't believe him.
"I don't like telling people that. But if people ask, I tell them," he said.
Brodniak began serving a 20-year sentence in 1984 at Deer Lodge. He was paroled in 1995 and moved back to Kalispell and said he has kept out of trouble since then except for a couple of drunk driving arrests. Brodniak said he gave up drinking alcohol altogether at the beginning of 2006 because of his gout. He said he is drug-free.
Brodniak said that Landstrom approached him in the park on July 11 and told him: "I'm not kicking you out. I'm asking you to leave until [the end of] August."
Brodniak said Landstrom said that the homeless man cultivated his look, that people are scared to be with him in the pavilion, and that some women said Brodniak looked like he was going to "throttle them."
"They never talked to me. I never talked to them. I don't know who's making the accusations," Brodniak said.
"It's sad. If it's gonna happen to an ex-con that no one cares about, what about when it happens to a Rastafarian, someone with dreadlocks or piercings. You've gotta draw the line at discrimination. You can't tell from looks what a person has done."
Landstrom acknowledged that the park has received complaints from people nervous about sharing the pavilion with Brodniak. However, Landstrom said Brodniak is the one who brought up his looks as the reason he was being asked to leave. Landstrom said he personally told Brodniak that his looks were not the reason.
Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com