Message sent to the criminal element

Would-be burglars, consider yourselves warned. Someone stuck a butcher knife through a cardboard sign that read, "Beware thief," and tied it to a stop sign at the intersection of Blanchard Lake Road and U.S. 93. Flathead County Sheriff's deputies removed the sign.

Tools are missing from a home on Trillium Way, and it appears the thief enjoyed a cigarette and some pay-per-view movies before leaving.

A man on Lang Creek Road had been holding tools hostage in his garage, intending to return them to their rightful owner once he received the back rent he was owed. But Friday afternoon, he discovered someone had broken in and stolen them. The thieves also took his hunting and fishing licenses.

A man thinks he might know who stole the prescription drugs from his home on Blanchard Lake Road. Someone broke a window in a Ford Bronco while it was parked at the Columbia Mountain Hiking Trail to take the gun inside.

Windows were broken in a cabin at Glacier Bed and Breakfast in Hungry Horse, but nothing appeared to be missing.

Deputies looked for, but couldn't find, an intoxicated man brandishing a gun on Shady Lane. Nor could they find the person who reported him.

A man was sound asleep behind the wheel of his still-running car, which was parked with the headlights on on the side of U.S. 93 north of Olney. A concerned passerby didn't smell alcohol but had a hard time waking him up and couldn't get him to stay awake. Deputies called law enforcement in Eureka and asked them to check on the man, but they couldn't find him.

Deputies arrested a drunken driver on Montana 40. Partying kids were given rides home from Lone Pine State Park.

A business sign and mailbox were run over on Flathead Drive. Real estate signs and a mailbox on Yeoman Hall Road met the same fate. On Fourth Avenue West-North in Columbia Falls, vandals attacked 10 mailboxes in a row, but only damaged six.