Hunters safe after night in woods

Two hunters walked out of the woods and knocked on the door of a Rhodes Draw home about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, ending an overnight concern that they were in trouble. The two men had been hunting in the Mountain Meadows area and lost their direction after getting on the trail of a game animal, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Flathead County Search and Rescue was paged out about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and ALERT helicopter provided eyes from the air to try to find the pair. Searchers knocked off for the night when they could not find the trail. The hunters told officials that they had taken off their shirts and burned them as torches in hopes of being spotted.

Amber blinking lights high on a mountain in the Jewel Basin area Saturday night, spotted by an observant resident on the valley floor, turned out to be attached to a tow truck that was pulling out a stuck vehicle.

Mail scattered on the ground was a signal that other mail had been stolen from a mailbox on Tetrault Road.

Two people parked in a car at the Presentine Bar on the Flathead River about 8:30 p.m. Saturday were “just talking,” they told the deputy.

A man stranded on Thompson River Road for want of a spare tire ended up having three people, plus the sheriff’s office, involved in getting him re-tired.

Members of the alcohol enforcement team were involved in a vehicle rollover on Patrick Creek seven miles south of Foy’s Lake Saturday night.

Four 17-year-olds in one vehicle — a second suspect vehicle was not tracked down — were stopped when a mailbox on Shea Way got smashed. Criminal mischief citations were issued.

A 15-year-old girl at a juvenile party outside Marion reportedly was assaulted by three other girls. She was treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

It was a case of being in the right place at the right time when a game warden heard a dispatcher broadcast information about possible poaching on KM Ranch Road. He stopped the truck with the two men described in the call and, sure enough, there was the poached buck.

Fresh snow made for slick roads, and several minor accidents and slide-ins, across the valley Sunday morning. Among the mishaps was a rollover on Montana 40 about 10:30 a.m. The East Evergreen hill at Village Greens got a good sanding.

A visitor to a county jail inmate found trouble when officers there arrested the visitor on an outstanding felony warrant.

A hunter who headed out onto an island in the Stillwater River got turned around Sunday morning and prompted a call from someone concerned that he was lost. He made his way to a house and got a ride from a neighbor.

Deputies received 140 calls for service between 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Kalispell police got a call about a possible drunk driver on U.S. 2 west of Kalispell, then tracked down the vehicle at Appleway and Meridian Saturday evening. The 47-year-old driver was cited for his fourth DUI and for possession of dangerous drugs.

Groups of people began gathering at a drug store parking lot at Idaho and Main about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. When an employee reported that something like 100 kids had shown up just after 10 p.m., police cleared them out.

Employees at a U.S. 93 South bar broke up a fight, but the combatants remained in the parking lot yelling at each other late Saturday.

A woman called police around midnight to report her ex had just assaulted her at an Airport Road casino. Police arrived, then stood by while she picked up her children at a residence. They arrested a man for being a minor in possession.

Someone was spotted around an abandoned house on Northern Lights Boulevard early Sunday. It appeared secure, but police noticed screens had been pulled away.

Disorderly conduct was the citation against a man found conducting himself in a questionable manner in the alley behind Second Street West.

Yogurt, mustard, ketchup, egg, toilet paper and spray paint fouled a van that also got its rear view mirror broken on Sixth Avenue West.

The first snow-related call came into Kalispell police about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, noting how bad the roads were from the Flathead County line northward. That was followed with a string of accidents and slick-road reports. One woman slid through the intersection at Willow Glen and Woodland and hit the opposite yard’s retaining wall, breaking her nose in the crash.

Fraudulent charges at a box store started piling up on his credit card, a man reported to police, after his wallet was stolen in a fast-food drive-through.

Flower garden stainless steel stakes stolen from a Liberty Street yard were reported to be worth $120.

Officers received 65 calls for service between 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Columbia Falls police arrested a 43-year-old woman for shoplifting at a Nucleus Avenue supermarket.

Casino employees were suspicious of a man who walked through the business three times, hanging out there but refusing offers of a drink Saturday night. He appeared to be looking things over, so workers called police.

Officers received 19 calls for service between 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Whitefish police took Sunday morning reports of Saturday night break-ins to vehicles all over town. Most vehicles were unlocked and had been rifled through, but one car had a window broken.

A 22-year-old woman was arrested for DUI when stopped at Spokane Avenue near a car wash late Saturday.

Officers received 28 calls for service between 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Alarms

Columbia Falls Fire Department and police went to a parked car that caught fire Sunday afternoon.

Smith Valley firefighters did a training burn at a house on Foy’s Lake Road Sunday morning.