Downed power lines close U.S. 2 briefly

According to the Montana Department of Transportation, both lanes of U.S. 2 were blocked a few miles east of the Libby Creek Bridge after power lines fell across the road shortly before 11 a.m. The utility company was dispatched from Libby to repair the lines, and the road was cleared within roughly a half hour.

A Hutchens Lane resident in Whitefish contacted the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office after seeing footprints in the snow regularly. He told deputies that he followed the footprints and found a man who told him he was living in the woods because he is injured and can’t work. Although the man said it was Forest Service land, the resident suspected it was private property.

A man pistol-whipped another motorist with a .45-caliber handgun during a road rage incident on U.S. 2 East in Kalispell.

Several Kalispell youths were reported taking advantage of the winter weather by spinning brodies in a U.S. 2 West parking lot.

A River Place resident reported “very distinctive” footprints in the snow around his vehicles that he believed someone had rummaged through. He took photographs of the footprints for deputies.

Deputies were called to a U.S. 2 East business in Kalispell to remove a semi-conscious man who was not responding to an employee.

A man was arrested and a .22-caliber gun seized on First Avenue South in Hungry Horse.

Three guns were stolen from an unlocked vehicle on Tall Pine Ridge.

A bicycle valued at $3,500 was stolen on South Main Street.

Kalispell Police Department officers dealt with three truant teens on Wednesday.

A Caroline Road teenager refused his mother’s demands to go to school. She was told she could physically force him, but responded that he is 6 feet 2 inches tall and 200 pounds, so that was not an option. The boy first refused to speak with the officer on the phone, but agreed to talk after the officer told him through his mother that they could always talk in person at the home. The boy agreed to go to school, where the officer met him and thanked him for doing the right thing.

An Eider Drive man was told it was not illegal for his 16-year-old son to not go to school, but that he could have the boy charged or threaten the boy with being charged as being a youth in need of intervention for habitual truancy.

A Hawthorn Avenue resident who reported a suspicious smell coming from next door had reason to wonder whether a neighbor thought he was living in Colorado, where marijuana use is now legal.

A 9-year-old boy was reportedly assaulted by another boy, approximately 12 or 13 years old, while he was on his way home from school on South Meridian Road. The boy’s grandmother said it was the second time the older boy had assaulted her grandson.

A group of three would-be shoplifters was forced to leave behind a cart full of groceries they left a U.S. 93 South business without paying for, fleeing in a station wagon.

A woman was tracked down by police and cited for trespassing after checking out at a U.S. 93 North business she had been banned from in the past.

Officers chased down and removed a man who had previously been fired from a First Avenue West restaurant and was not supposed to return.

An extremely drunk man contacted the Whitefish Police Department at 10 p.m. Tuesday to share his concern that the lights were not on at the viaduct and that pedestrians like himself — who was wearing dark clothing — might be hit by traffic.