Squirrels cause two power outages
Squirrels were to blame for two separate power outages in the Evergreen area Wednesday morning. In each incident, a squirrel got tangled in a transformer, causing the outage, Flathead Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom-Price said.
“Next to weather, critters cause the most outages,” she said.
A total of 1,172 Flathead Electric members were affected by the brief outages, which lasted less than a half hour each. Some of those members may have experienced both outages, she said.
A report of a large party and a gunshot led a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents to a campground where they located a bachelor party. The agents gave the partiers a warning.
A U.S. 2 East property owner contacted the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office after returning home after being out of the state for a year to find his windows smashed, screens missing off the windows, stuff all over his yard, tires stolen off one of his vehicles, a Ford Bronco stolen, wood stolen, furniture in the yard that didn’t belong to him, and a trailer in front of the property that doesn’t belong to him.
The man reported his belief that someone else had been living there while he was gone, and deputies subsequently arrested a man, impounded two dogs at the animal shelter, and had a pickup truck towed from the scene.
A group of shameless passengers in a truck pulling a boat south on U.S. 2 East near Hungry Horse were reported hanging their bare back ends out of the windows, mooning other motorists.
A man violated a restraining order filed against him by his ex-girlfriend in order to tell her that he was upset she had filed for the restraining order.
A concerned motorist may have wished there was an 11th commandment telling people not to drink and drive when they reported a person in a minivan with a Ten Commandments poster on the back driving all over the road.
A person made a shooting gallery of a pickup truck on Flathead Drive, leaving five bullet holes in the vehicle.
A U.S. 93 South property owner reported his belief that a particular transient had broken his security cameras, but didn’t want charges pursued.
A woman in her early 40s was treated for a possible broken arm after a cabin renter called county police when the woman showed up on the porch — crying, repeatedly saying “Oh God,” and pounding on the door — trying to get into the cabin, which she had mistaken for her own.
A West Reserve Drive man — who sounded very drunk — reported a transformer going off for the third night in a row before accusing a dispatcher of laughing at him. He then asked to talk to a deputy about pressing charges against the electric company regarding the transformer. A deputy advised the man to contact the company directly with his complaint.
A Kintla Way man received a not-so-subtle tip to save early and often when he returned home to find his front door open and all of his computers unplugged. No signs of forced entry were found, and the man did not notice anything missing.
Several young boys were reported sunning themselves in an unsafe manner — laying in the middle of the bridge on Spring Prairie Road.
A Leisure Drive woman contacted the Kalispell Police Department after witnessing someone take over her computer. She said she gave remote access to someone posing as an Apple representative, who then tried to get her to agree to charges. She hung up on the person and then could see someone accessing her files, so she turned off her router. She was advised to contact a legitimate computer repair facility.
A woman called to report an assault after discovering she had suffered fracturing of her face in the Friday night attack. She said the suspect punched her in the face in front of a Kalispell bar at about midnight. She did not know the gender of the suspect and there were no witnesses, nor were any employees aware of any assault.
A vandal damaged several county cars in a parking lot on First Avenue West.
Someone broke a window on a vehicle on Treeline Road in an unusual way — using a giant clod of dirt.
A supposedly very drunk woman reported on South Meridian Road was found to be able to stand and walk, and was only two blocks from home.
The Whitefish Police Department was called out to Smith Field after a tournament-goer reported several youths in vehicles drove into the area, knocked over portable toilets and tore up the grass.
Irate 11th Avenue West residents contacted the Columbia Falls Police Department after a 14-year-old girl trespassed on their property to have a rendezvous with a boy. The residents were concerned that the girl was apparently sexually active at such a young age.
A vulgar man was reported saying obscene things to an elderly woman at a Meadow Lake Boulevard facility.