Headless dog reports prove false

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a terrifying tale of a dead, headless Labrador found in seven to eight feet of water off Flathead Lodge Road in Bigfork Thursday afternoon. While the animal was dead, it was found to still have its head attached, according to Undersheriff Dave Leib.

Calls came in from Echo Chalet Drive in Bigfork and Lesley Avenue in Somers after residents at each location had close encounters with bats and wanted rabies information.

A pair of hitchhikers on U.S. 93 South were warned not to hassle drivers.

A trio of Chihuahuas temporarily tied up traffic on Three Mile Drive. The dogs’ owners were educated on the dog-at-large ordinance.

A Farm to Market Road man called to complain about an 18-year-old man he said keeps speeding and “driving like an idiot.”

A delivery driver reported an irate customer who blocked Swan Hill Drive in Bigfork and started swinging an ax handle around, yelling at the driver for kicking up dust when he drove down the road.

A man kicked out of an Eastman Drive house in Bigfork returned the favor by slashing the resident’s tires.

A 15-year-old girl was turned over to police by her parents after they found she was drunk.

A roughly 20-year-old man driving a van with tinted windows was reported asking for money for a girls’ softball team on Bluejay Way in Columbia Falls.

Kalispell Police officers arrested a boy and transported him to the Flathead County Juvenile Detention Center after he was apprehended trying to escape from a South Main Street restaurant, from which he had taken a payment book containing money. When the responding officer drove away, a marijuana pipe was also found stashed under the patrol car, possibly thrown there by the suspect.

A Fifth Avenue West North man reported a roughly 8-year-old boy wearing a hockey mask was knocking on his door with a golf club, accompanied by several other children who had been running around the area. The man smacked the club out of the child’s hand, at which point the child told him, “I just wanted to know how your summer was going.”

A man was banned from a West Center Street property and a woman counseled on how to get a restraining order after the man repeatedly came into the business and threatened to kill her. She reported telling the man she didn’t want him to come to her work because of his threats, and he told her, “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

A miffed motorist reported a group of about 20 bicyclists holding up traffic on South Main Street and said one of them flipped off the motorist.

A bicyclist on Fourth Avenue West ran into a parked car, and after a lengthy discussion with an officer was sent on his way to a friend’s house. The officer reported the incident was due to a combination of sun and alcohol.

A Third Avenue East man told police he was contacted by Verizon to tell him the phone he had bought on Craigslist had previously been reported stolen.

An angry woman was reported screaming at teenage girls and calling them names on Hutton Ranch Road.

An officer reported people in the parking lot of a Woodland Park Drive bar were locking their vehicle and “wisely decided to walk home.”

The Whitefish Police Department received several complaints of door-to-door magazine salesmen, including one from a Houston Point Drive resident who reported he didn’t believe the two men who told him they were trying to sell magazines. The sellers were confirmed to be legitimate but were advised they needed to get a license to do business within city limits.

A group of teens were advised to keep quiet after their fun got too loud in the parking lot of a Central Avenue church.

A man reported sleeping on a Depot Park bench was found to be en route to Canada and was shown the way.

A Fourth Avenue West resident who contacted the Columbia Falls Police Department about a dead cat in the street was offended by the animal being left in the road to rot. The resident was advised that the department does not have animal control.

A brief carbon monoxide scare at a U.S. 93 South animal clinic led to an evacuation of the building and a response from the South Kalispell Fire Department, but it was discovered to be a false alarm due to something that had floated over from an adjacent building, according to an employee.