Road briefly closed by damaged gas line

U.S. 93 in Whitefish was shut down between Baker Avenue and Karrow Avenue briefly Wednesday afternoon when a contractor hit a gas line. The road was reopened 24 minutes later after the gas line was repaired by a utility crew.

The owner of an Essex hotel contacted the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office to ask for a welfare check on a man he had just fired. The man, who was drunk and not doing well, had been involved in an assault at the hotel, but was not arrested. After the incident, the owner had dropped the man off at the train station in West Glacier, but was now concerned for him, although he said the man did not need medical attention.

A melancholy Murer Lane man reported his suspicion that someone was poisoning his dogs after one died and another is sick.

A drunk Montana 35 man called 911 to complain that there was a truck parked in his spot and he wanted it moved. He was advised it was not an emergency and told not to call 911 with parking complaints.

An injured dog was impounded and citations for dog at large, vicious dog, and failure to obtain a county license left for its owner after the Labrador/collie mix attacked livestock at a U.S. 93 West property near Whitefish.

A drunk man hunting for his own sense of balance was seen falling off his bicycle wearing an orange shirt and camouflage pants. He was passed off to the Montana Highway Patrol.

A concerned passerby reported people fishing on the shoreline of Flathead Lake near the public access, which he thought was dangerous due to the lightning storm. He requested an officer warn the people, but he was told it wasn’t a police matter, that it was their choice to be out there.

A Four Wheel Drive resident who feared someone had broken into the house after finding five screens mangled and popped out of the window frames was advised the damage had probably been done by the family dog, due to the only damage being on the inside and all the windows being shut.

A babysitter called in the Kalispell Police Department when she had to deal with someone’s children she hadn’t been hired to watch when several neighbor youths kicked her car, threw trash on the property and were smoking. The youths were reportedly on probation.

A pair of 10-year-old boys were seen taking half-smoked cigarettes out of an ashtray on U.S. 93 South and smoking them.

An angry West Seventh Street man contacted the Whitefish Police Department to report a barking dog. He complained that he reported the dog last night and was arrested because he shot his BB gun over the house. After investigating, the officer agreed to call and warn the dog’s owner.

A jostled jogger reported passing a teen boy who was leaning up against a footbridge. The boy smirked at the woman and acted like he was shooting her with a cap gun in his hand.

A woman reported her bad day, saying a giant sport utility vehicle nearly ran her down before a man on a bike cursed at her.