Power outage affects North Valley

Thousands of Flathead Electric Co-op members lost power during an extensive outage Thursday afternoon after a piece of Bonneville Power Administration transmission equipment failed, affecting several co-op substations and 8,500 members, covering most of the North Valley area. Most of those members had their power restored within an hour. A further roughly 2,000 members lost power for a few seconds at a time as power loads were switched during repairs.

Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a Canyon Road home in Hungry Horse after a man reported his drunken neighbor threatened to burn his house down and to kill him as well as his horse. When deputies arrived, the neighbor picked up a rifle and ignored commands to put it down, at which point a Taser was used on him. The man was jailed on preliminary misdemeanor charges of assault with a weapon, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A pair of men were dropped off at other locations after being thrown out of a bar for fighting, then banging on the front door and trying to get an employee to come outside and fight them.

Deputies responded twice to a Montana 35 apartment, where a man who was “just venting” kept swearing, yelling and talking to himself. A neighbor reported the behavior goes on at all hours of the day and night.

A perturbed passerby reported seeing a body in a field along Rose Crossing, but didn’t want to stop and get a better look. A deputy discovered the “body” was actually a sleeping bag.

A possible drunk driver reported swerving all over Ninth Street West was found to be a sober woman who was distraught over losing a family member.

A man who is very hard of hearing and “not forthcoming with information” shared his belief that someone had been peddling drugs out of a vehicle on Concord Lane a year earlier.

A Collier Lane man reported people were dumping garbage in his pasture. He and a deputy sought to identify the suspects by sorting through the discarded trash.

A disorderly man was kicked off a train for being uncooperative and getting into a sleeper unit without having an appropriate ticket.

A U.S. 2 East man reported getting a harassing phone call from his daughter’s mother’s boyfriend.

A purse and camera were stolen from an unlocked vehicle on Winter Lane.

The anger of a jealous lover led to an intervention by the Kalispell Police Department after the parent of a 17-year-old girl reported the fiancee of a gas-station attendant who had been talking to the daughter called the daughter and said if the girl ever went into the gas station again, she would stab her.

A concerned parent on Liberty Street reported a neighbor who was “a tweeker” and “always doing crazy things” after the man indirectly threatened a 10-year-old boy, frightening him.

Officers responded to a Greatview Drive home after a man was reported having hallucinations, eating deodorant and drinking from a baby’s bottle.

A motorist with minor injuries was transported to the hospital after a T-bone collision on East Idaho Street at Third Avenue East North.

A person reported hearing two loud bangs, possibly gunshots, after going outside on 10th Avenue West to smoke a cigarette.

A noise complaint led to a U.S. 2 West bar having to turn off its outside speakers.

Someone broke into a Seventh Avenue East home and stole a cellphone.

A pair of pesky pooches led to calls to the Whitefish Police Department Wednesday. A distraught Dakota Avenue resident reported a dog that was always out chased the resident’s cat. Later, a man was bitten by a St. Bernard — a bite that drew blood — while he was riding his bicycle in the area of Baker Avenue.

A drunk man was arrested and held at the police station until he sobered up after a Creek View Drive woman reported the man was trying to get into her house, walking around it and saying “boo boo” over and over.

A very drunk man reported he was beaten up behind a Central Avenue bar by a group of men whom he believed — although he could not explain why — were Canadian.

A concerned 12-year-old boy stopped by the Columbia Falls Police Department after finding a needle and several caps in a parking lot near a deli while on his way to his grandmother’s house. An officer then responded to the parking lot, where he found the items and sent them to be destroyed.