Golfer gets lesson in game's heartbreak

A golf instructor called the Whitefish Police Department to report that one of his students had hit a car with a stray ball. An officer spoke with the young golfer, who said it was an accidental shot and confessed he “is not a very good golfer.”

A shirtless man was reported walking along U.S. 93, with a huge bandage on his head and two more on both of his arms. The caller said he appeared unsteady. Police discovered he had just been released from North Valley Hospital after a car accident, he was coherent and simply waiting for a ride.

Another driver called to report that the 5:45 p.m. traffic jam caused by construction on Baker Avenue was a “total mess,” and that she believed there should be a traffic officer there to help. The caller confirmed that she was a tourist. Construction wrapped up for the day not long after, and traffic resumed.

A white Ford F-250 pickup was damaged in a hit-and-run with a 2013 silver GMC Yukon.

A Whitefish resident called to report someone had stolen her phone from Whitefish City Beach while she had gone to the bathroom.

A Central Avenue resident called to report a group of four males yelling loudly outside. The same group was there the previous night, the caller said, but the noise had grown even louder. An officer patrolled the area and couldn’t find the four males or any loud noises.

A female in her 20s fought an older male bartender at a Central Avenue bar. The other bartender at the establishment told them to take it outside while he called the police.

A customer called Columbia Falls Police Department that four kids had stolen candy from a Nucleus Avenue store and had gone to hang out a the nearby tennis courts.

Someone called Columbia Falls dispatch but hung up. When the call was returned, the caller said he was trying to dial 6-1-1 but the sun was in his eyes.

A Diane Road landlord called to report a tenant was smoking marijuana.

A Columbia Falls mother reported her daughter’s home had been damaged while she was house-sitting. The caller said siding had been pulled off the house and the water meter had been removed.

Kalispell Police Department received a call from a concerned citizen who wanted to report that they thought the pig wrestling event at the Northwest Montana Fair was inhumane. She wanted the event stopped before it began.

An older man was falsely selling parking spaces at the fair.

A storeowner at the Hutton Ranch business subdivision had a female shoplifter in custody and called police to track down her accomplice, a man in white sunglasses and dark, curly hair who the store owner described as “acting like a donkey.”

A woman reported that a man ran up to her parked car while she was inside, opened the door and stole her cell phone. She would have called to report the theft sooner, but...

—Compiled by Inter Lake reporter Seaborn Larson