Slick roads make motorists slide

Freezing rain caused hazardous road conditions that led to crashes and school closures or delays on Friday morning.

Bigfork schools were closed Friday because of the road conditions and West Valley School District did not run buses on Rhodes Draw or McMannamy Draw.

Polson School District began classes two hours late.

By 9 a.m., warming weather led the Montana Department of Transportation to lift its “severe driving conditions” warning on most Northwest Montana highways except for U.S. 2 from West Glacier to Marias Pass.

Side streets, parking lots and driveways across Flathead County remained icy well into the morning Friday.

A business on Ninth Street West reported to Columbia Falls Police that a transient man who regularly hangs around went into a restroom for a very long time and in addition to leaving a stench, left some disturbing messages written on a piece of paper.

A man on Fourth Avenue East North was not sure what had happened after something struck his vehicle. The man theorized that his window had been shot out or he had hit an animal. An officer believed that a deer had tried to jump the vehicle, causing the damage.

A vehicle owner who crashed into a boulder on 12th Avenue West asked that a nearby homeowner not call police after the crash because the driver had already been pulled over earlier that night. The police put a hold on the vehicle so they could investigate further.

A woman on Lake Blaine Road told Flathead County sheriff’s deputies that she was not sure that she saw someone going through her mailbox, but she was suspicious that someone might have, because she saw a person in a car open and close multiple mail boxes in the area.

A woman on Jellison Road was given advice about restraining order options after she got a new phone but a man had told her he could hack her phone. The woman also had questions about stalking.

A deputy responded to Smokey Bear Lane after a man who was served eviction papers allegedly told a landlord, “I will put a bullet in your head,” before he angrily sped off. The officer found that the landlord had not felt threatened and that he was only hoping to get some help in the eviction process.

An officer found that a man was under the influence of alcohol, but not drunk, after a child-care provider said she had handed five children off to the man, who admitted that he had “had a couple” prior to picking up the kids.

A man on McCaffrey Road in Bigfork said that when he heard a loud noise a few nights ago that he brushed it off as a bird hitting a window, but that he later found a bullet hole in his mailbox and noticed a sport utility vehicle parked suspiciously in his driveway.

A man on Barnes Lane near Columbia Falls called for help about people hunting illegally on his property, but canceled the request after a neighbor verified that the duck hunters had permission to hunt along the river.

A man on Shawnee Drive in Bigfork asked for help because he was at his wits’ end about how to handle his two disrespectful teen children. The man is a single parent and has not been able to sleep lately.

A woman on Autumn Court went for a walk with her dog and came home to find that one car window had been smashed and another had holes in it.

Whitefish Police were told that a man was bothering a female employee on Baker Avenue. The man left a woman a love note, made her and other female employees feel uncomfortable and possibly followed the woman home. An officer gave the woman information about no-contact orders and what would be required for a person to be cited for trespassing.

Police officers assured a woman that her roommate was OK after she called to say that he had left the residence to walk to a gas station. The woman was worried that the man might fall because he was having a “tricky day” and opted to treat it with alcohol.

A woman on Wisconsin Avenue asked that officers check on an elderly man who had just gotten an eviction notice. The woman was worried because it was cold outside.

An officer was unable to locate a group of boys allegedly throwing snowballs at passers-by from the top of a building on Central Avenue.

Someone called the Kalispell Police Department on Thursday to ask for extra security at a Christian gathering because a former Muslim preacher will be there and the caller thought the gathering would become a target.

A woman called police to report a suspicious-looking man running alongside the road who ducked behind a bush when he noticed her driving next to him.

Someone was caught using a fraudulent check at an Evergreen business.

A clerk at a Meridian Road business found a counterfeit $5 bill but was unsure who used it to pay.