COLUMN: I was there for 'The Birth of the Mirth'
One of the most popular features in the Daily Inter Lake’s is the Law Enforcement Roundup, our version of the daily police blotter that informs readers about interactions between citizens and the local constabulary.
Not surprisingly, calls to the police in Northwest Montana are often a lot less sensational than the calls made to 911 in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, but they are a lot funnier.
That’s why we decided to put out a book last Christmas called “Only in Montana: Tiny Tales of Mischief, Mayhem and Mirth.” The book captured the best of the law roundup from around 2005 to 2014, and featured the work of a number of reporters who had worked on the police beat for the Inter Lake over the years.
Not surprisingly, the book sold out in fairly short order, so we are back with “Only in Montana: Volume 2.” The wrinkle is that we actually went back further into the archives and grabbed some hilarious reporting from the years 2000 to 2007 and told the story of how reporter Chery Sabol had reshaped the law roundup from a mundane news account (“Just the facts, Ma’am.”) to an often hilarious collection of puns, pranks and ironic observations. That’s why we called Volume 2 “The Birth of the Mirth.”
I got the pleasure of editing both the first and second volumes of “Only in Montana,” which is only appropriate since the two books parallel the years when I have been managing editor, from 2000 till now. In fact, I’m the one who gave the green light to Chery when she asked if she could bring her humorous touch to the law roundup. We knew we were on the right track when Chery started getting fan mail!
The book begins with a special section we published in 2005 to celebrate the wacky and witty world of the local police report. The very first entry is one of my favorites:
“In August 2002, an unfortunate man fell and suffered an ankle injury. A caller requested an ambulance and told the sheriff’s dispatcher that people were treating the man’s injury as best they could. ‘They have ice on his shoulder,’ the log noted. Not sure how that helped.”
This next item from Dec. 3, 2004, illustrates Chery’s earnest desire to help local residents have a better, safer life with clear instructions: “If you leave a wallet and cell phone on the seat of your car, they can be replaced by a heavy weight. And your window will break.”
A seasonal sample from the following December told a tale of an ice-cold assault:
“Too many indignities have been visited upon a snowman on Harbin Hill Road, according to a complaint to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. It all began when someone threw an egg at a house there. Two weeks ago, someone tipped over the snowman. Thursday night, it was tipped again and the helpless, hapless, nearly hopeless snowman was drenched in fruit punch. There is a suspect in the fruit punching of Frosty.”
There are hundreds more funny stories in the book, which is for sale at the Daily Inter Lake for $10. You can also pick up copies at the Book Shelf and Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell. And remember, it’s a limited edition, so don’t wait.
By the way, I sent the first two copies of the new book to Chery, who lives in Missoula these days. She wrote back, “Your book made me hoot,” which is kind of funny since it was Chery’s writing that made us all hoot in the first place.
It’s great to have all this collected in one place since it would be hard to put all the clippings of these law roundups on one refrigerator door! Hope you enjoy...
Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don’t like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com