Bear payment averts problems

Kalispell Police were told that an officer was not needed after asset protection at a supermarket called to report that a woman had paid for items at a self-pay station, then grabbed a $30 teddy bear and headed to the produce section. The worker was afraid that if he or she approached the woman, she might run. The woman paid for the items before an officer arrived.

A snowboard was taken from the back of a truck on Fifth Avenue East.

A parent did not want to make an official statement after reporting that a man in a parking lot had pulled down his pants and flashed three children under age 6.

An officer left a message for a woman calling from Sixth Avenue West about an ex-roommate who was allegedly holding the woman’s tax return hostage. Dispatchers did not document details as to what could have precipitated the hostile financial situation.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a round hay bale that apparently fell off a truck or was dropped off by someone on Brown’s Road near Kalispell. A caller was concerned the bale’s former owner might not return for it.

A deputy was dispatched to a school where a 14-year-old was found in possession of tobacco products. The school wanted him cited.

A deputy let a man know about his rights to confiscate a vehicle after he called to ask who had rightful access. The man was paying for the vehicle but his ex-partner was driving it.

Parties were counseled after a man called to report that two children were trespassing by riding a snowmobile on private property off U.S. 93.

A person on Krause Lane was worried that scavenging bears might try to eat a horse that was dead on a neighbor’s property. The horse had allegedly been dead for nine weeks, but the owner would not bury it. The caller wanted to see if an animal control officer could help.

Someone pried open the back of a block of 16 mailboxes on Foothill Road, taking what appeared to be all of the mail. Another set of boxes was damaged, but it did not appear that the vandals had completely gained access.

A man called from Smith Lake Road to say that a check he had left in his mailbox to be picked up and delivered had been cashed or attempted to be cashed in an altered form. The man discovered the suspected theft within 24 hours.

A man called Columbia Falls Police from Franlou Park Lane to inquire about his rights in reference to items that had been pawned by his girfriend.