We spent a week in late May in Whitefish, Montana, a small scenic town about 15 miles from Glacier National Park. Whitefish has a population of just over 8,000 and has a weekly paper called The Whitefish Pilot. As a former newspaper editor and reporter, who worked at both weekly and daily newspapers, I always find it interesting to read the local paper when visiting a town to get an inside look.
Sometimes the news or at least the headlines can be head scratchers when viewed by an outsider. For example, the lead headline in the latest issue of the Pilot says: County Board Mulls Whether Whitefish Lake is an Airport. The mountain lake referred to is long and angular, created by glacier waters. We saw it a couple of times during our stay on drives along a mountain road. We didn’t see any airplanes or any indication that the lake was an airport. But we’re sure there’s a story behind that odd headline.
What we found particularly interesting was the police blotter. It’s a collection of mundane reports called into the police department, and some of the entries are humorous, like the one from April 6, 4:06 p.m. below.
But while perusing the blotter on a couple of occasions, we noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. On two consecutive days, close to the same time, UFOs were reported flying over Whitefish. There was no articles about it, at least that we saw, just reports alongside the report of people congregating at a gazebo and a vehicle leaking diesel on Hazel Place.
Take a look:
Monday, April 6
12:32 p.m. A woman’s attempts at turning up the volume of her podcast while biking ended with an accidental call to the police.
4:06 p.m. A man bent over and stared at a woman on Baker Avenue.
11:05 p.m. A man was out spotlighting for his missing dog on Missy Lane.
Tuesday, April 7
7:52 a.m. A lost dog was found on Baker Avenue.
12:29 p.m. A crew that had been fired from a job was picketing the job site on Vista Drive.
3:33 p.m. A caller witnessed four kids steal a grill near City Beach.
7:23 p.m. About 15 people were congregating in a gazebo.
11:35 p.m. A man spotted a UFO off Wisconsin Avenue.
2:35 p.m. A vehicle was leaking diesel on Hazel Place.
3:26 p.m. A Bearberry Lane resident was confident the traveling salesman going door-to-door was violating social distancing rules.
5:54 p.m. The caller thought he saw a man beating his girlfriend in a gazebo.
Thursday, April 9
9:54 a.m. The caller was receiving scam-related emails about his bank account.
11:14 a.m. An Ashar Avenue caller saw what she suspected was drug-related activity.
12:56 p.m. Someone put glue in a caller’s lock on Second Street.
1:16 p.m. The caller believed a Chicago-based gang was stalking him.
3:42 p.m. A caller wanted to express gratitude to the emergency services employees working.
7:27 p.m. A black bear was spotted near City Beach.
11:29 p.m. A caller and his neighbor saw blinking lights to the northwest and believed it to be a UFO.