Bear Relocated For Stealing Honey

Photo/Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Far from the Hundred Acre Wood, a Montana grizzly bear was relocated for soothing the "rumbly in his tumbly" by stealing honey from commercial hives.

State bear management specialist Mike Madel says it was surprising that the 4 1/2-year-old bear had wandered as far away as Simms, about 20 miles east of the Rocky Mountain Front.

In the fall, black and grizzly bears are constantly searching for food before they den for the winter. Madel figures that's what brought the bear to the Simms area.

"The local chokecherry crop is not very good, spotty at best," said Madel, who works for the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "I'm guessing he was following the chokecherries along the Sun River and found some beehives."

Beehives closer to the Front are protected by electric fencing, but those near Simms are not, Madel said.

Officials received the first report of a bear raiding a beehive on Sept. 9. A snare was set up on Sept. 22 after more beehives were raided and the bear was caught the next night.

The 575-pound male bear had not been in trouble or captured before. It was fitted with a radio collar and relocated west of Marias Pass on the Flathead National Forest where Madel says the huckleberry crop is very good.

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Local Sheriff Dept. In Car Chase

Just before 3:30 AM today a Toole County deputy discovered someone sleeping in a mini-van on Fifth Street South. The van had been reported stolen from Hill County, Havre, MT. When the deputy approached the car the woman inside started the car and took off. The deputy pursued her with lights and siren toward the prison and then onto the frontage road of I-15 heading toward Town Pump. The woman was then described as a white adult with blonde hair. She kept a steady pace of 20 mph but was weaving all over the road and would not stop. The woman then headed toward downtown still weaving at about 30 mph. The deputy called for backup and soon another deputy responded with "stop sticks" to blow out the van's tires. About this same time a third deputy's car was nearly hit when he tried to block the van. After placing some stop sticks near Albertsons and blocking Fifth Avenue one tire was successfully blown out. Soon the Under Sheriff joined the chase. During this time, the woman continued to drive in-spite of the now disintegrating tire on the front passenger side. Next the deputy with the stop sticks was able to get ahead and blow out another passenger side tire on the back and near the Elks Club building. This still had no effect and the van driver turned around on Galena Street and headed back west. Now with four patrol cars following the van headed out of town toward Cut Bank. At this time, more stop sticks were placed after the deputy got ahead of her and a third tire was destroyed. By this time the driver was going on: one tire; two metal rims and a blown tire. The driver did not go far when she turned around and headed back to town nearly being hit by an oncoming Semi-truck. Once again, she turned to elude the deputies. This time going south on the north bound lane of the I-15 freeway. Maybe realizing that she was in the wrong lanes or just to evade capture, the van driver spun around and headed back to Shelby. It was around this time that the fourth tire was blown out. Now driving on fiery rims she still would not stop. The original deputy called for the fire department to respond. Finally, after one last try at escape, the deputies were able to surround her just behind the Dixie Inn restaurant where she crashed into one patrol car blocking the way. The driver was then taken into custody and the van impounded. All involved did an excellent job of team work bringing this to an end.

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Weeds No Weeds, Editor's Comments

It recently came to my attention while out collecting news stories that there seems to be something "weedy" around town in Shelby. On several properties I have spotted the familiar letter sized notice from the City of Shelby which tells the owner about the city's weed ordinance. That notice also tells the owner that they are in violation of the weed ordinance and that they need to get into compliance. Basically the ordinance states that if the property owner remains out of compliance for a stated time period, the city will enter their property and alleviate the weed problem. When the city does this, they then bill the property owner for the "service" rendered. I have no real problem with this, weeds do get out of control and something needs to be done, both from the unsightliness and the spread of seeds to other properties. What does bring me to publish my comments is the way the city goes about enforcing this ordinance. While some properties are hit hard, at a reported $125 an hour bill from the city, others are left alone... Some prominent properties have weeds, weeds and more weeds and nothing happens. In one photo below, weeds grow and spread seeds from the west across town. This location is also one of the first places that travelers see when entering our town from the west and one of the last things they see when leaving. In the other business photo, junk filled with weeds disturbs residents and their visitors who work hard to keep weeds from their homes and business properties. The places with the weed notices also seem to be distressed properties whereas the ones filled with weeds are thriving businesses where the owners are "flush" with money. I am not out to pick on anyone, our office has been out of compliance with the weed ordinance in the past. We also did not get a notice, so the point is that there is off balance and low enforcement... I hope that the city does the right thing next year so I can shut up about this...
Gus
Editor in Chief
NBMC

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Amtrak Up

Amtrak ridership through northern Montana is up. When other modes of transportation are cutting back, Amtrak has added cars to their trains. The famous Empire Builder stops twice a day at Shelby with one train heading east and the other west. Both trains are largely filled with travelers each day. Many people from other towns, including Great Falls, park their cars and depart from Shelby. The price of riding the train is not that much less from flying for instance but there is much less hassle. You do not have to arrive way early and checking your bags is much more simple. Things like that mean everything to those not in a big hurry to get somewhere and who like to relax while traveling.
Visit Amtrak Here

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Medical News

It seems that most people do not realize how often a certain helicopter arrives in town. That helicopter is an air ambulance that is operated by Benefis Mercy Flight of Great Falls, MT. I often see the bright red and white helicopter fly over our Shelby office. It is used primarily when a critically injured person needs fast transport to a specialized facility, such as a burn unit or other trauma center. Other times it is used when someones health is failing and they again need fast attention at another facility. As with all other medical issues, you had better have real good insurance coverage or deep pockets. This helicopter flight will really set you back considering that a conventional land ambulance ride just 82 miles to Great Falls is over $2000...
Other medical news just coming out:
A study in the September 17 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association states that: cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities can now be associated with Bisphenol A, (BPA), a chemical compound commonly used in...
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Firetrucks In New Home

Shortly after 8:00 PM tonight Shelby's firetrucks unceremoniously paraded down Main Street. The various types and sizes of firetrucks stood out as they headed west. They were on their way, for the first time, to a new home in the yet unfinished fire-hall. Soon after arriving at the new building, firefighters spent time playing with the light switches and walking around getting accustomed with the new area. One new feature is an audio alarm with a strobe light that alerts firefighters to respond to a fire.

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Albertsons Renewed

If you have been wondering why there are shipping containers in the Albertsons parking lot along with a large dumpster and a white delivery truck, you are not alone. We at NBMC and others have been too. Today, when NBMC also spotted scissor type lifts by the containers we just had to find out what was happening. What is going on at Albertsons will soon be a complete remodel of the store's interior. This make-over is to take place in the last half of October. Some notable changes will be: new larger ADA approved restrooms; all new shelving called gondolas; many new refrigeration units; all new check-stands; a new bakery oven; new bakery displays; an upgraded entry and fresh paint to the outside of the building. There are other changes which you can see on the architect's drawing hanging over the shopping carts in the store's entry.

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BNSF NARS Training Van Visits Shelby

BNSF Railroad along with NARS (The National Academy of Railroad Sciences) has an ultra high tech semi-truck van used for training. That van is currently in Shelby parked just east of the depot. See below NBMC photo. The training is for current employees but especially for the 80,000 nation-wide new jobs that are expected in the next six months. With costs of trucking fuel going up and up shippers are now turning more to the railroads such as BNSF who claim that "every ton of freight that moves one mile by rail instead of by truck reduces greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds or more." The shippers, of course, see a cost savings of rail vs. truck and trucking companies save by having the railroad haul their vans instead of pulling them on the highways.
NARS has the latest in simulators for new train engineers. These simulators are similar to those used to teach new pilots giving a realistic look and feel to the trainees. NARS also offers NetSim, a network of locomotive simulators placed in satellite locations across the country. Through NetSim, engineers train on regional simulators like those in the facility at JCCC.
NARS also includes all the other job aspects of railroading such as track installation and maintenance in their training of new employees commonly called (rails). Visit NARS here to see more and for railroading job opportunities. Also, see about careers with BNSF here.

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Dumpster Fire

Just around 4:20 PM today Shelby firefighters were dispatched to a burning city dumpster. The dumpster is in an alley behind the 600 block of Hill Street. Paint was burnt off of one side and some fire had spread to a small area of grass and weeds. Two Toole County deputies investigated and apparently at least one under age male was involved.

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New Concrete Again

Not too long ago the Toole County courthouse had a complete landscape face-lift on its front side. That landscape included: removal of some old rock walls; new turf added; rock walls installed along the steps; a rock walled area for bedding plants; four antique style street lamps; two rot-iron and wood benches plus completely new concrete steps. Though the rest of the above has fared well, the concrete steps have not. There is the possibility of poor workmanship but the main culprit seems to be the pouring of salt on the steps during winter to melt ice. Salt and concrete do not get along well as the salt causes failure of the surface. If concrete has a good while to cure and age then salt has much less effect. Now, new concrete will soon replace the failed. The trouble is, that this is now September. Will this new costly concrete also fail given that it will have little time before winter and more SALT???

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Mr. Jalopy

(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
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LOS ANGELES
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UPS driver surpasses 1 million miles

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(AP Photo/Palestine Herald, Cheril Vernon)

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