Along with responding to their normal slate of calls, law enforcement agencies throughout the county were kept running over the evening of Independence Day and into the following morning by a deluge of fireworks complaints.

A total of 11 reports came in to the county. Among them was an unfounded report by a Beartrap Road woman who claimed her neighbors down the road were blowing up dynamite. She was told they did, in fact, have dynamite, but her request that a deputy come sit in the road until they lit something off was denied, with a dispatcher saying it was not possible due to “other, legitimate law enforcement emergencies.”

In Whitefish, a whopping 13 complaints came in, including a report of 20 or so middle-school-aged youths blocking a bridge and lighting off fireworks, throwing them at one another and in the river. There was also a report of people on U.S. 93 West setting off fireworks next to gas cans.

Columbia Falls received five complaints, including one from a Grace Road resident who was concerned about embers falling on the house, and one from a Wildcat Drive resident who reported people setting off bombs that almost set a vehicle on fire.

A blotter was not provided Friday by the Kalispell Police Department.

Along with calls regarding actual fireworks, six reports of grass, brush or wildland fires were also investigated in Kalispell and West Glacier between 1:41 p.m. and 11:23 p.m. Thursday.

A string of assaults drew a response from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Thursday and Friday.

Deputies responded to U.S. 2 East in Hungry Horse after receiving a report of an assault and found two victims on the ground. Neither victim knew who had assaulted them or wanted charges pressed. One of the victims was transported to the hospital.

A man was hit in the head with a golf club during an assault on Montana 209 in Bigfork.

A boy was arrested and transported to the Flathead County Juvenile Detention Center after assaulting his mother in Polebridge after the parade.

A man was arrested after punching another man on U.S. 93 West near Whitefish, chasing the man with a pipe and eventually hitting him with a rake.

A man assaulted another person with a knife on First Avenue South in Hungry Horse, cutting the person’s ear.

A man was arrested after punching a woman in the face on Montana 35 in Bigfork and taking her keys.

A pair of men were seen beating up a homeless man on U.S. 2 East.

A distraught Dixie Lane woman reported a small, noisy, low-flying airplane circling over her house. She was concerned the plane might crash into her home.

A very drunken man was counseled after being caught with his pants down, urinating in public on Grand Drive in Bigfork.

A Wintercrest Drive man reported his neighbor’s dog, which had tried to bite him in the past, was again on his property. He said it was not acting aggressive at the time, but wanted it removed “for the sake of his barbecue.”

A disgusting degenerate spit phlegm on a woman’s car in Somers when she asked him to stop leaning on it.

An early morning 911 caller told a dispatcher that everyone in the house was asleep and that he found it funny. He then said “never mind” and hung up.

Someone pried open the door to a fireworks booth on U.S. 2 East and stole several fireworks.

A shocked passerby witnessed a man drop-kicking a dog.

A flaming box was extinguished on Montana 35.

Whitefish Police officers arrested a man during a traffic stop; he had been reported by his mother earlier in the day because of a felony warrant out for his arrest.

A lifeguard at City Beach reported all the no-parking signs were spray painted with derogatory statements.

A U.S. 93 South hotel owner complained about an ongoing problem with transients at a motel next door. The owner said they sleep in the adjacent motel and then sneak into the hotel to eat breakfast. The point of entry being used by the transients was found, and plans were made to board it up.

A man seen passed out on Shiloh Avenue next to a bicycle with a beer can spilled next to him was found to be taking a nap and advised of the city’s alcohol laws.

A miffed motorist who pulled up very quickly and too close to a fireworks stand on Montana 40 West cursed at the stand’s owner and threatened the owner’s husband when he was told to move his vehicle back.

Officers arrested a person with an open container on Spokane Avenue.

A man in a tie-dyed shirt wearing a backpack was reportedly doing a “balancing act” on a guard rail.