JOHN MORGAN Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, December 11, 2005 12:00 am
Last week was a tough one for innocent buildings and unfortunate run-ins with bad, aggressive drivers.
A drag racer ended his high-speed chase through Riverton by crashing into a Main Street building on Nov. 29 and another man crashed into a Powell house Dec. 2.
Willie Manning, 46, of Riverton, smashed his 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse into the Realty Brokers building in Riverton at 10:30 p.m. and had to be extricated from his vehicle by rescue workers.
Manning was later arrested for being belligerent with the staff that treated him at Riverton Memorial Hospital. The condition of his 29-year-old male passenger is unknown, reports the Riverton Ranger.
Just minutes before the crash, Manning was spotted racing down Main Street against a gray passenger car. The other driver was not located.
Four days later and 163 miles away in Powell, 23-year-old Joseph A. McIntosh was arrested following a drunken rampage that left a gaping hole in a family home and an injured tree.
Shortly after midnight Dec. 2, the heavily intoxicated McIntosh left the road in town, drove through a yard and crashed into the front of a house on Mountain View Street. According to the Powell Tribune, he then backed his Jeep Cherokee out of the house and left the scene.
Jarred from their peaceful slumber, Mike and Jami Gibson ran downstairs to find the wide breach in their house and water spraying everywhere from a broken pipe.
"I can't imagine somebody just leaving, knowing they've run into somebody's house," Jami Gibson told the Tribune.
"If you had a thousand twigs snapping at the same time, that's what it would sound like," she said.
After fleeing the scene in his Jeep, McIntosh crashed into a nearby tree, got out and went to the nearest house. Finding nobody home, he broke into the residence and called a female acquaintance. The woman called police, who found McIntosh at the home shortly before 2 a.m.
Tribune staff writer Sean Thompson reported McIntosh cut up a table and counter top with a butcher knife while he waited. He was charged with hit and run with property damage, reckless driving and interference with a police officer, felony property destruction, criminal entry, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving at a speed too fast for conditions, driving under suspension, no insurance and no valid registration.
Final score: Cars 2, buildings 0.
The Gibson's 3-year-old daughter said she wants a new house for Christmas because hers is "broken."
Extra snow irritates sidewalk shoveler
Sheridan resident Don DeLapp, 73, is frustrated that someone always seems to plow slush back onto his sidewalk after he shovels it.
"They throw a bunch of slop where I just cleaned," he told the Sheridan Press. "I shoveled it off before breakfast."
Russell Hart, city street supervisor, says it wasn't his crew, as they didn't do that street that day.
"Somebody went over there and kicked some snow up, but it wasn't any of my guys," Hart said. "I don't know if it was the state, county or a personal truck."
Private plowers trying to be helpful can usually avoid putting snow on people's sidewalks by simply slowing down or adjusting the angle of the plow, DeLapp said.
Police blotter
Locks cut just for kicks: Gillette police Sgt. Chuck Deaton said someone cut 22 padlocks off storage sheds Dec. 5 at Apple Storage in Gillette, but took nothing from any of the units, writes the Gillette News-Record.
Scary stalker was probably just sleeping: Someone called Lander police late in the evening Nov. 30 to report a car parked in their yard with its lights off. There was a woman inside who appeared to be hiding from them, reports the Lander Journal. The woman was arrested for driving under the influence.
My neighborhood: An unknown person banged loudly on my front door Saturday morning before dawn, then again about five minutes later. After their repeated efforts failed to get me out of bed, they moved on.
Assistant State Editor John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.