Sheriff report: Car does damage driving through Lovell Cemetery

The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office received the following calls for the week of December 15-21:

December 15: 10:48 a.m. – Deputies assisted at the scene of a one-vehicle rollover two miles east of Deaver. See related story.

8:59 p.m. – A woman on West Platte Avenue in Byron called to report that someone knocked on her door and scared her. A deputy responded and found no one out in the neighborhood.

December 16: 12:37 p.m. – A caller reported a white minivan stopped on Wyoming 32 about a mile south of U.S. 14A/310 with the driver walking down the road and making hand signals. It turned out to be a motorist with a flat tire looking to see what his vehicle had hit in the road.

5:51 p.m. – A deputy stopped to help a party who was in the process of moving and lost a night stand off of their load south of Byron on Wyoming 32.

December 17: 7:45 a.m. – A caller on South Pryor in Byron reported hearing seven or eight gunshots south of Byron near the river. A deputy didn’t find anything amiss, and it was noted that it is still bird season in the area.

1:29 p.m. – The Lovell Police Department referred a call regarding a suspicious vehicle stopped near American Colloid/CETCO on Highway 37 with the occupants taking photos of the bentonite plant and train engines and cars. The photographer turned out to be a railroad enthusiast taking photos of an older train locomotive.

December 18: 8:22 a.m. – A caller on South Pryor in Byron reported seeing a suspicious person near the former Byron school at around 4:30 a.m. when he was starting his car to go to work. A deputy responded and found no one around the building. Security cameras had no evidence of access to the building.

December 19: 2:36 a.m. – A man from Powell called to say his granddaughter was to have gone to a bonfire in Byron and be back by midnight. A deputy investigated and found that the bonfire was actually in Park County. The reporting party called back to say the girl had returned home safely.

3:55 a.m. – A woman on East Yellowstone in Byron called asking if someone could drive by the east edge of her garage after hearing repeating noises. A deputy responded and found a tarp on a small woodpile against the garage blowing in the wind.

4:56 p.m. – A caller reported a man lying on the sidewalk on West Main in Byron. A citizen helped the individual into his house.

9:14 p.m. – A semi slid through a stop sign on the Georgia-Pacific Road south of Lovell and ended up in the small parking area to the west of the highway. The truck’s air brake valve broke in the process, and the driver was waiting for a tow truck from Billings.

December 20: 1:57 a.m. – A caller reported that two mini-ponies had crossed the highway just west of Cowley and gone into a pasture with no fence. The owner was contacted and put the ponies back in their own pasture.

7:55 a.m. – A caller reported that someone had driven a vehicle through the Lovell Cemetery the night before, knocking over several gravestones and leaving tire tracks in the snow and grass. The case is under investigation.

8:25 a.m. – A deputy came across a vehicle that had slid off Lane 13 just west of Road 11 and gone through a fence. The driver had left the scene but returned when the deputy was checking the scene. The car, a 2023 Mazda CX50, was towed.

December 21: 12:41 a.m. – A deputy came upon a grey Ford Explorer with Montana plates that had slid off the road on Wyoming 32 about 14 miles southwest of Byron. There was damage to the front of the vehicle that did not appear to have been caused by the slide-off, and no reports of a crash had come in. The vehicle was unoccupied, the driver having apparently been picked up by another party.