What makes it worthwhile... Marilin: You're to be commended for keeping everyone informed. Such an excellent community service! BRAVO!!! Elizabeth:  I lived for your up to date very informative posts over the last two days. Thank you so much for your dedication to keep us all informed and safe Brianna: This site has been AMAZING. So thankful for you Mike. Sarah: As always Mike, you keep us informed and updated on all progress. We are grateful for your reporting. Without your hard work we would be in the dark ... both due to lights being out and lack of knowing what's going on. So thank you. A huge thank you to all the crews, and the volunteers responding to everything. When we have an emergency situation like this, makes me proud to live in our community. Kathy: Thanks for all the up to date info yesterday. It was a great to keep up with everything happening. Thanks to Northern lights for returning our power ... Mark: We all appreciate your continued updates! Thank you for your community service! Amy: We owe a lot of thanks and that includes thanks to you for keeping us so well informed. I drove home from Sandpoint last night and your info helped me make it safely without incident. Kate: Great job Mike, thank you for your efforts at keeping the community updated on everything so quickly! In between shoveling I was glued to your page. You deserve a huge thank you from all of us! I think the City and County should pay you for your service, as town crier. And I don't mean the town cryin' in your beer guy! Evelyn: Thank you Mike... we all are depending on you! Merry Christmas! Jill: I want to thank you too, Mike. I checked your page all day. It really made me feel less isolated. Denise: I live in Ponderay, but I check this site during the day. I have relatives that live in Bonners, Moyie, and Troy. This is a good site to check on their circumstances and make sure they are with power. Thank you for all you do for the communities. Joyce: Thank you NEWS BONNERS FERRY, we have family in Bonners, we live in California, so this helps us stay in touch with your area. Always enjoy our visits to Bonners. Sarah: Thank you for keeping us updated!! You did an amazing job! Huge shoutout to you and all of our emergency crews, plow crews, lineman, and everyone else with a shovel, chainsaw, plow, etc. You guys rock!!

Home   News   Sports   Social   Obituaries   Events   Letters A new way of covering a storm December 21, 2017 By Mike Weland Editor I do my best to avoid tooting my own horn, and I'm the first to confess I have a long way to go before I come close to getting it right, but I think the ideas I've developed over years of practice of combining the internet and hometown news are starting to pan out. Far be it from me to disagree with the mainstream media; the newspapers, radio, television. Maybe seeking a wider audience by providing regional or global news is actually the way to go. But I don't see the point. To me, the internet, with just a website and a Facebook page, offers a near-perfect news medium; low overhead, immediacy, lack of deadline or office hours, global reach and around the clock access on a range of handy devices I don't pretend to understand make it perfect for bringing back something long missing; truly local news where the church picnic or a fifth generation baby are front page news, where you can run into the reporter at the store and give him what for for the dumb article he or she wrote. Where news and information of what's going on in trying weather can be sent out immediately, in time to help readers in the area affected make the right decisions and where family and friends anywhere in the world with an internet connection can follow, in real time, what's going on in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and areas around. I've covered a few storms in the nearly 30-years I've been in Boundary County, almost all of it involved, in one way or another, with news. The internet, purely from an editorial standpoint, takes the best attributes of each of our existing mainstream news media and combines them all into a single superlative package. No news media, I think, is better suited to doing what news is by nature, an informative source of entertainment, meant to keep you looking so that when the rare storm hits or catastrophe strikes, you've grown used to turning on the TV to your favorite channel, dialing the radio to your usual station, picking up a copy of your favorite paper. You've grown to trust them. What I think that most media in this era has forgotten is that when the storm hits, you need to remember what your real purpose for being is; to provide, in times of crises, the fastest, most accurate and comprehensive source of vital fact and information to enable each of your readers, watchers and/or listeners to make decisions that can save their lives and or property. At a moment's notice, you kick into high gear just as do all the first responders, the line crews, the plow drivers, the medics, police, firefighters, the tow truck drivers ... all those, in short, whose job is, like the good reporter, to be there to bring order when all is chaos. What follows might be a bit long, but I think it will show, even if you don't read it through, just what I'm talking about. It's not particularly pretty, it's not done up in high style or elegant font, nor does it use the AP Style Guide or the latest scientific layout designed to lure the sophisticated and discerning eye. It's just a small part of the NewsBF Facebook coverage, beginning to end, of the first big snow to come down this winter. These are just the initial posts of two days worth of individual "threads" written and presented by one reporter, with nothing but a few year's news experience, a desk in his home with a computer, a telephone and a scanner, a few notebooks and a stack of pens, and but one hand to work with. Where the initial thread was lengthy, such as the initial pre-storm report at 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, I truncated. Each thread, some time stamped others not, a few with photos, most not, are each the start of a small conversation between the reporter and readers, each a story updated as needed to provide new data and information, to answer or respond to comments or questions. Some are a little frivolous, some light hearted, some serious. Some grew quite lengthy, others not at all. What I hope with this is that this will be seen by the key component every reporter must have, the leaders, the sources of the news and information that the news audience trusts me to provide, accurately, and in time to matter. The threads come from a variety of sources; readers, the official websites of sources I need. Some I obtained with a phone call and a question. In some cases, I couldn't get an answer, not because it wasn't available, but because the person with the information wasn't authorized to give it. Hardly any of it was sent to me by those who could have served their own best interests by getting the info they had out to a wide audience, and the few times I did, it was invariably too late to be of much use to the reader except as a footnote, a reminder of what they wished they'd have known when the decision had to be made. I'm not a reporter who will chase a source or shove a microphone into anyone's face and scream for answers until they give in just to shut me up, not by temperament and, since a stroke in 2012, something I can't do now even if I were so inclined. In times of crisis, the best sources are typically busy doing essential work, and my hope is that I can help, not hinder, the essential work they're doing. I don't always get it right. I make mistakes. But I don't stop trying to get it right. One thing about the internet is how easy it is to use. Merge that with how ridiculously simple it is to be a reporter/publisher. Just gather facts, write it up and post it and a few pictures on the internet for all the world to see and voila! I'm a news publisher! That's why there's such a proliferation of supposed news out there to choose from, news for every taste and tenet. While very few, if any, true reporters ever get it right, they try to get it right, every time. They realize that, while the story is the thing they present to their audience, each story, even a bit of fluff or a vanity piece like this one, has to serve a higher purpose. It has to cultivate trust, the most essential commodity in a reporter's tool box, without which the reporter is but a hack. Trust isn't printing verbatim what the source tells you to print, it isn't providing the readers just what they want to hear. It's laying out the information and fact you are able to glean, verify and cite with as little slant or bias as you can, and trusting in the intelligence of the reader to best use that information in their own best interest. You won't keep a wide and varied audience with a dry recitation of fact and data, you have to risk trying humor, sarcasm, to challenge, to hold the attention of the reader, to amuse, anger, to arouse feeling. Done right, it isn't censorship, it's editing, holding to a standard of quality, fact and truth necessary to earn and keep the trust, both of the source and the audience. Done right, it looks easy, just as the words on the page of a great novel look like they fell there without conscious thought, without effort. And that's enough of my vain pontificating. I trust that if you've read this far, you might read a bit ... maybe a lot, farther, and see why I think this internet gizmo should be the next big thing in small town news. Tuesday, December 19 • 12:13 a.m.: As of 12:05 p.m., there are no adverse road reports in Boundary County and the radar capture shows most precipitation falling as rain, heavy at times (dark blue/green), rain/snow mix (pink) and snow (light blue) to the south of us, with the system at present moving east northeast into south Bonner County ... • 2:31 a.m.: Northern Lights is reporting a small outage affecting 46 members in the Noxon, Montana, area. Crews are working to resolve the outage as quickly as possible. • 5:12 a.m.: Boundary County and Lake Pend Oreille School District schools are closed today due to snow. All Boundary County School District 101 extra curricular activities, including the girls home basketball game and the Christmas Choir concert, are at this point cancelled, per superintendent Gary Pfleuger. Only an unforeseen and drastic weather improvement within the next hour or so might change that. • 5:17 a.m.: Snow, slush and/or slop are wide spread throughout the region. There have been no specific problems reported as yet this morning on Boundary County roads, but if you must drive, please give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination safely ... if you can get out of driving, by all means stay where you are! • 6:10 a.m.: From ISP: Westbound and Eastbound I90, all lanes, are currently blocked at milepost 18 due to a crash. • 7:16 a.m.: Two southbound semis are reported spun out on the north side of Peterson Hill, partially blocking traffic. Use caution if traveling in the area. Deputies are en route, ITD has been notified. • 7:22 a.m.: Deputies have sent out word to commercial drivers that chains are highly advised on Boundary County hills. This is a heavy, wet snow, and road conditions are deteriorating. • 7:22 a.m.: Road conditions are getting worse rapidly as snow continues to fall across the county and the temperature hovers around the freezing mark. Truckers are advised to chain up before tackling hills, commuters and travelers are advised to slow down. Give yourself extra time for this morning's drive to work! • 7:28 a.m.: A non-blocking, non-injury slide off is reported on Highway 95 near mile 501. • 7:33 a.m.: ITD has listed ALL North Idaho highways, including Highway 95 from Potlatch to the Canadian border, as "difficult." • As of 8 a.m., Northern Lights is showing no power outages in their service area, however, this is a heavy, wet snow that is already bending branches, and as more continues to fall, outages are likely. Also, in addition to slick roads, be aware of heavy morning fog in places, with very limited visibility. If you are driving, please leave your headlights on. • UPDATE 8:20 a.m.: Left lanes are still blocked both directions while the tow company removes the semi truck and ITD resets the cement median jersey barriers. The crash has been investigated and no further information will be released. • 8:54 a.m.: Mountain Springs Early Learning Academy is closed today due to weather. • 10:17 a.m.: Two semis are reported spun out again, blocking traffic, on Peterson Hill. Use caution if traveling in the area. All truckers are again reminded of the need to chain up before hills in Boundary County, as roads are treacherous. • 10:24 a.m.: There has now been a report of a vehicle rollover in the vicinity of the semis slid off on Peterson Hill, unknown injury. Emergency providers are en route. Use extreme caution if traveling in the area and please yield to emergency vehicles. • 10:28 a.m.: A sideswipe non-injury collision has occurred on Highway 95 just north of Smith Lake Road. Use caution if traveling in the area. • 10:42 a.m.; Road conditions throughout Boundary County are extremely hazardous. Please stay off the roads if at all possible. Just judging by looking outside, it appears that at least four inches of new snow has accumulated since daylight on top of the one inch or so that fell over night and it is still falling! If you must drive, slow down, be prepared for limited visibility and slick roads. City, county and state crews are working, but have not yet cleared roads, Multiple slide offs and crashes are being handled -- try not to add to them! Wreckers are overwhelmed so you'll be waiting! • 10:49 a.m.: Northern Lights crews are currently working two area power outages, one in the Bull Lake Road area in Montana with around 200 out of service, the other on the west shore of Lake Pend Orielle east south east of Sandpoint affecting nearly 500. As the storm system is moving slowly northeast, it is likely that more outages will occur as the day goes on. Those who rely on electric powered medical equipment are advised to make plans now for if an outage occurs. • 10:59 a.m.: If you are expecting adverse conditions to abate, it appears that the wait will be long. Nearly all of Boundary County is having snowfall, and from the current radar image, it's not going to stop soon. If you are able, please check on your elderly or disabled neighbors or young families that might need a hand weathering the storm. • 11:01 a.m.: Highway 95 traffic is being shut down on Peterson Hill to get people out of the ditches. • 11:09 a.m.: Sheriff Kramer reports that traffic on Peterson Hill is now flowing in both directions. Please slow down due to conditions. Many of those pulled out of the ditch have been professional drivers and North Idaho locals who know all there is about driving on snow! • 11:28 a.m.: City crews are removing a tree that has fallen in the area of the Ash Street exit, and a city electrical crew has been called inn to assist with one of the slides offs. I have no word on any Bonners Ferry power outages, but Northern Lights crews are responding to numerous small outages in south Bonner County and near Noxon, Montana. • 11:32 a.m.: A vehicle is stuck on the railroad track crossing on Pine Island Road. Trains have been stopped as crews respond. • From Valley View Elementary: The Valley View Christmas Program is cancelled for tonight. We will try to reschedule it later this week. • 12:24 p.m.: TRUCKERS: If you're driving through Boundary County, please don't "save" time by trying to pull the hills without chaining up! Two truckers tried that more than two hours ago; got stuck, chained up, blew all the chains they carried, had more delivered by a local chain manufacturer at $400 plus per axle, found they were twisted in so hard they couldn't get under to chain up, and now they are waiting for a wrecker and an operator who is trying to squeeze them in! Law enforcement personnel with plenty else to do have been stuck there with them to keep other vehicles safely away! The hills ARE as bad as they look! Chain up!! You'll be doing yourself a favor in the long run. Readers, if you know truckers operating in the area, please share this with them! • 12:45 p.m.: Two more semis are now stuck on Highway 95 on Peterson Hill, and all north bound traffic is being shut down. • 12:50 p.m.: All traffic is now stopped on Peterson Hill due to a number of slide offs. Avoid the area if possible. If you have to go through, expect considerable delay. This image is from a rollover a few hours ago, and road conditions continue to get worse. • This rollover occurred not long after two semis spun out on Peterson Hill on Highway 95 south of Bonners just after 10 a.m. The Highway has gotten worse, and semis are still not chaining up, and getting stuck. As of 1:05 p.m., two newly spun out semis have Highway 95 shut down as emergency responders work to get them moving again. At 1:04 p.m., a firefighter on traffic control reporting more semis stuck. (rollover photo) • 1:08 p.m.: Heavy snow is causing outages throughout the NLI service territory. Crews are assessing damage and making repairs. If you have an outage please call our outage notification line at 1-866-No-Lites (1-866-665-4837). • 1:15 p.m.: Northern Lights reported power outages • 1:28 p.m.: ISP reports all slide offs on Peterson Hill have been cleared and ITD is plowing/sanding -- traffic will be released once they are done. • 1:44 p.m.: Fire crews are responding to a report of a fire on Brown Creek Road. I did not hear what was burning. • 1:46 p.m.: Shopco has been evacuated for a report of smoke. • 1:50 p.m.: A semi tried to detour onto 20-Mile Creek Road and is stuck. The road is blocked. • 2:01 p.m.: A firefighter on scene reports a downed power line across Brown Creek Road near the 800 block. Crews are stopping traffic until Northern Lights Crews can respond. Brown Creek Road is completely closed. • 2:03 p.m.: A semi is reported (guess what?) spun out on the south side of Peterson Hill after not chaining up. Traffic is disrupted yet again. • 2:18 p.m.: Additional power outages are occurring, mostly in western Bonner County. The purple areas indicate outages affecting 500 or more members. Northern Lights crews are working as fast as they are able. • 2:33 p.m.: A two vehicle collision is at Highway 95 and Kootenai Street in Bonners Ferry. Use caution if traveling in the area. • 2:34 p.m.: From Bonner County: Please avoid 12000 block Dufort Road due to power lines being down. Please use an alternate route. • 2:35 p.m.: Heavy snow is also falling in Lincoln County, Montana, travel is reported as extremely difficult at present and may become impossible tonight. The heaviest snowfall is expected on a line from Bull Lake to Libby to Eureka. Highway 56 from Bull Lake north to the Yaak is expected to become impassable and may be closed. Ten top 15 inches of widespread snow is predicted by Wednesday morning, with up to 18 in isolated areas of the valleys. • 2:36 p.m.: A second power line has collapsed on Brown Creek Road. The resultant outage could be long. Northern Lights has been informed. • 2:43 p.m.: From Bonner County: 400 Spades Road - Tree partially blocking road; 1000 Glengary Road - Road completely blocked by downed trees; 6600 Bottle Bay Road - Large tree down blocking both lanes; 1026 Glengary Road - Tree down on power line; North Boyer & Sweetgrass Lane - Tree branch down on 3 lines; 1900 Dufort Road - Tree is uprooted and partially blocking roadway - Will need a chainsaw to clear, fairly large; 12300 Dufort Road (Priest River area) - Tree down blocking entire road - Power line down as well; 1889 Lower Pack River Road - Tree over the power line/Line on ground sparking • 2:50 p.m.: A car has slid into the guardrail going into the Kootenai River Inn parking lot from Highway 95. • 3:02 p.m.: Just in case you were wondering when the snow might taper off ... no time soon. The system seems to have settled in over us for the long haul. Whoever said prayers for a white Christmas, you must have a special dispensation with God! • 3:08 p.m.: South Boundary and North Bench fire personnel have been dispatched to a report of a brush pile burning under a power line on Deep Creek Loop south of the trestle. • 3:45 p.m.: A tree is reported fallen onto Highland Flats Road about one mile from the Deep Creek Loop intersection, blocking one lane. Use caution if traveling through. Crews are on the way to clear it. • 4:26 p.m.: A tree is reported down and blocking Brown Creek Road about 1.2 miles in from Highway 95. Area residents are gathering gear to remove it. • 4:33 p.m.: Fire personnel are responding to a report of a tree down in power lines on Sandy Ridge Road. • 4:42 p.m.: A vehicle is broke down in the northbound lane of Highway 95 in front of Safeway. • 4:53 p.m.: Northern Lights is now reporting 3,051 members without power, as crews scramble from down power line to down power line. • 5:10 p.m.; A semi attempting to pull into a turnout on Highway 2 near mile 5.5 in Montana is stuck partially blocking the eastbound lane. Use caution if traveling in the area. • 5:27 p.m.: Two semis are stopped and blocking one northbound lane of Highway 95 at the north Bonners Ferry city limit. • 5:42 p.m.: A semi struck a power pole in front of the Kootenai River Inn. • The North Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center has issued a backcountry avalanche warning effective from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. • 6:09 p.m.: A semi is chaining up on Highway 95 near mile 502 with three others ahead doing the same, they are partially blocking one lane but there is room to get around. • From the Bonner County Sheriff: 6:16 p.m.: Bonner County is experiencing a heavy call volume due to trees being down throughout the county. If possible please do not travel. • 6:17 p.m.: The North Hill is reported clear as the semis have chained up and cleared the hill; additional traffic control has been requested on the South Hill near mile 502 on Peterson Hill as a group of semis are being chained up. • 6:22 p.m.: We're having power flickers at my home in Moyie -- if I go quiet, it's because it went dark. • Northern Lights outages as of 6:40 p.m.: 4,916 customers without power. If you lose Northern Lights power, call 1-866-665-4837. • Maridel Merritt letter: How about a HUGE THANK YOU for the state, county and city road crews, all first responders, tow truck drivers and lineman. dispatchers too. • On the subject of thanks, how about a HUGE thank you and a tip o'the hat to Boundary County School District 101 Superintendent Gary Pfleuger, who started out his day making a decision that had many people wagging fingers, but came to spare the parents of every one of the students he's responsible the anguish they'd have felt waiting for the bus to drop off their children or their young men and women to arrive home driving through these conditions. • 8:10 p.m.: A city officer reported seeing electricity arcing on Bonners Ferry's South Hill in the area of the city yard, and dispatch is getting many reports of power being out. The officer said it appears that the while south hill is dark. One, maybe two transformers blew out. City electrical crews are on their way to assess the situation and get power restored as soon as possible. • 8:39 p.m.: Fire crews are responding to a report of a tree down in power lines on Highway 95 near mile 494.1. Expect outages in the area. Most of Bonners Ferry is now without power. • 9:04 p.m.: Fire crews are being called to Highway 95 near mile 502 for traffic control for a well stuck semi. Use caution if traveling in the area. A city police officer reports most city streets are all but impassable despite the best efforts of street crews because of the rate of snow fall. Highway travel remains difficult, with slick roads and decreased visibility ... 9:07 p.m.: Fire crews working a tree in power lines just watched a tree fall across Highway 95 near mile 494, completely blocking the highway. • 9:22 p.m.: Fire personnel working the tree in Highway 95 at mile 494 have it cleared, thanks to a Northern Lights crew that stopped to help, but report trees snapping all around. Additional road closures and additional power outages are likely as the snow fall is forecast to remain heavy through tonight, with an additional foot of snow before it tapers off Wednesday morning. • 9:27 p.m.: Fire crews are responding to the area of Highway 95 and Labrosse Hill Street for a report of a possible natural gas leak. • 10:07 p.m.: A semi, with chains, is stuck trying to climb the south side of Peterson Hill. He is not blocking traffic, but motorist should use extra caution. Temperatures through much of the county have dropped below freezing and roads are getting worse. • 10:19 p.m.: Several cars are reported stuck in the Zip Trip parking lot. • 10:37 p.m.: An early Christmas present? The National Weather Service predicted heavy snow until morning, but this 10:35 p.m. radar image show a nice clear patch just ahead! (radar image) • At 7 a.m., Paula Burt measured three inches of snow at her home on Highway 95 near mile 515, not far past Camp Nine Road. At 10:30 tonight, she measured again, 19-inches. That's a fair day's snow! While it may still be a bit early, despite everything that happened today, there were no serious crashes or injury crashes, no homes lost to house fires -- none of the things that can happen that are hardest to overcome. While many thanks are due to our emergency responders, the road crews, the line crews, and all who work to help us through such crises, thanks must go out, as it always does in Boundary County on days like this, to all the neighbors who stepped up to help neighbors. You're a big reason Boundary County is such a great place to call home. Thank you all! • As of 11 p.m., Northern Lights reports 8,042 members are reported out of power. Bonners Ferry electric crews report that near all city power customers have had power restored, and it's hoped that those still in the dark will be restored soon. Based on initial reports, a tip o'the hat for affecting what is almost a Christmas miracle. • 11:13 p.m.: Crews are shutting Peterson Hill down while a semi is helped over. • 11:33 p.m.: After spending a whole day out in the snow helping people on our county's roads, firefighters manning a portable stop sign on Peterson Hill, assisting a trucker to get moving free of traffic, have had another semi blow by, nearly hitting a fireman, then they were subjected to taunting and threats in a road rage incident. If you are driving, thank these selfless individuals, don't make them regret their contributions. The trucker may have gotten away, as deputies responded to arrest an individual in a report of domestic violence, but it sounds like those in the road rage incident cursed and ranted at our firefighters a bit too long. • 11:48 p.m.: A tree is down on Highway 95 blocking both northbound lanes near mile 503. • 11:56 p.m.: Boundary County law enforcement has issued a mandatory chain up order for all semis going north or south on Highway 95 over Peterson Hill as two more semis have slid out trying to make it over without chaining up. Northbound truckers are advised to use turnouts and wide outs between Brown Creek Road, mile 499.6, and mile 501. Southbound semis should pull over between Labrosse Hill Street, at mile 505 just past the south Bonners Ferry city limit, and mile 504 just south of Mirror Lake Golf Course. Failure to comply could result in citations and fines. Wednesday, December 20 • 12:38 a.m.: Here's a pretty sight -- the latest radar shows a few isolated show showers over the Purcells, but little to no snow falling for a good way north, south, east and west. With this lull, if it holds, roads might be in pretty fair shape by morning and the crews get a well deserved rest. • 1:24 a.m.: A West Side Road resident reports a tree across the roadway, completely blocking, in the vicinity of wildlife refuge headquarters. Sheriff's dispatch is being notified. The road is impassable until personnel can be sent to the scene. If you have a saw and can clear it, please notify dispatch, (208) 267-3151, extension 0, so they can send crews to attend other needs. • At 2:47 a.m., the National Weather Service cancelled the winter storm warning that had been in effect. Scattered snow showers will continue this morning but further accumulations will be minor and spotty. • 3:03 a.m.: A tree is down across and blocking Kaniksu Street almost at Mission Road. A crew is being dispatched to remove it, but the road will be closed until ten. • 5 a.m.: All Boundary County and Lake Pend Orielle public schools are closed today, December 20, due to weather. Any Boundary County School District 101 extra curricular activities are also cancelled. • 5:29 a.m.: The Idaho State Police, Kootenai County Sheriff's and Post Falls Police are on scene of multiple crashes on I90 between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene. Please use caution as the roads are extremely slick this morning. • 5:40 a.m.: A deputy is reporting a tree down on Highway 95 near mile 503, blocking the north bound lane, and another in Highway 2 near mile 74. ITD has been notified. Use caution if traveling in the area. • 5:55 a.m.: ITD has upgraded highway conditions in Boundary County from "difficult" to "fair." At present, there are no first-hand reports coming in, but it is below freezing in most areas of Boundary County and there are likely slick spots on main highways while county roads, especially feeder routes, are likely still not plowed. While scattered and light, there are still areas of snow, which are expected to diminish later this morning. • 6:05 a.m.: Northern Lights crews are gaining, but there are still widespread outages with 6,313 members without power. Crews will continue to work to restore service as quickly as possible. City electric crews were able to restore power after a massive outage last night; dispatchers have received no reports of any new outages. If you lose power before the city office at 8 a.m., call dispatch at (208) 267-3151, extension 0, to report. During office hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., call (208) 267-3105. If you are on Northern Lights and lose power, call 1-866-665-4837. • If having the kids home early to start their Christmas vacation has you thinking of playing hooky and taking the family, here's word from the Snow Crew for this morning ... • 6:51 a.m.: I have spoken with Stephanie at County Road and Bridge, who is exceptionally cheerful for being at work so early, and she advises that county roads are horrible as their main focus up to this point has been to clear downed trees from roadways so the plows and sanders can get to clearing. According to Stephanie, this storm has downed or severely damaged tons of trees county road, with hundreds in or across roads, posing the greatest current hazard to motorists. Please have patience and realize that just because you haven't seen a county plow, crews aren't sitting idle. They were out late last night, and back at it at 4 a.m. today, so if you see them and can get to them, take them out a thermos or hot coffee or cocoa and tell them thanks! • 7:29 a.m.: From the Bonner County Sheriff: Starr Lane and Piehl Road in Ponderay will be closed to through traffic until further notice due to power lines being down. • 7:52 a.m.: A mother and son are reported to be walking in the roadway in the northbound lane of Highway 95 up the south hill. An officer is responding. Use caution to avoid them if traveling in the area. • 8:12 a.m.: Just heard from Kristina Cordle that there is a tree down across Deep Creek Road by the Moravia Cemetery. "A couple guys are working on getting it removed but if anyone in the area wants to help that would be great." • From Northern Lights: Crews worked through the night to restore outages in all areas of the NLI service territory. Additional crews have been called in from around the region to assist us. We are working as hard as we can to get everyone restored as quickly as possible. Please report new outages to 1-866-665-4837. • Audrea Worthington said she probably should have taken down the hanging basket before the storm! • 9:15 a.m.: A deputy reports a tree across and blocking McArthur Lake Road just off Highway 95. Road & Bridge crews have added it to your already long list. If you happen to have a chainsaw, and just happen to see trees in roadways ... well, all help is appreciated! • If you have a few minutes to spare and want to make the snow fly, how about taking a shovel out to your nearest fire hydrant and shoveling it out? Doing so will save firefighters precious time if they have to fight a fire and need water, and the home and property you save might be your own! • 11 a.m.: Fire crews are responding to the Fall Creek Subdivision where a tree is reported on fire in power lines. Outage may occur. Northern Lights has been notified. • There will be no mid-week activities tonight at First Baptist Church of Bonners Ferry due to the weather and road conditions. • 2:46 p.m.: The power went out in Moyie, and I did too! Sorry ... I just woke from a nap. All power in Bonners Ferry has been restored, but Northern Lights is still working to restore widespread outages with 6,464 members still reported without electricity, including many in and around the Moyie Springs area. The image shows Northern Lights outages as of 2:45 p.m. • The Ministerial Association's Community Worship Service in the Becker Auditorium at Bonners Ferry High School at 6 p.m. tonight is still on! Everyone is welcome to enjoy and join in on the many Christmas Carols to be sung, and to join together in thanks that our community once again breezed through a harsh storm with few to no serious losses or injuries! A merry white Christmas to all! • 3:46 p.m.: The Three Mile traffic light is back in service. • 4:04 p.m.: ITD has upgraded conditions on Boundary County's state-maintained highways; 95, 2 and 1, from "fair" to "good." Highway 95 from about Westmond in Bonner County to I90 in Kootenai County is still rated as fair due to icy patches. County Road and Bridge has been working to clear downed trees and has started plowing, but no official Boundary County release has been issued and I have to wait for that for updates. Bonners Ferry City Street crews have been working to systematically get streets cleared and snow hauled off, and have hit nearly all city streets once, having worked the downtown area from 1 a.m. to about 9 this morning while ensuring streets accessing essential service, such as the hospital, were cleared, then fanning out to plow the rest of the streets. There is still more to do, but City Administrator Mike Klause said today's effort by the street department went better than expected. • 5:25 p.m.: From Northern Lights: NLI made some progress today restoring outages. Crews will continue to make repairs through the night. Even though the snow has stopped falling new outages are popping up. Please report outages to 1-866-665-4837. Thank you all for your patience and kind words. It means a lot to the tired crews and dispatchers who are working around the clock. • During the last 24 hours, Boundary County has suffered 18 to 24 inches of snow depending on the location, power outages, internet failure, overloaded Verizon phone system, stop lights not functioning, and a bunch of fender benders and accidents closing roads and highways. First responders have been stretched to the limit ...  Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail!