In the National News

Updated 2nd edition, buy it here.

Bozeman, made the front page of the Wall Street Journal Friday below the fold, not for a story on the local economy that's so hot that the minimum wage is virtually meaningless and rental apartments almost impossible to find, not for a report on the burgeoning tourism industry that is driving double digit growth at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport at Gallitan Field and has made the airport the busiest in the state, and not for a feature on RightNow Technologies which grew from an internet startup to become Bozeman's largest employer, to spawn Montana's current at-large Member of Congress and to be bought out by Oracle and become one its most valued operating divisions.  No, it isn't any of these business or economic stories.  The front page topic is citizen reports to the police department.  The Journal reports,

In this mountain town (pop. 39,000), police officers' duties extend beyond the daily rounds and reports. They provide fodder for one of the hottest books in town, "We Don't Make This Stuff Up: The Very Best of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle Police Reports." 

While some newspapers are banking on the Internet and video to move their business into the 21st century, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle is taking a different tack: turning its police blotter into literature. After more than 100 years of printing, the local broadsheet curates the confusion and mishaps of everyday life and puts these things into a $10 paperback whose second edition is hot off the presses.

Police blotters, laying bare the foibles of the community, have become the focal point of several websites and books around the country. Here in Bozeman, the concept has really taken flight. In addition to the book, the newspaper, which has a news staff of 19, is now offering T-shirts and promoting its wares on a Facebook page that has more than 3,000 "likes." At bookstores and other shops in town, the books are stacked high and sometimes topped with a red or blue flashing light just like a police car.

Here is a sample.

Bozeman Daily ChronicleDecember 18 

From the police reports: An 18-year-old man ate a cookie and started hallucinating while at the Beehive Basin trailhead.

Should have called the pharmacology department on that one. And another.

Bozeman Daily ChronicleDecember 17 

From the police reports: A young child was reportedly walking alone on Fowler Lane. When a deputy contacted the child’s mom, she said the boy had taken a different route home from the bus stop so he could look at Christmas lights.

Bozeman below the fold

Tis the season.  And another.

Bozeman Daily ChronicleDecember 9

From the police reports: A caller complained that Interstate 90 was icy.

This is Montana.  It's December dude. Again.

Chronicle Police ReportsYesterday

An employee of a Frontage Road car dealership backed a Jeep into three Subarus.

More vehicle mayhem. Dogs.

Bozeman Daily ChronicleDecember 5 

From the police reports: A man was seen being dragged by sled dogs on Gooch Hill Road. The caller said it didn’t look like he needed medical attention, just help getting the dogs to stop.  

I'll say. And finally.

Bozeman Daily ChronicleDecember 18 

Great news! Belgrade sculptor Jim Dolan said his three steel horse sculptures have been found! The horses were found dumped on a ranch near Townsend last night and Dolan got them back this morning. Stay tuned for the full story.

Oh, wait.  That last one was real news. Enjoy and good luck to all!

Bozeman police on Main Street.