The Chains of events, on the Mountain of Misfit Toys: Part Two

This chain of events are going to be given to our local newspaper, lets see if they print it!!

11/13/08, The police Chief Sullivan, his under chief, a ranger from the forest service and a forest service employee came onto our property. The police chief and his under chief were there to ensure that Mr. Thornton moved his bulldozer, which had trapped us onto our property for two and a half days. Mr. Thornton claimed that the bulldozer had broken down. If that was the case, then why hadn’t he worked on it every day prior to the police chief coming on to our property? The forest service ranger and employee came up to our property to try and give us a ticket for going through the forest road. They came up here because Thornton’s friend John Hiligoff allegedly took pictures of my husband using the road to get to our property and reported it to them. The ranger and the employee decided that our circumstances were extreme and thus did not warrant a ticket.

On 12/04/08, A letter of “No Contact” was delivered to Mrs. Marian Thornton by the Powell County Sheriffs Department from Deer Lodge County. I went on this morning to file the paperwork. The reason Powell County delivered the letter is because for some reason the Thornton’s address belongs to Deer Lodge instead of Anaconda. The letter stipulates that there is to be no person to person, third party, or email contact allowed by the Thornton’s to us. This letter remains in effect to this day.

On 12/20/08, Mr. Thornton locked the cattle guard gate, on the South entrance, into the subdivision. This is the back entrance that I took to get onto my property because the road conditions, at this time of this year, were bad on the main section road, on my property. As I pulled up to the gate, Thornton was leaving, and made sure to lock it behind him, knowing that I needed to gain access. I had to back my truck up in order to let him pass. I only noticed that he had locked the gate once I pulled up to it. This gate was never locked previous to this day. I called my husband to come and cut the gate so that I could gain access to my property. He came to meet me at the gate and had to remove the entire gate, so that I could get through.

01/23/09, John Hilligoss driving up our driveway to visit Mr. Thornton yelling at me while I was walking Sorsha the dog. I told him to go home and leave us alone, he said “Call the f---ing cops, what are they going to do about it”. I called the police and they did nothing.

On 05/10/09, Mr. Thornton painted “no trespassing”, in red paint, on our trees, on our property, by the entrance to his property. He also took down our corner marker, which marks the end of our property, which he showed us the location of, when we originally moved onto the property. He clearly knows the boundaries of our property and yet clearly continues to violate them. He also ripped the marker off of our tree, and threw it on the ground, on our property. We took pictures and called the police. The police here in Anaconda County again failed to do their job. Also at this time, a note was found attached to one of our trees that he painted on. The note said: “Two people in one family, with ADD, must be a bitch!” We believe this note was written by Mrs. Hiligoss, Thornton’s wife’s friend, is a substance abuse counselor, and is the only one out of the bunch who knows what ADD means. This clearly violates the letter of ‘no contact’.

On 05/28/09, Mr. Thornton took out his bulldozer again and this time cut a road through our property, without our permission or notification. He then cut down two of our fir trees and threw them on the side of the road, on our property. My husband called me, because I was at work, and told me what happened, which I was able to see when I arrived back up the mountain. So at this time, I called Mrs. Engebretson to see if her husband could go to our property and help protect my husband. At this time, I was in fear for my husband’s, and my dog’s life. I was also in fear for the safety of my property. I was then informed by Mrs. Engebretson that her husband was not available and she would go in his stead. So she went to our property, on her ATV, to assess the situation. My husband and I both called the police. He called them before calling me and I called them after he called me, not knowing he had already called them. The police came to the property. At that point my husband had already taken pictures of the damage Mr. Thornton had done to our property. The police again did nothing and stated that this was a civil matter. After work, I went to Anaconda and got an “order of protection” against Mr. Thornton from Anaconda Justice court.

On 06/17/09, There was a hearing for the continuation of the “order of protection” in the Justice Court. The continuation was granted due to the overwhelming evidence against Mr. Thornton.

On 06/18/09, Mr. John Hiligoss a known, long time friend of Mr. Thornton, came on to our property and started yelling at my husband. He demanded to take pictures of our RV. Mr. Thornton was in his truck, waiting for him, on the road in front of our shop tent, on our property. Mr. Hiligoss then threatened my husband while my husband was on the phone with the police. This again is in violation of the ‘no contact’ letter. Yet again the police did nothing while there was an imminent threat to my husband’s safety.

6/22/09, Filed police report in Anaconda, against Mr. Hiligoss addressing above incident. The police did nothing and never followed up with me or my husband.

8/24/09, Order of Protection against Mr. Thornton extended by Anaconda Justice Court for one year.

10/21/09 Mr. Thornton requests an Order of Protection against my husband, Brian Bonner. He is granted said order by Anaconda Justice Court.

10/24/09, Mr. Thornton took out his bulldozer and again plowed the snow on our road on our property, again without our permission or notification. He then took down the cable and both metal attachments that was on Mr. Hooper’s and our property. He then put up homemade road signs on Mr. Hooper’s property that lead up to our property. This road is a 911 road not a county road.

10/26/09, Mr. Thornton took out his bulldozer again without notification. This uncertainty about what he will do with his bulldozer at any time increased my fear of living on our property.

10/27/09, Mr. Thornton took out his ATV and plowed our road and a part of Forest Service road.

11/12/09, Mr. Thornton took out his half-track truck and again plowed our road and parts of Forest Service road, without notification to any homeowner in section.

12/5/09, Mr. Thornton took out his ATV and plowed our road with Mrs. Thornton following him in her SUV.

12/6/09, My neighbor Terry Engerbretson called to ask if Mr. Thornton owned a half track truck with a plow on the front because that vehicle drove past her house using her private road and plowed. I informed her that yes, that was Mr. Thornton.