Truck rams into Blue Moon at highway speed

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

A Columbia Falls man faces felony DUI and criminal endangerment charges after he ran his pickup truck into the front of the Blue Moon Bar on Sunday night.

Montana Highway Patrol said James Elgin was traveling at least 70 mph when he didn't make the corner at the intersection of Highways 2 and 40 and drove into the building.

No one was seriously hurt, but the Columbia Falls Fire Department had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate Elgin from his Ford pickup.

Blue Moon owner Dick Sapa said he was at the far end of the bar when the accident occurred. He heard a loud bang and then the bar filled with dust.

"You couldn't see anything," Sapa said. "I didn't know if someone had bombed the place."

The Bar was built in 1949 and actually held up pretty well. Sapa said it was made from rough cut lumber, and while the door and the main entryway were ruined, the building was largely intact.

"It's built like a fort," he said.

Sapa said he's been working with insurance adjusters to get the front entrance fixed. There are alternative doors to the establishment and it is completely open for business.

He said this isn't the first time someone has run into the place. It's happened twice before in the 35 years he's owned it.