Skunk stinks up delivery

The delivery had stink written all over it.

The same can be said of the back of Dale Maki’s pickup, along with Lowell Thomas’ bowling ball and everything else that was sent to North Idaho last Monday in the same UPS truck as a frozen dead skunk that thawed a little too soon.

Someone from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, was expecting the skunk by way of San Antonio, said Diana Hatcher, UPS spokeswoman in Atlanta. The company’s policy is not to disclose customers’ names, but Hatcher said the Newport Miner weekly newspaper was correct in reporting that it was a “natural science facility.”

Hatcher said she is unsure whether the skunk made it to its final destination.

But there’s no denying that the skunk’s stench made it as far as a warehouse in Newport, Wash., where Maki was picking up packages for last Saturday’s Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet. He said he loaded a gun-cleaning kit and various boxed gifts in the back of his truck, and off he went.

“I didn’t even notice it until I put it in my pickup,” said Maki. “I thought I ran over a skunk. It was a pretty distinct smell.”

Word of the skunk seeped out quickly. At first, Thomas thought it was just a story, until he got a whiff of his bowling ball and bag last Tuesday.

Thomas, owner of OK Lanes in Oldtown, Idaho, returned from a national tournament in Baton Rouge, La., along with other local bowlers. Instead of leaving it up to the airlines, some of the bowlers chose to ship home their equipment.

“I put my ball in the office and closed the door and walked away,” Lowell said.

Shortly after, the smell hit him like a 7-10 split.

Thomas said he’s poured aftershave into the ball’s holes and the skunk smell is fading. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s door prizes were aired out in time for the big night.

Meanwhile, the town is having fun with the tale.

“The joke is, we bowled bad,” Thomas said, “but we didn’t know we stunk up the place.”