GPS was wrong
HARVARD — A driver whose GPS gave him bad directions was left to his own devices after a couple of attempts at getting help.
The man attracted police attention April 29 after he made a wrong turn into a driveway on Old Mill Road. The man told the officer he was trying to get to Devens, but his GPS sent him that way.
Told the road was a dead-end with no Devens access, the man seemed incredulous, said Officer William Castro.
He was advised to get back on Route 111 and follow the signs, but instead he ended up in a different driveway.
Re-directed again, the driver was last observed taking another wrong turn, Castro said. — M.E. Jones
Man in woods?
HARVARD — A woman reported she’d seen a man in the woods off Still River Road late on April 30. She told police the man ran when he saw her. When police checked the area, the man wasn’t there. — M.E. Jones
Missing boat
HARVARD — An owner who hadn’t visited his island property on Bare Hill Pond since January reported May 1 that his kayak was missing when he went there.
Police will be on the lookout for the boat on and around the pond, said Officer William Castro. — M.E. Jones
Permit fires still going, despite ban
HARVARD — A state-wide ban on permit fires was lifted recently, just before the burning season’s end. But the permit fire that was left burning May 1 on Littleton Road was over the time limit for the day.
Shortly after 5 p.m., burning leaves were observed at the roadside near a residence. The homeowner apparently wasn’t home, but the Fire Department sent someone to look into it. — M.E. Jones
Man upset when he phoned home, someone was there
HARVARD — A call that came in to Boxborough asking for assistance was re-routed because that police department was tied up, said Officer William Castro.
That’s why Harvard police responded to a Swanson Road apartment, where a man said he’d called home and someone answered. Not a good sign, since nobody was supposed to be there, the caller told police.
But the man police found at the apartment said he had a right to be there and paid rent. The report doesn’t say what happened after that, said Castro, or what the problem was. — M.E. Jones
Residents leery of collectors
HARVARD — A Craggs Hill Road resident called police May 3 to report that kids had been going door to door in the neighborhood collecting money for a baseball team, but when police responded, no children were located.
It’s not surprising that people would be leery, said Officer William Castro, in light of recent incidents in another area of town, when men showed up at residents’ doors on various pretexts. Their visits preceded break-ins and thefts in houses with nobody home.
Nothing like that happened in this instance, he said. — M.E. Jones
