In a bizarre tale with a happy ending, a 7-year-old boy Saturday had his fishing pole, a birthday present, broken by an intoxicated man.

The boy was visiting his grandmother on South Main Street, where he spends a lot of time in the summer, according to police. His grandmother said the boy is already an avid fisherman and frequently heads down to the water to see what he can catch. The new fishing pole was the big present for the boy who will turn 8 later this month.

But the joy of the new pole was short-lived – at first.

As the boy tells it, a neighbor of his grandmother had promised him a soda if he could balance on a stool. The boy did it, but neighbor Robert Westhoff, 46, returned with an open, partially consumed can of soda, not the fresh, unopened, store-bought soda the child said he had been promised.

The boy refused the soda, angering Westhoff, who later told police the boy was disrespectful and needed to be taught manners.

That lesson in manners apparently came in the form of Westhoff allegedly breaking six inches off the top of the boy’s fishing pole, although Westhoff later told police he didn’t break it.

The grandmother said it was unusual for Westhoff, her upstairs neighbor, to act like that, although she noted it appeared he had been drinking.

Since the fishing pole meant so much to the boy, the investigating officers, Cpls. Keith Emery and Jason Moffitt and Officer David Lord, bought a new fishing pole for the boy with their own money. They gave it to the grandmother Monday night.

Westhoff was summoned on a charge of criminal mischief.

An argument between a Brewer man out on bail and his girlfriend became physical and landed the man back in jail as the fight – both verbal and physical – spread from the car to their home Monday afternoon.

Joshua Hoover, 21, was charged with domestic assault, criminal mischief, violation of conditions of release and obstructing the report of a crime or injury.

Hoover and his girlfriend were heading home and argued over their pending breakup, and she told Officer John Knappe that Hoover backhanded her and put his finger in her mouth. She admitted to striking him back, according to police.

At home, the girlfriend wanted Hoover to leave but he allegedly refused, taking the phone from her and disabling another phone when she tried to call the police to have him removed. She told Knappe that Hoover grabbed her by the hair and pushed her to the floor. When she got to her feet, he kicked her left upper thigh. He also smashed a picture frame.

Hoover left the residence, but didn’t go far, as police found him standing in the driveway talking on a cellular phone when they arrived. While Knappe spoke to the girlfriend, Cpl. Jason Moffitt spoke to Hoover, who claimed nothing physical had happened.

Police learned Hoover was out on bail from a previous domestic assault and was also on probation, according to reports.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli