ELBA, Minn – Three deputies tipped to a massive beer bash up a coulee from ghe Whitewater River swamps found 150 or so cars – and probably 300 youthful revelers. Without backup available from other agencies, the deputies, outnumbered 300 to 3, did what they could to disperse the crowd. Their work was eased somewhat by so many cars being parked every which way along the dead-end narrow dirt road and blocking the way back out. Deputies did the best they could to assure each departing car had a sober driver. The deputies had arrived at 12:02 a.m. according to the police dispatcher’s log in Winona. Three hours later there remained a dozen lingerers. Deputies put them to work picking up cans, bottles litter and trash in the dark. At dawn there was still lots of litter and also the still smoldering bonfire a quarter up d Beaver Creek Stret. The narrow dirt road is near the State Highway 74 and County Road 30 junction, It’s dead-end used for huntg and fjshg access into the state’s Whitewater Management Area. It’s remote with no farms or homes nearby and normally only little night traffic on roads up and down the lower Whitewater River from Elba.
A single arrest
The only arrest was of a juvenile from Rochester. A party-goer had pointed deputies to her behind the wheel of car partially blocking access to Beaver Street Road. She was too drunk to drive, the worried arty-goer said. Deputies got her out of the car. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery and her speech muddled. She failed the usual law enforcement field sobriety tests for balance and dexterity. By the time deputies had her at jail in Winona, 20 miles away, her blood-alcohol level still was exceeding the 0.08% legal impairment level. She was charged with drunken driving and under-age consumption.
Resistance
Although there was a bonfire, most partiers were milling in small groups around their haphazardly parked vehicles up and down narrow Beaver Creek Street. Most were chatting amiably in the warm humid night air, albeit some loudly with extreme gesticulation and animation. There was no evidence of kegs or organized music. This was no Woodstock nor a 1990s commercial rave. It was re a BYOB and pass-it-around affair. Deputies said some partiers were mildly belligerent about having their good time interrupted and objected to being told to disband. None resisted physically. Deputies heard that one person had brandished a gun before they arrived but had not actually pointed it any anyone.
Extreme northwest Winona County. To find the party site, first identify deny these landmarks:
> Mississippi River in blue at the upper right.
> The town of Elba in gray at the lower left.
> The Whitewater River flowing straight upward from Elba along State Highway 74 in red.
> Go to the crossing of Highway 74 and County Road 30, also in red. Known locally as Beaver Junction.
> You’re almost there, but you may need to squint. Beaver Creek, in light italics, flows from the left to Beaver Junction.
> Beaver Creek Drive, in blue, is a dead0end angled straight southwest down from County 30.