LAMOILLE, Minn. – A Twin Bluffs man was arrested and charged with drunken driving after deputies found his car in a ditch off Highway 61. Deputies said that Gene Allan Schueler, 68, wasn’t hurt but reeked of alcohol, stumbled and mumbled and had bloodshot eyes and failed several field sobriety tests. At the Winona County jail his blood tested as 0.10% alcohol, exceeding the allowable max by 20%.  The accident was found about 1:20 p.m. at Miner Valley Road at Twin Bluffs.

WINONA, Minn. – A Chatfield woman, DeMonica Adeline Skyre Delon Hodges, 26, failed sobriety tests in a traffic stop near downtown and was charged with driving drunk. She was stopped by police at Fifth and Main streets for crossing and recrossing and recrossing again the center line, police said. Her eyes were bloodshot and her speech slurred, police said. This was about 11:45 p.m. Her blood-alcohol level at the jail tested as 0.08%, which according to state law is impairment.

Soccer (women):  Sioux Falls 2, Winona State 1

Volleyball (women): Winona State 3, Minot State 0

Volleyball (women): Augsburg 3, Saint Mary’s 1

ST. PAUL, Minn.— The magazine Latino American Today named the police chief of St. Charles, Jose Pelaez, its state La Familia Latino Heritage community leader. Palaez, a native of Ecuador, has been chief since 2021. He moved to the United States in 2001 and, motivated by the 9/11 terrorist attack, decided to become a police officer. Jn St. Charles he speaks with young people, often in Spanish, about pursuing higher education: “As a Latino I can help bridge the gap between the Hispanic community and law enforcement,” Besides being police chief, Palaez is the emergency management director for St. Charles.

WINONA, Minn. – Two children escaped serious injury in a two-vehicle collision on the Near East Side even though they weren’t belted in seat restraints. Both kids, age 9 and 6, had bloody noses, police said. An ambulance crew checked them out as otherwise fine. The accident was at Broadway and Walnut streets. Their sister was driving, police said.

HOUSTON, Minn. – A Houston woman was injured, albeit not seriously, when the pickup on which she was riding struck a farm tractor on U.S. Highway 16 east of Houston. Lois Elaine Doty, 61, was taken 22 miles to a LaCrosse hospital. The tractor driver, K-Larae Rose Christensen, 19, of Winona, was unhurt. Also unhurt was Douglas Alan Sanders, 61, of Houston, the pickup driver. The pavement was wet, said Houston County deputies. The collision was about 3:20 p.m. near the Reddig Road intersection. The vehicles, a 2000 Dodge Dakota and a John Deere tractor, were both traveling east toward Hokah.

EYOTA, Minn. – A Lewiston man suffered sustainable injuries when his pickup truck lost control in a rain squall and rolled into a ditch near Eyota. Steven Richard Nahrgang, 77, was taken 16 miles to a Rochester hospital. The accident was about 3:15 p.m. on U.S. Highway 14. Nahrgang was heading east  toward Lewiston  in a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado. Olmsted County deputies said his airbag deployed.

SPRING GROVE, Minn. – A specialty auto parts manufacturer, Wisconsin-based Northern Engraving, is closing its Spring Grove factory and laying off 80 people.  Employees got the news from supervisors.  Simultaneously the company informed the state jobs agency in St. Paul that what’s categorized as a “mass layoff” would occur in mid-December. The closure is a major economic blow to Spring Grove, population 1,200, in rural mostly Fillmore County in southeast Minnesota. Why the closure? Northern Engraving said two of its automobile-manufacturing customers had discontinued models for which the plant  produced parts. Northern Engravig did not name the companies. Details were worded vaguely: “They are deciding not to find new partners.” That’s unusual in the automobile industry these day. Ay=uto-makers usually  to farm out component-manufacturing to companies submitting the lowest bids.

Fifty years old and shabby. Like many Northern Engraving facilities, the plant is an eyesore and not maintained well   – in contrast to the plant’s polished output. This is a Northern products dashboard for a Ford Mustang.

OWATONNA, Minn. – A New Jersey man was arrested at a raid on his hotel room and booked on a charge of firing a gun at the county fairgrounds in Rochester over Labor Day weekend. Arrested was Kelvin Figueroa-Millan, 19, of New Jersey. Polc had a warrant to search the man’s car and hotel room. The shooting, on September 2,  was at a celebration of birthdays for several teen-age girls.

Earlier: Rochester fairgrounds fight erupts with gunfire

Figueroa-Millan. Charges: Assault with a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm.

WALKER, Minn. – The main lodge at Hiawatha Beach Resort on the north shore of Leech Lake was destroyed by fire overnight. The lodge has 32 guest rooms. No injuries occurred. The fire was discovered about 2:45 a.m. The lodge and was engulfed in fames when the first fire crew arrived. Separate cabins survived. Fire departments from Cass Lake, Hackensack, Laporte, Park Rapid and Walker worked through the early morning to put out the fire.

Hiawatha Beach Resort. Up North destination lodge opened in 1920. Completely rebuilt in 2006.

MADISON, Wis. – A man arrested at the State Capitol with a handgun and an AK-47 assault rifle, who said he was looking for the governor, has been identified as Joshua E. “Taco” Pleasnick, 43, of the southwest Wisconsin town of Blanchardvillle. Earlier he lived lived in Madison. He was hospitalized under police guard for a check of his mental stability. Pleasnick was arrested shirtless with a handgun Wednesday afternoon at the Capitol. Even though he was removed, Capitol Police issued an alert to legislators, employees and visitors: “Use extreme caution when in contact with Pleasnick. He should be considered armed.” In the meantime, Pleasnick posted bail in court  He  returned to the Capitol about 9 p.m., again with the  hand gun and this time also with the assault rifle. He was arrested again.

Pleasnick. Not exactly dressed for an audience with the governor.

EYOTA, Minn. – A 39-year-old man was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation after a duplex fire northeast of Eyota. Olmsted County deputies, first to arrive, found heavy white smoke coming out the front door. They said the man was using a fire extinguisher in an attempt to quell the flames but inhaled too much smoke. He was taken 16 miles to a Rochester hospital. The fire was confined mainly to an oven, firefighters sad. This was about 7:20 p.m.

PLAINVIEW, Minn. – The student behavior led to cancellation of the Plainview High School homecoming parade last weekend may involve criminality, Police Chief Jason Timm said. In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Timm said: “We received information that we don’t feel is limited to just a conduct issue. It’s more potentially on the criminal level as far as assault.” Police are interviewing witnesses and suspects and so forth to find out exactly what happened, so it can be evaluated if it needs to be forwarded to the county attorney for review, the chef said “We don’t have evidence of sexual assault,” Timm said. “Assault means being tied up. We are investigating if he was physically harmed. Verbal threats would fall under the assault aspect.” Timm said there appears to be one victim and with multiple perpetrators.

Earlier: Probe widens in Plainview homecoming abuse

WINONA Minn. – Police believe they know who fired shots in a street rumble on the Far West End two weeks ago and now have arrested Salvatore Dionato Piscitiello. He was charged with felony possession of a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm. Police knew the night of the brawl that Piscitiello, age 19, was involved, but neither he nor anybody else would point fingers. Investigators worked the next two weeks on re-interviewing everybody from both sides, including Piscitiello – all to no avail.

Self-incrimidation

The break came when an investigator was able to overhear Piscitiello make incriminating statements that were caught on a squad car video. According to the investigator, Piscitiello said, in effect:

> “Should not have brought my 45.”

> “I shot into the air afterwards.”

Piscitiello was chatting with a compatriot after their minivan had been stopped a few blocks away. In the confusion, everyone in the vehicle was milling around as officers were trying to sort out what happened. Apparently Piscitiello didn’t realize that he was on camera. The supporting rationale for arresting Piscitiello: Probable cause.

Mystery pistol

In the minivan the officers found a .45-caliber pistol. According to neighborhood people who heard the original confrontation, at least two shots, perhaps four, were fired as one group was driving off. Nobody was injured. Police then found a shell casing at the scene that matched the gun they found in the minivan. The gun, however, was impossible to trace because serial number had been filed off.

Earlier: Gunfire in bad-blood West End street brawl

Piscitiello. Arrested about 11 a.m. in the 1150 block of East Wabasha Street without incident. The brawl was September 23 on the 700 block of West Wabasha on the other side of town.

WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters spent four hours Monday at the Bay State Milling plant where the possibility spontaneous combustion from flour dust posed a major risk, according to their after-action report. This is from the report:

> Firefighters were summoned at 7:45 p.m. to the giant mill the foot of Franklin Street.

> Bay State employees told the first fire crew that there was a possible dust explosion in a storage bin on the seventh floor.

> A second crew followed an employee to the seventh floor to assess the situation.

> Smoke was coming from a vent pipe. A two-foot by two-foot manhole had been blown through a side of the tank.

 > All off-duty and part-time fire personnel were paged to report immediately to the scene.

> Another fire crew assessed the damage to identify possible access to the bin from the lower floors.

> When off-duty crews and part-time personnel arrived, the decision was made to flow water into the top of the tank and onto the smoldering flour.

> A 2-1/2 inch hose line with a spinning nozzle was lowered into the tank to cool the super-heating flour.

> Ductwork was followed from the bin to the dust collector to assure that all fire was extinguished.

> Five firefighters remained to 1:57 a.m. to assure extinguishment was complete.

Earlier: Fire crews intercept explosive dust at Bay State

Bay State Milling. 55 Franklin Street. Produces wheat, rye, oat, seeds, spices and other milled products.

All hands called. When fully staffed, the Fire Department roster includes 21 full-time and 30 part-time positions. A shift consists of six captains and 12 firefighter-drivers. Of those 12 firefighters, nine are paramedics. Image: Winona Fire Department