Pioneer PINE CITY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016
VOL. 131 NO. 2 www.pinecitymn.com $1.00
ART SMART: Pine City’s strong art and culture programs bring in over $350k annually. P9
Casey’s moves forward with gas station plans BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
ANDREW ESPESETH
Jump right in, the water’s fine... With four and a half inches of ice and sunshine, Jan. 3 turned out to be a great day for a dip at the Pine City beach, and the Pine City Boy Scouts made the most of it at their annual polar plunge.
Casey’s Retail is moving forward with plans to put a gas station and convenience-store at the current site of the Old Oak Inn. Previously, Casey’s submitted a site plan application to the city to demolish the motel and convert the 1.7 acre site into a Casey’s General Store. Casey’s proposed to share a driveway with Spire Credit Union to the north and construct a 4,300 square foot convenience store with gas pumps. Pine City Community Development Director Nathan Johnson told the Pine City Council on Jan. 6 that Casey’s has been providing information to the city based on earlier requests for more details on the project. The Pine City Planning Commission had offered 11 conditions to Casey’s Retail this past November, which include submitting a grading and drainage plan and possibly a water pollution control plan, relocation of utility hookups, plus a landscape plan. Driveway access onto Main Street SEE PLANS, PAGE 12
Four charged after home invasion, assault BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
MIKE GAINOR | THE PIONEER
A Pine City firefighter speaks to a driver with questions about the closed Snake River bridge.
Gas leak closes bridge for hours BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
The Highway 61/Main Street bridge over the Snake River was closed for nearly eight hours due to a gas leak near the Pine City VFW. The pipes along Highway 61 were hissing so loudly the sound could be heard by passing cars and pedestrians on the
south side of the river. No evacuations were deemed necessary, but the road was shut down between 11 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. between Airport Road and the south side of the bridge. After repair crews were able to resolve the gas leak situation the road and bridge were re-opened, though the gas line workers remained at the site for several hours more.
A Pine County couple was allegedly assaulted and robbed at gunpoint in the early morning hours of Dec. 28. On Dec. 28 at 8:49 a.m., two Pine County Sheriff’s Office investigators and a deputy responded to the call of a robbery on the south end of Sturgeon Lake. Upon arriving at the home, officers found a man and woman at home, with duct tape, cords and what appeared to be red zip ties on the floor. Officers saw that the drawers and cabinets had been dumped out and the home appeared to have been ransacked. According to the criminal complaint filed by the Pine County Attorney’s Office, the victims said they had been living at the home for the past three months, and said that the woman was pregnant with the man’s
child. The victims reported that at 5 a.m. on Dec. 28 two women – Erika Tatiana Gould, 25, of Montrose and Danika Renae Harrel, 27, of St. Paul – came to the door and asked if they could “come in and smoke dope.” The man told them they had to leave. A few minutes later, the two women returned with two men and entered the home uninvited. Both men were carrying guns. One of the men, later identified as Gabriel Lee Rocha, 38, of St. Paul, allegedly grabbed the male victim by the neck, put a gun to his head and ordered him to lie down on the floor face down. The other man, Quintin Bradley Andersen, 47, of Montrose allegedly tied up the man and woman with duct tape and cords, and put duct tape over the female victim’s mouth. SEE ROBBERY, PAGE 12
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