Francisco M.

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

Francisco M. Avila, 26 of Austin, faces multiple charges after a two-vehicle intersection collision Sunday.

According to an Austin Police Department report, Avila’s vehicle struck one driven by Edward Lowell Bure, 72 of Austin.

The mishap occurred 6:16 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 4th Street Northwest.

Bure was taken to Austin Medical Center by the Gold Cross Ambulance Service for treatment of minor injuries.

Avila was charged with third degree DWI, having no driver’s license and criminal vehicular operation/causing bodily injury.

Threats, pranks investigated

Three incidents of possible violence were reported to the Mower County Sheriff’s Department.

A school bus driver reported arriving at a rural Dexter home March 6 to pickup two children. One of the children ran to the bus and boarded the vehicle. When the driver looked at the house, she saw the other juvenile boy at a window pointing a gun at the vehicle.

The boy then came outside the house and board the bus.

When confronted by the driver, the boy said the weapon was a BB gun and he was only "joking."

Deputies later cited the youth with pointing a dangerous weapon.

Southland school officials reported two incidents to authorities.

On one incident, a youth had designed a cover for a report with a bullseye over a human face.

The 16 year old was confronted by school officials and told the art work was inappropriate.

In the other incident, a 12 year old boy in the seventh-grade told classmates he was "going to go home and get a gun and shoot a teacher in the head," according to the report.

Adams Police Chief Gordon Briggs and Southland school officials confronted the youth and his parents about the incident.

No charges were filed in either incident at Southland Public Schools, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Man faces several charges

Matthew Dean Harig, 34 of Austin, was charged with driving while intoxicated and criminal vehicular operation, following a roll-over early Sunday.

According to an Austin Police Department report, a semi-truck driver picked up Harig and two passengers following the mishap reported 1:53 a.m. Sunday.

The personal injury accident occurred along West Oakland Avenue near the Interstate 90 entrance ramp.

Harig’s passengers were identified as Lori Forstad, 39, and Jeffrey Dowd, 32, both of Austin addresses.

A Gold Cross Ambulance Service crew took the trio to Austin Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, according to the police report.

Cigarette theft discovered

A male juvenile employee of the Freedom convenience store and gas station in Austin will be charged with theft.

Another store employee discovered 17 cartons of cigarettes missing on Sunday.

When she further investigated, she discovered cartons in the back seat of the employee’s car parked at the business, according to an Austin Police Department report.

Hate crime under investigation

Anthony Barrera, 23 of Austin, reported finding two crosses with racial slurs.

One of the crosses was left on his car and the other was left in the front yard of his home at 800 block of Eighth Street SW, according to an Austin Police Department report.

Barrera and a girlfriend have lived at the address for nine months without other similar incidents reported by the couple.

The couple reported the hate crimes to police Sunday morning.

Deer hunter not found

A Gerard of Minnesota employee stepped outside a cottage at the adolescent treatment center Saturday afternoon and claims to have seen a man shooting at deer with a bow and arrow.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the woman watched the hunter shoot at a deer and miss. Then, he walked away from the scene in the woods of the nearby Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.

When Austin police investigated the incident, they could not locate any bow hunters.

It is illegal to hunt deer in the Nature Center.