Caledonia Argus

Suspect charged with damaging school

Posted: 12/3/02

by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

The man charged with damaging the northwest doorway of the former high school faces six charges, including criminal damage to property, fourth degree DWI, and collision with an unattended vehicle. Mark Taylor of Captain Cook, Hawaii, appeared before Judge Robert Benson in the Houston County Courthouse on November 26, and bail was set at $20,000, which Taylor posted later that day.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred the evening of November 24. Witnesses indicated they saw a Buick drive onto the sidewalk near the doors of the former high school on Main Street and ram into the doors. The vehicle then headed westbound on Main Street in the eastbound lane of traffic, crossed the intersection of Main and State Hwy. 44 without stopping at the stop sign, and veered off into a ditch near the West Main Townhomes. Taylor, the sole occupant of the vehicle, was later arrested by Officer James Logan of Caledonia Police. Logan transported Taylor to the Houston County Sheriffís Office and then returned to the damage site at the school, where he recovered numerous pieces of plastic and fiberglass that appeared to have come from the vehicle Taylor was driving.

The following morning, Officer Heath Dienger of Caledonia Police was dispatched to a report of a damaged vehicle near 402 West Main Street. A Chevy S-10 pickup, owned by Michael Gran, had sustained damage while parked on a lawn on the west side of North Hokah Street. Crash debris found by Dienger at the scene appeared to match the vehicle that Taylor had been driving the previous evening.

After refusing to submit to a breath test at the Sheriffís Office the night of November 24, Taylor was transported to Rochester Detox by Caledonia Police. On November 25, the Sheriffís Office was advised that following a visit by Taylorís ex-wife Victoria Taylor of Houston, Taylor escaped from detox by knocking over a staff member and running out the door. Witnesses saw him leaving the area in a car driven by Victoria Taylor. He was arrested later that evening in Winona and transported to the Houston County Jail.

Taylorís next court appearance has been scheduled for December 9.

Damage at the former high school, which is undergoing renovation, will not be a setback to construction, according to Project Superintendent Ken Cote' of Kraus-Anderson Construction. Though the damage is in excess of $14,000, repairs will be incorporated into the construction schedule and, barring any unforeseen complications, the northwest doors should be fully repaired by the end of the year.

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