Friday, May 30, 2025

An 18-year-old New York Mills man is suspected of drinking and driving in a one-vehicle crash that killed a passenger in his vehicle Tuesday night. The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office reports that 18-year-old Blake Unger of Bluffton died at the scene of the crash about five miles north of Wadena around 10:45 p.m. Unger was found near the vehicle. According to a Facebook post from the New York Mills superintendent Adam Johnson, the victim was a senior at New York Mills High School and recently graduated. Izak Schermerhorn was identified as the driver of the vehicle, which rolled onto its side near the intersection of 370th Street and 640th Avenue. He was located and was later placed under arrest for suspicion of DWI. Schermerhorn is currently at the Otter Tail County detention facility facing charges of criminal vehicular homicide, fourth-degree DWI, and underage drinking and driving. The New York Mills community is paying tribute to Blake Unger, the 18-year-old Homecoming King who was tragically killed in a pickup truck crash just days after graduating from high school. Tributes to Unger reveal him to be a decorated wrestler and football player at New York Mills Public School. A go fund me page has been created by John Ronning to help the Unger family with their devastating loss, which has raised almost $15,000 in less than 48 hours. A memorial service and visitation is planned for Wednesday, June 4th and will be at the New York Mills High School if weather good, on the football field.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety also addressed concern on a number of drinking and driving accidents like the one in Otter Tail County. Two people were seriously injured in an alcohol related accident Thursday in Becker County, two others injured in separate accidents one in Fillmore County and another in Wright County this week that alcohol may have been a factor in. Extra law enforcement is being put out on Minnesota roadways watching for impaired drivers. 

Minnesotans will be dealing with a barrage of smoke from Canadian wildfires this summer and a large dose could be seen and smelt around the state today.  "There is a signal that some of the wildfire smoke may make it to the surface Friday afternoon," says the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service. "Unfortunately, this may become [a] longer term issue for the near future."  The first dose of smoke is coming from wildfires that are raging north and east of Winnipeg near the Manitoba/Ontario border. One of the fires had scorched 124,238 hectares (307,000 acres) as of Wednesday, while the nearby fire has burned at least 31,276 hectares (77,285 acres). The smoke with lighter winds could linger in parts of the state through the weekend and if the fires continue to burn then more smoke and haze over Minnesota is expected. Air quality alerts are issued for all of western Minnesota and Northeastern Minnesota today and the central part of the state Saturday with lighter winds in the forecast tomorrow and smoke could linger a few days until thunderstorms develop late Monday night into Tuesday next week. 

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has posted their map schedule for the Highway 238 project from Upsala to Little Falls to start on Monday, June 2nd. The map shows where the surface project will start and work dates, drainage structures, intersection work and pedestrian crossing work all during the project starting next week and will continue into mid-August. The first of the detours will begin Monday near Upsala as they work their way east and then north. For the latest information go to 511mn.org.