The owner of Schooter’s Bar and Grill in Winnebago doesn’t know why he’s being charged for operating after Gov. Tim Walz ordered bars to close.
“The first time I heard about it was today from someone,” Dave Schuster tells Tripleanews.com. “I didn’t even get a citation.”
Schuster, 56, of Delavan reportedly was charged with misdemeanor violating an “emergency powers” order Thursday in Faribault County District Court.
Schuster says he and three other friends were playing cards, drinking pop and water with the doors locked on Sunday, March 22.
“I don’t have a Sunday liquor license and haven’t been open on Sundays for the past 14 years,” he says. “I didn’t think it was a problem, because the bar wasn’t open to the public.”
Schuster denies that he was uncooperate with the Winnebago policeofficer and a deputy sheriff and that he called the governor’s order “communism.”
“I said it feels like I’m in Russia if I can’t sit down at a place I own and do what I want,” he says.
The maximum penalty for a misdemeanor is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.