DUI for Wasilla councilman

WASILLA — A city councilman was arrested Thursday on suspicion of drunken driving in the parking lot of a local bar.

Steven Lovell, 56, elected to the council in Wasilla in October 2012, was charged with a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

By Saturday afternoon he’d made bail.

“I didn’t agree with their readings so I requested a blood test, which they did and we’ll see,” Lovell said. “It was really kind of an eye-opening experience for me. I’ve never been in a pre-trial before. I’ll tell you what, that’s not any place anyone wants to be for any period of time.”

He said it was surprising to him how nonchalant some of the inmates were about being incarcerated.

“If it turns out that I was in the wrong, I’ll do exactly what I’m supposed to do,” he said.

Lovell pointed out that the cops weren’t really after him, they were after a man name Shane Minnick, 45, who’d asked him for a ride.

“They were parked across the street waiting for him,” Lovell said. “I saw them sitting there and I wasn’t worried about it.”

According to court documents filed by his arresting officer, Daniel Bennett with the Wasilla Police Department, the call to respond to the Mug-Shot Saloon came in at 9:45 a.m. A caller had reported that Minnick, who was wanted on a warrant, was at the bar.

Bennett and another officer arrived at 10:02 a.m. and found the car with Minnick inside leaving the parking lot. The other officer “performed a traffic stop and I observed the vehicle pull into the Tailgater’s parking lot,” Bennett wrote.

Minnick’s warrant, judging by court records, likely stemmed from an alleged probation violation on a 2011 drunken driving conviction. He has other DUI charges on his record, meaning that had he been driving he would have been facing a felony.

But he wasn’t driving. Police say Lovell was.

“I requested Steven Lovell to exit the vehicle to perform the standard field sobriety tests,” Bennett wrote.

Lovell allegedly failed “the alphabet tests, the counting test and submitted to a preliminary breath test which showed a .129.”

The legal limit for driving is .08 and a subsequent test at the Wasilla Police Department returned a result of .10.

“On the way to the Wasilla Police Department, Steven Lovell stated that he had consumed alcohol earlier in the day while dropping a friend off at the airport and then consumed some more alcohol while at the Mug-Shot for a total of three tall drinks consumed,” Bennett wrote.

The DUI arrest puts Wasilla City Council in the spotlight for the alleged personal behavior of a council member for the second time in a little more than a year. Former two-time councilman Steve Menard was recalled by city voters in February 2012 as a response to his after-hours behavior while attending Alaska Municipal League meetings in Sitka the previous summer. When the city’s delegation went to check out, Menard’s room had extensive damage. A $350 cleaning bill paid by the city, and repaid by Menard, itemized damages included two beds and a chair urinated on, a burned mattress and vomit on the floor.

Following the incident, Menard apologized and accepted a reprimand from the council that included agreeing to repay the entire $1,404 cost of the trip and being banned from traveling on city business for the rest of his term.

Councilman Brandon Wall, who replaced Menard on the council, has been out of town in Nome for business and was unaware of Lovell’s arrest. Reached by phone Saturday, he said he’s disappointed another incident has occurred that will bring negative attention to the council.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he said. “That’s really unfortunate. I’d hate to say anything more until I talk to Steve.”

Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff said she heard about the arrest, but said the council needs more information and to hear from Lovell before jumping to any conclusions or calling for any type of action.

“If it turns out to be true, it’s pretty disappointing from a council member,” she said. “If we felt we need to sanction Steve (Menard), we’d have to examine the conduct of another council member. To me, this is a very, very serious charge.

“Council members are human, I get that. But the nature of the service we perform for the public we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard and not get involved in those situations.”

Wasilla City Council meets Monday for its regularly scheduled meeting. The agenda doesn’t include an item for an executive session to discuss Lovell’s arrest, but council members often amend the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

Reporter Greg Johnson contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270. Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.