SOUTH HAVEN, Mich.– With the busy holiday week approaching, there’s going to be some extra patrols across West Michigan waters and law enforcement says it all comes down to keeping you safe.
Van Buren County is just one county among hundreds around the state and country participating in ‘Operation Dry Water’ this weekend.
One big thing they’re keeping a close eye on is ‘boating under the influence.’ Coast Guard statistics show that alcohol is the primary contributing factor in boating deaths.
This is the 5th year, Van Buren county has taken part in the program and in 2012, they made 166 contacts with boaters, gave out 75 verbal warnings issuing eight tickets, two where given to people ‘boating under the influence.”
Marine Deputy Michael Hostetler says having a relationship with the boaters makes all the difference in keeping those numbers down. “In the evening hours the violation of the no wake law is another sign we look for people who have been drinking don’t realize how fast they’re going,” he said. In fact on Saturday he arrested someone for just that.
Deputy Hostetler says some of the other biggest problems he sees is boaters being too close to the pier and going too fast in the swim area, “we want to keep things safe for everybody involved,” he said.
‘Operation Dry Water’ runs through the July 30th.
