“Operation Dry Water” is a statewide boating safety enforcement push that is in its third year.
Major Thomas E. Roam, director of the Water Patrol Division for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, says troopers conducted two special operations over the weekend.
A vessel sobriety checkpoint was conducted at the four mile mark of the Grand Glaize arm of Lake of the Ozarks Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. 103 vessels were checked during the operation, the patrol reports in a release. “Seven arrests for boating while intoxicated were made while 16 warnings were issued for other safety violations,” the release states.
A sobriety checkpoint was conducted on Table Rock Lake near point seven at the Highway 13 Bridge. The checkpoint ran Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 71 boats were stopped during the checkpoint and three boating while intoxicated arrests were made. There were 27 warnings and two citations issued for other safety violations, the patrol reports.
Including the two special operations, there was a total of 20 boating while intoxicated arrests statewide during the 2011 Operation Dry Water weekend.
The patrol reminds boaters that special enforcement operations will continue throughout the summer months and reminds boaters that “designating a sober skipper is always the safest bet if alcohol is going to be included in your boating experience.”
