Drinking alcohol while operating a boat is one way to find trouble in Minnesota, particularly beginning Friday, when local, state and federal enforcement agencies team up for a coordinated effort to highlight the problem. Dubbed Operation Dry Water, the effort will continue through Sunday, in a run-up to July 4th, a holiday, statistics show, when boating accidents involving alcohol often spike. Since 2009, the percentage of boating fatalities involving alcohol has fallen from 19 percent to 17 percent. Still, boating while intoxicated can be deadly: In 2011, alcohol was a contributing factor in 8 percent of boating accidents overall, but figured in 17 percent of watercraft fatalities.
Enforcement agencies will target boaters, alcohol
Weekend will see local, state, national effort.
June 26, 2013 at 12:06AM
The “sticky” ball that coach Chris Finch so deplores showed up for the first game, after a preseason when offense happened smoothly. On defense, “resistance” was missing, the coach said.
