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Boaters beware: DWI enforcement happens on water too
If July 4 looked a little more like July 3, Lisa and Blair Juliar might be tempted to bring their kids to back to Lake Minnetonka. "It's quiet," Lisa said Thursday night (July 3). "Not so many people." Blair said the 4th is "not real safe for the kids, and it gets a little crazy with too many people." Friday, the Juliars will be at home. The partiers won't be. Nor will the Hennepin County Water Patrol. "Alcohol and boating don't mix," said Lt. Kip Carver, who said all law-enforcement hands will be on deck for Lake Minnetonka's busiest weekend. "Once ice is out (of the water), this is what we build for," he said. "And after the Fourth of July, it's kind of like a plane that's beginning to land." And it's not just drunk boaters they're looking for, though they remind lake users that being drunk behind the wheel of a boat is just as illegal as being drunk driving a car. "Two weekends ago we arrested, on this particular lake, seven people for boating while intoxicated," Carver said. Water Patrol also is reminding people to wear life jackets, which is something the law requires for kids under 10. And, they advise, make sure your boats are in good working order. And if you do drink ? which plenty of people will ... try to remember it's going to be harder to swim if you fall overboard. One man coming off the water Thursday night after having a few beers said Water Patrol was out in force. "The sheriff department," he said, "five times we saw them." But as he pointed out, he and his friends had been drinking on a hired boat that was piloted by a sober captain. "We had a driver, captain, sober, way to go," the man said. Consider him a role model. And if you want to bring the kids back to the lake, Saturday might be the better option.
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