Powerboat motors out of river, slams into gazebo

MSNBC ^ | 6/20/11 | Joe Hyer

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

It might just be one of the oddest DWI cases in recent memory — a powerboat sliced right into a gazebo off the Toms River over the weekend.

The boat's driver was charged with DWI, according to The Asbury Park Press.

The 40-foot boat slammed into the gazebo outside of Ann and George Schuld's home in Berkeley Township, N.J., around 10:30 Saturday night. Ann is a popular local realtor. She and George were out dancing when it happened. Ann's cell phone lit up.

"I thought someone had died," she told Berkeley Patch reporter Patricia A. Miller...

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings esoxmagnum:

Yes, in Illinois, the crime is Operating Under the Influence; it doesn’t matter what one is operating. And the Chain of Lakes with connecting Fox River is such a dangerous waterway, I would never take my family boating upon those waters.

Performed many Chain of Lakes underway hours in the law enforcement mode. Never had to look for a drunk boater; the drunk boater always came to us. While we were busy writing a USCG Notice of Violation, (as fast as we could), we would witness dozens of boaters eligible for a field sobriety test.

Cheers,
OLA

[esoxmagnum]

That Blarneys Island was a mecca for drunken boating in the 70’s and 80’s, and sitting on Grass Lake which is only a few feet deep, coupled with boats capable of 100mph plus it was always a recipe for disaster.

As kids, we never looked at it that way, at least when your in your early 20’s and invincible. But I agree, we wouldn’t take our kids there. We sold property we had in northern WI on a no - wake lake because the WI DNR woudn’t enforce the no wake, and jet ski’s had taken over. Again, jet ski’s & booze = bad results.

But, here is my question, what happens if you don’t have a license and are operating a boat under the influence? As far as I can remember, you didn’t need a drivers license in Illinois to drive a boat.

And thanks for the answer, it sounds as if we got lucky on a thread and found someone directly involved .

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings esoxmagnum:

what happens if you don’t have a license and are operating a boat under the influence?

Doesn't matter. Operate under the influence in Illinois: become an overnight guest at a local steel bar hotel. When USCG determines OUI, the Boarding Officer charges the individual under federal law with negligent operations; then turns the offender over to local police, who process the subject offender under the host state's OUI statute.

As far as I can remember, you didn’t need a drivers license in Illinois to drive a boat.

That's correct, only professional mariner's require a operator's license; however, IIRC, Lake County sells some sort of "user's permit;" which the county might revoke for an OUI conviction.

Cheers,
OLA

[golux]

I, for one, will only be happy when the problem of impaired pedestrians and fly-fishermen are also taken care of.

What we need is more Law Enforcement. MORE, and MORE, and MORE!

I am terribly ashamed of those days in which so-called “Parents” had the nerve to drive their children around without government-approved car-seats and when a fisherman could quaff a six-pack on a Saturday without being arrested by Officials, losing his job and having his life ruined for being over the legal limit.

No, it’s never happened to me, but I’d be damned proud to hand my life, my freedom, and my property over to whomsoever in blue, in order to defend their notion of a little bit of Public Safety.

What’s more, our neighborhoods are safer now. Our children are safer. Our lives are more enjoyable. And why?

More laws, more monitoring, more cameras, and more POLICE!

With just a little more of all of these wonderful things, I can honestly see our silly society turning into something, well, quite Utopian.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings golux:

Chain o' Lakes is unique. Kindly read this and get back to me, my FReeper FRiend. The PUBLIC, better known as "We the People," demanded an increase in maritime law enforcement presence.

Cheers,
OLA

[golux]

Here’s perhaps the “key” or most critical excerpt from what you asked me to read:

“Another worry, he said, is drinking. There are about 40 boat-accessible saloons in the Chain. All too frequently, boaters watch Thursday night boat races on Grass Lake, then crash into each other on the way home.

(when? Always? When? Oh we never find out.)

“We consider drinking and boating one of the major causes of accidents on the water up there,” Wakolbinger said. “We are trying to use increased enforcement and education to slow it down.”

(Jeez! Things must be really terrible! How much money do you need to save our lives?)

Lake County has had no boating fatalities so far in 1997, perhaps in part because of the sobering effect of a two-boat collision that killed three people on July 11, 1996, on Nippersink Lake.”

There are three paragraphs here. The first is an opinion about why boaters go fast: because they have been to a bar and seen a race on TV. The second is another opinion, and the third is a tragic reminder of a couple of deaths fifteen years ago and another opinion about how, fourteen years ago, there were fewer deaths because laws changed that year.

In that year, 1996-7, I personally lost three friends in a Volvo 760 near Williamsburg, including (perhaps) the love of my life.

Is that significant to you? Probably not. They were killed by a Mexican trucker.

But it’s the same number of people. It was a Volvo. Should I sue Volvo?

I understand your point, but please understand also:

Our Freedoms are ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS limited in the name of “SAFETY.” Washington and Franklin and even Hamilton knew it.

Will you think on it too?

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings golux:

Understanding, after Orlando Sentinal takeover of the formerly "World's Greatest Newspaper," Chicago Tribune normally doesn't lets facts stand in the way of a story; perhaps you missed this: The Chain is also considered one of the nation's busiest bodies of water. And this: operator Arnold "Dick" Carlson, 56, of McHenry, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.179, cocaine in his system, a record of drunken driving, including three revocation of driving privileges.

USCG was ordered to Chain o' Lakes in the summer 1996; result: zero boating fatalities. BTW, all the non-fatality reported property damage collisions in the story are between drunk boaters and a law enforcement vessel. Isn't that special?

Never the less, we insist Alexander Hamilton's first letter of instruction is folowed by our Boarding Officers:

"...will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit... They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty – by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence."

Bottom line: It's not against the law to drink and boat; only against the law to operate while intoxicated. Operators failing a field sobriety test challenge findings with chemical breath analysis. The intoxicated operators are cited with negligent operations and passed to the local authorities.

Cheers,
OLA