Have officials already made up their minds on new rules??
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Buck Mailck on Radio regarding the ST. Croix River
Clarence "Buck" Malick was the guest on Tom Clark's July 7 morning program on Wisconsin Public Radio, broadcast locally on WRFW (FM 88.7), River Falls, and WHWC (FM 88.3), Menomonie.
Clark devoted the first hour of his talk show to boating safety in response to the July 3 boat crash on the St. Croix River that killed five men. He invited Malick, who lives and works in Hudson, to be on the show after reading what Malick had to say about law enforcement on the St. Croix in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.
"The root problem is not congestion on the river, it is not boats going too fast, but lack of resources," Malick was quoted as saying. "When we have a problem, it is widely known that the people involved (are) usually intoxicated. If there were enough officers out there, we could deal with this."
On the radio program, Malick said: "It's not more laws we need so much as more enforcement of the existing laws."....
http://www.rivertowns.net/news1999/hsorival/week39/frontpage/np/LOCAA05.HTM
-Officials disagreed about law enforcement on the St. Croix River. Many people called for speed limits and tighter enforcement after a July 4 accident claimed five lives. Some asked for stricter laws, but Buck Malick of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission said more laws won't help without more enforcement.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/State/jul99/boat06070599a.asp
Bayport, Minn. - After pulling the body of a fifth boater from the murky waters of the St. Croix River on Monday, exhausted divers called off a search for victims of a holiday weekend collision between two speedboats.
Searchers believe they have recovered the remains of every passenger, despite a witness' report that a total of as many as nine people were aboard both boats.
Meanwhile, an official who coordinates state and federal government agencies overseeing the river said the accident might have been prevented if more money were spent on law enforcement patrols.
Washington County, on the Minnesota side of the river, invests far more time and money policing the waterway than St. Croix County in Wisconsin, said Clarence "Buck" Malick, executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission.
St. Croix County uses only one boat to patrol the river on weekends, while Washington County uses a minimum of three boats on a more frequent schedule.
"The root problem is not congestion on the river, it is not boats going too fast, but lack of resources," Malick said. "When we have a problem, it is widely known that the people involved were usually intoxicated. If there were enough officers out there, we could deal with this."
Until toxicology tests on the victims are completed, it will not be known whether alcohol was a factor in the weekend crash, said Washington County Sheriff Jim Frank.
Divers found two bodies Monday. At 10:30 a.m., a team of searchers found the remains of Karl L. Ludvigson, 26, of Osceola, floating on the river.
The fifth victim, Quentin Douglas Thell, 26, of Woodbury, Minn., was found underwater near where most of the wreckage had been found earlier. Relatives at the scene tentatively identified him from jewelry found on the body. But the remains were too badly decomposed to allow for a positive identification, the sheriff said.
Sunday evening, divers found the body of the Wisconsin man, Scott DeVille of Dresser, who investigators believe was with Ludvigson and Thell when their cigar boat struck the other boat early Saturday and then sank. Authorities believe DeVille may have been driving the larger boat, a 28-footer that had been leased from an Edina, Minn.-based company where he worked. DeVille and Ludvigson were friends, Frank said.
On Saturday morning, divers found the bodies of Michael Jon Flamang, 31, and Steven Langer, 30, both of Apple Valley, Minn., who were in the smaller boat.
"We have no reason to think we will find any other bodies," said Frank, moments after searchers wearing wetsuits brought the last body to shore about 3:30 p.m.
About 40 men and women who participated in the search gathered in a circle around Frank for a prayer service after the last body was recovered.
Swift currents, murky water and extremely hot and humid weather crushed the spirits of everyone on the search effort, he said.
Malick said he hoped the tragedy would motivate officials to take a harder look at the need for additional law enforcement.
Malick's commission is slated to be abolished because it was written out of the proposed 1999-2001 Wisconsin budget. It can only be reinstated by the committee that is negotiating a final compromise between the Senate and Assembly versions.
St. Croix County seems to put less money into patrols because residents do not see the benefit in more policing, Malick said. Only a small part of the rectangular county is along the river.
St. Croix County Deputy Sheriff Dave Johnson, who patrols the river, agreed that politics was an issue in river patrols.
"I don't know if there's a shortage of funds, but it's a case of the County Board not wanting to allot the money for it," he said.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would reimburse the county for up to 75% of its cost. But the DNR uses a formula based on the size of the work force, and since St. Croix County has such a minor presence on the river, it is not eligible for maximum reimbursement, Johnson said.
George Black, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said lack of funding for water patrols is a nationwide problem. Communities would rather spend money on crime control in neighborhoods than on public safety, he said.
He said "people's attitude is 'Leave me alone on my boat, leave me alone in my Corvette. But I want to see (police) driving down my street eight or nine times a day - and they better have a look of concern on their face.' "
According to Malick, another problem for law enforcement is the disparity in laws between the states. Boaters from Minnesota sometimes cross over to Wisconsin, where bars close later on weekends, he said. Also, alcohol is not sold in Minnesota on Sunday, while Wisconsin has no such restriction.
Black said investigators will interview witnesses and expect to have a report in six to eight months.
"We're not concerned with liability or criminal
prosecution," he said. "We're concerned about why it happened and
making sure it doesn't happen again."
Copyright Journal Sentinel Inc. Aug 21, 2000
Commission prepares to announce speed limits on St. Croix River
Associated Press
Monday, August 21, 2000
Hudson -- Authorities are preparing to impose speed limits on boats cruising the St. Croix River, where a collision last year killed five boaters.
But members of the Lower St. Croix River Management Commission would not say precisely what those limits would be until their annual meeting Wednesday at the St. Croix County Government Center.
There is currently no speed limit on the St. Croix, except in no- wake zones, which include areas close to shore.
Speed limit discussions heated up last year after a fatal Fourth of July weekend collision. Five men were killed when two boats crashed near Oak Park Heights, Minn. High speeds and alcohol contributed to the accident, officials determined.
Commission members -- officials from the two states' Departments of Natural Resources and the National Park Service -- have agreed speed limits will be established on the St. Croix by the 2002 boating season, said Steve Johnson of the Minnesota DNR. The commission was created by federal and state laws and manages the lower 52 miles of the St. Croix River.
The Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, which coordinates natural resource policy for border areas of the two states, has recommended speed limits of 20 mph at night and 40 mph during the day for the 25-mile section of the river between Stillwater, Minn., and Prescott, Wis., said Buck Malick, executive director.
But Jon Norgren, president of the Midwest Marina Association and manager of the St. Croix Marina in Hudson, said marina operators prefer a 50-mph speed limit. He said he was concerned because the commission will not take any more public comments before the river management plan is finalized.
"They were going to come out with a draft and then ask for another rebuttal, but now this is it," he said. "We realize that there needs to be some compromise as far as the St. Croix River, but the people that want a lot of compromise hold all the cards, and that's too bad. I don't see it as a coming together in the middle -- I see it as a coming together on the side of restriction."
Although citizens and local governments were told they could review and comment on the changes to the draft plan before it was finalized, Johnson said that will no longer be possible. He said the St. Croix River Management Commission learned after giving that assurance that if it were to take public comment before finalizing the plan, it would be required to go through another lengthy written public comment period.
But Johnson said the publication of the final plan is not the end of public involvement. Almost every element of the plan that has generated controversy can be implemented only through state rule- making -- a yearlong process involving extensive public debate.
Credit: Associated Press