Safety primarily boaters' duty

NEAR MALCOLM, Neb. — It's as clear as the misplaced registration numbers Herb Angell often spots on boats:

Many boaters fail to follow the Nebraska Boating Guide, the one that's handed to them every time they register their boats.

If more boaters paid attention to the guides, says Angell, Nebraska's boating law administrator, he would see more properly displayed numbers.

It seems like a small thing, but it makes Angell wonder whether the boaters pay attention to the big things:

That it's illegal to go faster than 5 mph within 30 yards of any boat, harbor, marina, pier, anchorage or bathing beach.

That boat operators must provide a life jacket for each person on board their boats.

That boat operators face arrest if they get caught with a blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.08 percent. (It's 0.10 in Iowa.)

Refraining from boating while drinking heavily is especially critical if Nebraska is to reduce the number of boating-related injuries and fatalities in the state.

Four of six boating fatalities in Nebraska this year, Angell said, have been alcohol-related.

Some boaters don't see a problem with drinking and operating a boat, he said.

“They view it differently: ‘I'm out here recreating; therefore, I should be drinking,'” Angell said. “These people know better, but they choose not to do what they're supposed to do.”

It's mostly up to the boaters themselves to learn and follow the laws.

That's because Nebraska is not awash in law enforcement officers to patrol its rivers and lakes, especially its numerous small, private lakes. The state's 56 conservation officers have boats, but only three are primarily boating-law enforcers. County sheriff's offices also have boats — Douglas County, for example, has one, used primarily on the Missouri River — but sheriff's deputies must patrol the highways as well.

The same is true in Iowa. Like Nebraska, state boating laws apply on private lakes, but there's no active enforcement on those waters, said Mark Sedlmayr, a district supervisor with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. In addition, he said, the DNR's law-enforcement bureau is down 12 positions.

Woody Thelin, president of the Nebraska Lakes Association, a private-lakes group, said members of a lake's governing body are able to appoint someone — a member of the board, for example — to enforce the rules of the water. But in many cases, he said, people don't want to play “lake cop.”

“Most lakes have a set of covenants that people supposedly agree to, although most (residents) don't even know about them,” Thelin said.

Generally, the covenants will include language noting that residents must follow state boating laws, he said.

“One way or another,” Thelin said, “the homeowners association, or whatever the governing body is, can enforce their own covenants. But they choose not to.”

Thelin, who lives at Hawaiian Village near Bellevue, said a lake resident might not want to make a scene by confronting a speedy or reckless neighbor. But an association is within its rights to issue a civil citation and place a lien on a property if a member ignores the citation, he said.

Angell intended to look for boating-law violations on Thursday when he took his state boat out on the lake at Branched Oak State Recreation Area. But he had the 800-acre lake to himself on the gorgeous fall day, except for a flock of pelicans, a few coots, some gulls and a couple of great blue herons.

In late June, two Omaha area men were killed on Branched Oak after they fell out of the speedboat they were in and were struck by the circling boat.

Alcohol wasn't a factor in those deaths, Angell said. But neither man was wearing a life jacket when he fell out.

People often tell Angell that they don't like to wear life jackets because they're too bulky or uncomfortable. Besides, they say, “I'm a great swimmer.”

Angell then notes that if the person falls out of the boat for some reason and hits his or her head, skills won't matter. “If you're unconscious, you're not a great swimmer.”

Angell and other conservation officers wear lightweight life jackets that automatically inflate when a sensor in the jacket gets wet.

Earlier this month, a 54-year-old Omaha man, Ed Mahoney, was killed when a boat he was in slammed into a seawall at Newport Landing, a private lake west of Bennington. Authorities have charged the boat's driver, Ken Graeber, with manslaughter. His blood-alcohol content after the crash was 0.135 percent, officials said,

Kim Guthmann, whose parents were killed by a drunken boater in 2007, would like the state to require boating safety courses for all boaters, not just those under age 18, as the law now states. She also thinks Nebraska should consider licensing boaters.

“If we were required to be licensed to drive a boat, I think, perhaps, the social perceptions about boating would maybe change,” she said.

Drinking and then “choosing to get behind the wheel of anything — a golf cart, car, boat — is not an accident,” Guthmann said. “It's a really horrible choice.”

Angell said the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, whose annual conference starts today in Corpus Christi, Texas, endorses mandatory boating education for recreational operators. He said he would welcome a move by an individual or group to push for such a measure in the Legislature.

Angell said that while he supports mandatory education, he would not advocate for the licensing of all boaters, noting the logistical problems, among others.

Richard Melkus, who manages the lake and grounds at Newport Landing, west of Bennington, said with the boating season winding down, residents likely will wait until their general meeting in the spring to decide what steps should be taken in light of the recent fatality at the lake. “I know people have been discussing things,” Melkus said, “how can we do things better and safer.”

State officials should consider requiring that all boaters in Nebraska take a boater safety course, said Randy Dettmer, who lives at Newport Landing.

“Think about what you have to do in order to drive an automobile,” Dettmer said. “Everyone goes through driver's ed these days. It's no different in a boat.”

Contact the writer:

444-1109, bob.glissmann@owh.com