Local Missouri Water Patrol district leads state in drownings, drug arrests for 2010

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The waterways of Southeast Missouri led the state with the highest number drownings, as well as the drug arrests, for 2010.

"This year in District 4, we've had 15 drownings; statewide there were 46," said Missouri State Water Patrolman David Nelson, District 4's public information officer. "The most we've had previously was 44. ... Last year, there were 27 drownings statewide."

In August alone, Nelson said, there were 11 drownings, including a Poplar Bluff, resident who drowned at Wappapello Lake near what is described as "the tree."

Officers assigned to District 4, which comprises all of Southeast Missouri and the Ozarks, worked nine minor accidents this year, as well as 12 injury accidents with 16 injuries and one fatality, Nelson said.

The injury accidents included an Arkansas man who was struck by a propeller after falling from a pontoon boat and a Poplar Bluff man whose boat impaled a duck blind. Both accidents happened at Wappapello Lake.

Nelson described the Arkansas man, whose injuries included a punctured lung, as being lucky.

Statewide, Nelson said, Water Patrol officers worked 123 minor accidents, 89 injury accidents with 108 injuries and 14 fatality accidents with 15 deaths.

District 4 officers also arrested 31 for boating while intoxicated and five for vehicle driving while intoxicated, while officers statewide arrested 350 for BWI and 28 for DWI, said Nelson, who wrote more BWIs this year than he has during the last few summers.

"Because it was such a hot summer, (boaters) were putting in, sitting and drinking more beer," Nelson explained. "Since alcohol affects (a body) three times faster on the water with the heat and other boat stressors, the more alcohol affected them that much faster."

While he has arrested more for BWI this year, Nelson said, his drug arrests on the lake were fewer than in the past.

Nelson said area officers made 378 misdemeanor drug arrests, as well as 34 felony drug arrests. Statewide, he said, Water Patrol officers arrested 767 for misdemeanor drugs and 54 for felony drug possession.

There were about five BWI arrests made on Clearwater Lake and about as many drug arrests, Cpl. Terry Richardson said.

Like Nelson and Richardson, Patrolman Cole Chatman also made at least one arrest for BWI on Current River in the Van Buren, Mo., area as compared to the last couple of years when he had none. He also worked two drownings and a couple of accidents.

Patrolman Logan Monahan said the number of accidents on Current River in the Doniphan, Mo., area were down for 2010, while arrests for drug and alcohol offenses were about average.

During his stops, Chatman said, he found drugs he doesn't usually see on a regular basis. More people, he said, were carrying prescription pills this summer.

Chatman said he also found more cocaine than ever before. "I knew what it was when I saw it, but it was the last thing I was looking for," he said.

Patrolman Brian Foster said he didn't see "quite as much" contraband on the upper Current River this year.

"There was still quite a bit of alcohol," he said. "The drugs, I've noticed a decline in that. People know we're out there. They're not bringing stuff to the river [since] they do not want to get caught."

District 4 officers also had nine "other felonies" as compared to 49 statewide, said Nelson, who described those arrests as being for such offenses as theft or for warrants.

When the numbers were totaled, "our district led in both drugs and drownings" for the year, Nelson said. "We've had the most drownings this year [followed] by the Lake of Ozarks," which had nine.

In addition to their duties on Missouri's waterways, Nelson said, District 4 officers have been called on to assist Tennessee and Illinois authorities because of their side-imaging sonar, Nelson said.

As dive team members, Richardson said, he and Monahan spent two days assisting Illinois authorities looking for a man who drowned in the Mississippi River.

Richardson said he and other dive team member(s) also went to Arkansas twice where the side sonar was used in locating bodies. "We did a lot of diving" this year, he said.

Assigned to Wappapello Lake, Nelson said, there were more boats on the lake than in the previous few years. "The last couple of years, [boaters] were going out and sitting," he said. "There was still a lot of sitting, but there was more boating this year."

Traffic on Clearwater Lake was "about normal," said Richardson. "Of course, the holidays were busy as usual [but] we had good, solid traffic all year long."

While the numbers were slow through the week, "on weekends, lots of people came out," Richardson said. "We had a good year [with] no boating accidents or fatalities on that lake."

According to Monahan, traffic on the lower Current at Doniphan started slow, but by midsummer it was "higher than normal. I think that had to do with the increased heat [and] very few rain days."

Even when the river got low, "we still had a lot of people there," Monahan said. "In mid-June and July when the bottom drops out and [the river] gets pretty shallow, they were still running it."

Current River at Van Buren also had higher traffic than in the past couple of years, according to Chatman. "We expected it to be a slower year" due to the "trickle down" effect from the economy, he said.

Most, Chatman said, were expecting another slow year before usage picked up again.

Chatman attributed the change to families having a "close, cheap vacation. You can drive two hours or less and have a cheap vacation. You could drive back that day or camp and not have to pay a big motel fee."

River traffic in the Eminence, Mo., area was about the same as previous years, said Foster. "We are busy every summer," he said. "I expected a little less traffic this year, but we stayed busy right through summer."

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, MO

Van Buren, MO

Doniphan, MO

Eminence, MO

Wappapello Lake, MO

Clearwater Lake, MO