Three agencies to patrol rivers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Three Missouri agencies are working together to patrol some stretches of rivers that have become noisy, drunken party spots for people on floating trips.

The Missouri Water Patrol, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Sheriff's Association will work with local law enforcement agencies to control the thousands of people who float down the rivers on summer weekends.

"They beat their paddles on the water and on the sides of their canoes. Some of them sing. Some of them yell. Lots of them yell," said Alan Daniels, a senior agent with the conservation department. "It's generally a pretty noisy place."

And with the noise comes alcohol, drugs and rowdiness.

The thinking seems to be that "we're in the middle of nowhere, so there's no rules," said Laclede County Sheriff Richard Wrinkle.

In southwest Missouri, the agencies will focus on the Niangua and Elk Rivers, where signs warning of patrols have been posted since the Memorial Day weekend.

"It's going to be high-profile visibility. Visibility is everything. We want people to see us, to know that we'll enforce the law," said water patrol Capt. Jim Marlin.

But Chris Torrisi, safety and education chairman of Ozark Mountain Paddlers, thinks the state should instead be implementing new laws, specifically those that discourage littering.

"At least that would get the trash out of the river. As far as drunk people out of the river? Nah. I don't think they have the manpower or the resources," he said. "I'd rather see them do something more constructive."

Torrisi avoids the most popular rivers because, by his estimate, at least 85 percent of the floaters are stumbling drunk.

Daniels said in the late 1980s he would check close to 100 fishing licenses on a 20-mile stretch of river. But by the mid-1990s, he was checking only 15 fishing licenses on the same stretch.

Replacing the anglers were "the party barges, four or five canoes strapped together. And the swearing, the drinking, smoking marijuana openly, the, uh ... flashing," Daniels said. "And lots of fights."

Arrests increased. In an eight-hour period in 1997, for example, the conservation department arrested 75 people, more than 40 of them for drug violations.

The department's seen meth, cocaine, Xanax, LSD and marijuana. Officers routinely arrest minors in possession of alcohol. They break up fights.

Daniels would love to get the fishermen and the families back: "They're less trouble," he said. "To be honest, they're just a lot less trouble."

They're less trouble, and they don't chase away other paddlers, said Bob Burns, owner of NRO Canoe Rental and Campground.

"This is our livelihood. This is how we make our living so we want to protect our river. We want to get our families back. We don't want no drugs on this river. We want to clean it up," he said.

And since Memorial Day, when the signs were posted, Burns already sees a difference.

"I just can't praise (the three agencies) enough for what they're doing," he said. "I'm seeing little tots running around my campground where I used to have big college boys staggering around. I'm seeing that already."