The Georgia Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday it made 33 arrests for boating under the influence on Georgia waterways during the July 4 holiday period.
According to Mark McKinnon, public affairs officer with the Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division, 11 BUI arrests were made in the Gainesville region over the holiday period, which includes Lake Lanier. The DNR report began at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday and ran through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Three BUI arrests were made in that same time frame on Lake Allatoona northwest of Atlanta.
No drownings were reported in the state over the holiday, but one boating incident was reported on Lake Allatoona on Saturday where a man suffered a propeller strike to the foot while holding on to a pontoon boat as it pulled into Glade Marina in that incident.
A second boating incident occurred Monday when a single vessel on the Ocmulgee River in Houston County struck an unidentified object in the river and sank. No injuries were reported from the sinkage.
Additionally, a third boating incident occurred Tuesday on West Point Lake involving a tubing incident with injuries.
"We're seeing numbers that are maybe a little down on the waterways, and I think it may have to do with the heat and also some of the big thunderstorms that have come through late in the afternoon," McKinnon said Monday morning on WDUN's The Martha Zoller Show.
