Alcohol banned at dunes

Ordinance goes into effect next month

EPHRATA — Starting next month, holding a beer at the Moses Lake sand dunes could cost $100.

That's the fine for a first offense for possession of alcohol at the dunes, following unanimous approval of the ban by the Grant County Commissioners Monday. While the commissioners were unanimous in their support of the alcohol ban, others saw the proposal as a threat to tourism and unenforceable. More than 50 people, including representatives from the Sand Scorpions Off-Road-Vehicle club, packed into the Commissioner's Hearing Room to speak on the issue.

The combination of large amounts of riders and a high percentage of alcohol-related ORV accidents on peak weekends led the Grant County Sheriff's Office to propose the ban. When it goes into effect May 1, the ban will only address the Moses Lake sand dunes. Commissioners said after Monday's hearing that they may soon consider a similar ban at the Beverly dunes.

0002000006CA0000058C6C4,Chief Deputy Dave Ponozzo said the GCSO isn't as interested as the person sitting around the campfire with a beer in their hand, but rather the person that gets their attention.

"We need something that we can do something with," Ponozzo said, "as of now our control is little."

Courtney Conklin is a chief deputy with the GCSO, and he said that following last year's Memorial Day weekend, the emergency room at Samaritan Healthcare was inundated with vehicular crash victims; 90 percent of those accidents were alcohol related.

Conklin said a similar ban in Oregon did result in an initial drop in ORV users, but soon brought a resurgence of family ORV users afterwards.

Some in the audience, like Peny Archer of the Sand Scorpions ORV club, asked the GCSO to enforce laws already on the books. She said also that the dunes bring in a great deal of revenue from tourists who spend their money at Moses Lake-area hotels and restaurants.

"If you single-handedly want to kill tourism in Moses Lake," Archer said, "this is the way to do it."

But representatives from Samaritan said Monday that the ban would have a tremendous impact in the way patients are treated on busy holiday weekends. Bob Reeder came representing Samaritan, and he said in supporting the ban, that the hospital is concerned about the overall safety of the community and the residents they treat.

Samaritan emergency room doctor Kevin Smith agreed, and he said the hospital does ramp up its emergency room services on holidays like Memorial Day, but said the hospital only has so much space. Smith said people injured outside of the dunes may not get the care they deserve because the hospital is dealing with patients injured after accidents at the dunes.

Outside of law enforcement and the medical community, many in the crowd thought the ban was a restrictive way to curb problems at the dunes.

Tina Moore is also a frequent user, and asked how the ban would impact Moses Lake businesses.

"When you have an area that's overcrowded you're still going to have accidents," Moore said.

Stan Cafferty also questioned the ban and asked why the county would punish riders who aren't abusing the situation.

Conklin said early in the hearing that they were first approached by the ER doctors last year, and business owner Lance Cornell asked why he hadn't heard about the proposal until this month.

"A lot of us who are participants," Cornell said, "have never once been talked to."

But Barbara Karas was the victim of an alcohol-related accident at the dunes, and said she is lucky to be alive. Karas spent four months at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, after flying 70 feet in the air and breaking multiple bones in a crash. As a result of the accident, Karas said she broke her back in two places and knocked out her front teeth, and she said her life has been impacted permanently.

"If he had not been drinking," she said, "it wouldn't have happened."

ORV rider Steve Hiatt also showed his support for the ban and said he thought it would be a great step for families. Right now, Hiatt said families are afraid to come to the dunes on weekends.

Commission Chair LeRoy Allison said he thought the ban would be good for the public welfare and for the GCSO, adding that the ordinance is one step the county needed to take.

Commissioner Richard Stevens echoed previous law enforcement statements when he said deputies aren't looking for the guy with the beer around the fire, but rather the partygoers.

In voting for the ban, Commissioner Deborah Moore said she believed the ban was necessary, and added it would give the GCSO one more tool in their work at the dunes.

"It may take a while," Moore said, "but overall this is best for the people of Grant County."