Similar ban being considered in Beverly

GRANT COUNTY — Alcohol soon won't have a place at the Moses Lake sand dunes, but authorities said this week that partygoers and alcohol abusers will suffer the brunt of the newly adopted ban.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office is now in the planning stages for the ban, which became a reality with unanimous approval by the Grant County Commissioners Monday. A rash of alcohol-related off-road vehicle injures and concerns from some in the medical community led the GCSO to first propose the ban.

Chief Deputy Courtney Conklin is in charge of off-road vehicles for the Grant County Sheriff's Office, and he said the office doesn't have plans to search each and every campsite for alcohol. He said the GCSO knows they're not going to keep alcohol completely out of the park, but said the GCSO wants to raise awareness of the alcohol-related injuries that have afflicted the ORV park in past years.

"We're not going to be going camp to camp," Conklin said, "but they know the rules."

Conklin said the intent of the ban is to keep the partygoers, some who don't have ORVs, away from the 3,000-acre park.

"Unless they draw attention to us, they're not going to be contacted," Conklin said of alcohol users.

One of the intents of the ban is to bring more families to the ORV park who could also bring their money to shops in the Moses Lake area, Conklin said.

The alcohol ban is the latest in county measures aiming at controlling the sand dunes. A county permit process a few years ago required ORV riders to obtain a permit for entrance, and Conklin also cited a similar situation last year that banned two-wheel drive cars from the dunes.

This ordinance will allow ORV deputies to cite anyone who possesses alcohol with a $100 ticket starting May 1. That ticket will jump to $250 for a second offense, and $500 for a third or later offense.

Currently, two ORV deputies patrol the county for the GCSO. Conklin said those deputies patrol all areas of the county where patrol cars can't travel, not just the dunes. But the GCSO will likely have between 15 and 18 deputies at the dunes Memorial Day weekend, the first holiday weekend to be impacted by the ban.

After implementing the ban at the Moses Lake sand dunes, the GCSO also has hopes of a similar ban in Beverly. County officials are currently working on locating exact coordinates for an amendment to the ordinance to include the Beverly dunes.

Commissioner Deborah Moore said the county must again post a public notice and hold a public meeting on the proposal before a final decision is made on Beverly, which Conklin said the GCSO has hopes of proposing in the near future.

In the meantime, Conklin said the sheriff's Office plans on launching a media blitz to let people throughout the state know about the ban. Signs near the dunes will also soon let people know that alcohol is prohibited in the area.

"We're in the process of getting signs made up," Conklin said.