Memorial Day weekend nets fewer 911 calls
GRANT COUNTY — A total of seven emergency calls for an ambulance marks "one of the best in history" for the Memorial Day weekend at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes, according to the Grant County Sheriff's Office.
The injuries reported from off-road vehicle mishaps included a broken neck, broken leg, broken collar bone, broken arm and punctured rib cage.
A total of 20 infractions were issued and a few "unruly" off-road vehicle riders were ejected from the dunes, Chief Criminal Deputy John Turley said Wednesday.
There were no reports of injury or infractions issued at the Beverly Sand Dunes.
Sheriff's deputies responded to a total of 315 calls for service from Friday to Monday, an average of 79 calls per 24-hour period. The normal average is 35 calls for service.
Four drivers were cited for driving under the influence. About 290 drivers were issued tickets for speeding. No fatalities or serious-injury collisions were reported in Grant County during the weekend.
Sixty adults were booked in Grant County Jail. Ten were from the Gorge Amphitheater from the Sasquatch Festival. Seven of the
ten were drug-related incidents.
The average attendance for Saturday and Sunday at the Sasquatch Festival was 20,723. An estimated crowd of 15,000 campers, with more than 5,000 vehicles, occupied the campground area.
Boating activity countywide was high with influx from ovut of county boaters on all major bodies of water in Grant County. Problems were predominately on the Columbia River with many wind and alcohol-related problems.
The sheriff's office helped search for a boater who apparently dove into waters near the Vantage boat launch in an attempt to retrieve his boat that became adrift.
Reports by campers in the area were that the apparent subject was intoxicated when he entered the river, the sheriff's office reports.
An adult male was reportedly heard yelling for help but was never located. A diver and one marine patrol officer were dispatched from Grant County to assist the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue.
The search Saturday and Sunday did not yield the presumed drowned male.
Officials at the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office were not immediately available for information today about the presumed drowned boater.
Grant County marine patrol assisted the Douglas County Sheriff's Office with a boat sinking near Rock Island Dam. Marine patrol and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary responded from the Crescent Bar boat launch and located the partially sunk watercraft with at least two feet of water inside the boat. Two adult males were rescued from the sinking boat and transported by a sheriff's deputy to their vehicle. The partially water-logged boat was beached near a sandy bar and Douglas County deputies coordinated removal of the boat.
A drunken swimmer was left stranded by his friends at an area known as Quilimine Bar on the Kittitas County side of the Columbia River, four miles north of Sunland Estates. Grant County marine patrol assisted as Kittitas County authorities were searching near Vantage for the presumed drowned boater.
Also at Quilimine Bar, an intoxicated male dove into the river, which was about three-feet deep at the point of entry. The male subject was transported to Sunland Estates by a marine patrol officer with head and neck injuries, stabilized by emergency medical crews and transported to Quincy Valley Hospital.
Two male boaters were dumped from their perch on the bow of a watercraft, when the operator abruptly slowed and they fell into the water, Turley said.
The boat, with motor running, continued forward and one man received severe cuts to his legs from the boat's propeller. One of his feet was nearly amputated just above the ankle, Turley said.
High winds on Sunday caused some concerns for boaters along the Columbia River.
Several boats moored at both Sunland Estates and Crescent Bar took on water, with one sinking near the dock at Sunland Estates.
Most boaters stayed off the choppy water with wind gusts between 40 and 50 mph.