Deputies patrol Wanapum Reservoir
Kittitas County Sheriff's Deputy Pete Fletcher tells visitors to Wanapum Reservoir the shoreline is closed. Grant County PUD hired deputies from Grant and other counties and agencies to keep people off the exposed shore because of dangerous conditions.
BEVERLY - Grant County Sheriff's Office deputies are patrolling the Crescent Bar shoreline looking for people trespassing on the exposed Wanapum Reservoir shore.
Grant County PUD recently contracted Grant and other county sheriffs' deputies, Washington Fish and Wildlife and state Department of Natural Resource officers to patrol the shoreline and inform people the shore was closed to the public and about the recreation ban.
The patrols will be routine and regular as long as the reservoir is drawn down to relieve pressure on a cracked spillway, PUD spokesman Tom Stredwick said.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Foreman said deputies are not writing tickets, but could do so if people continue to violate the ban.
"Right now we are focusing on educating the public of the ban," he said.
Tickets issued could include criminal trespass, a misdemeanor, and tampering with culturally sensitive artifacts, a federal crime.
At least two people have been rescued from mud flats that acted like quick sand on the shoreline, and the remains of two people were recently found on the shore, thought to ban American Indians.
"Law enforcement is continually having to rescue people from the mud. We don't want to make an unfortunate situation into a tragic one," Stredwick said.
He said the PUD is paying the Grant County Sheriff's Office $62 per hour, not to exceed $51,530, for deputies to patrol. The utility is paying PPC Solutions, a private security firm $21.50 per hour. The PUD is also paying the Kittitas, Douglas and Chelan Counties Sheriff's Office $65, $85 and $70 per hour, respectively, for patrols.
At least one long-time Crescent Bar resident is not happy with the patrols, or that recreation is impeded.
Russell Larsen said he saw four Grant County deputies "sitting in their cars," last weekend in the Crescent Bar neighborhood. He said when some neighborhood children went to play volleyball on the beach, deputies told them the shore was closed and they had to go home.
"It's just not right. Those kids have been playing volleyball there since they were this high," Larsen raised a hand about one foot from the ground.
He said he understands remains of people have been found and some people have been rescued. But it should not ban him and his neighbors from using the shoreline portion that is always out of the water, he said.