Sheriff Kelly Hanson
Below is a press release message from Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson regarding the upcoming holiday weekend:
(HURON COUNTY) – “With the Fourth of July weekend to begin tomorrow (3rd), we at the Huron County Sheriff’s Office want everyone to enjoy this important time without anyone getting hurt, or even worse, losing their life. The weather has favorable forecasts during this period and we are expecting to see our county extra busy with vacationers through Sunday July 5th. This will especially be the case along our county’s nearly 100 miles of shoreline. However, activities that usually accompany summer holidays have on occasion made for a bad Fourth of July holiday experience. Two of those activities that are sometimes problematic include fireworks and boating.
Improper use of fireworks has disrupted neighborhoods, caused property damage and even worse, caused serious injuries to a few. Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while using them only adds to the possibility of problems. Safety and exercising caution when using fireworks is a priority, with being respectful of your neighbors in a close second. Every year, our County’s law enforcement agencies respond to late hour noise complaints and property damage caused by fireworks. We ask firework enthusiast to be mindful and to be careful when using them.
As said earlier, our county’s shoreline consists of nearly 100 miles of shoreline and it is expected that many will be enjoying time out on the water. We cannot stress the importance of making sure your boat is properly safety equipped and in good mechanical condition, as well as observing all state and federal boating laws. It has become very well known over the last several years that Huron County’s north shore is a popular kayaking destination.
Those waters have also been the scene of many emergency situations involving kayaks, which includes near death experiences and unfortunately death. Kayakers are strongly encouraged to understand that even though it’s mid-summer, nearshore surface water temperatures are in the upper 60s to low 70s and long term exposure in it can still lead to hypothermia. Kayakers also need to know their physical limits while kayaking, along with understanding exactly what type of sea conditions their kayak can take.
Near shore southerly breezes can also leave a false impression of favorable kayaking but the further you go offshore, the waves and currents do increase and it does become difficult to return. Under no circumstance should anyone venture out without a proper fitting life jacket. The most common causes of death in kayaking accidents are overturning or falling overboard. Sadly enough in those instances, the majority of kayakers weren’t wearing life jackets and drown. Last year our Marine Deputies issued nearly 100 tickets, with 80 to kayakers for not having a life jacket.
As of Thursday morning 21 have been issued, with 10 to kayakers for not having a life jacket. These tickets are on top of nearly 35 life jacket warnings so far, with the majority involving children under 6 years old not having a proper self-righting life jacket on. New last year, our office and the Village of Port Austin partnered to make loaner life jackets available for the day to kayakers who may have forgotten their jackets.
These life jackets are available at the Bird Creek Beach or at the Veterans’ Park by the breakwall. Besides the regular scheduled patrols that our Deputies do on the water, there will be random special patrols conducted from unmarked shallow water boats. Our purpose is not to harass but to simply deter the paddle enthusiast who may be a little over confident, or possibly by mistake has taken Lake Huron for granted. Besides having a life jacket and proper attire, we also strongly urge that kayakers carry a cellular phone in some type of water proof container.
One other very important safety precaution is to always let someone on shore know where you’re going and when you’re supposed to be back. We further ask that kayakers be respectful of property owners and their privacy rights. Several trespassing complaints have been handled with many resulting in enforcement action.
If at all possible, we ask and it will be appreciated if media can report on these two safety concerns throughout the period. We’d also like to include two other advisories with one being drivers needing to look twice for motorcycles while driving. There have been accidents and close calls that have occurred this year.
Lastly, we certainly want to remind all drivers of any vehicle or boat not to drive drunk or under the influence of drugs. We honestly do want everyone to enjoy themselves, as well as our county for everything it has to offer. Memories made of good times are better to retain than one where believed innocent fun within seconds turns into tragedy, when it could have easily been avoided.”
