HIGH ROCK WATCH

Officers Stay Busy

Wildlife officers and deputies joined forces for a Goat Island round-up.
They didn't find any goats on this High Rock Lake island, but they did
discover some party animals.

This is a small island in Crane Creek. Looking for a good time, boaters tie
up on the beach to swim and wade. Sometimes somebody in the group has a
little too much to drink and runs his or her boat on the lake. Officers
claim they have reports that drug dealers in speedboats even do a business
on this little island. Last Saturday afternoon, several impaired boaters
were taken from the lake in handcuffs. Davidson and Rowan County deputies
worked with enforcement officers from the N.C. Wildlife Resources
Commission to clean up this neighborhood on the Yadkin River.

Wildlife officer Scott Isley positioned his patrol boat near the mouth of
Crane Creek. Rowan deputy Travis Allen rafted alongside in his boat.
Several other patrol boats formed a floating road block in that arm of the
lake.

Isley and Allen were part of the catchers. The flushers were two undercover
deputies who rode unmarked personal watercraft to the island and joined the
crowd. They were watched through binoculars by officers hiding on the mainland.

"We are not just here to write tickets," Isley said. "This is all about
boating safety. You can have fun on the water without getting blitzed."

When a suspect boat left the island, spotters radioed the position and the
patrol craft moved in with blue lights flashing. All boaters pulled over so
Isley could conduct routine safety checks. Allen covered his back. No one
tried to run.

"We had a guy on a jet-ski run from us one night," Isley said. "We followed
him to Goat Island where he beached it and joined the party."

Isley and the other officers withdrew and watched. Eventually the rider
mounted up and the officers made their case.

"The only place he ran to that night was jail," Isley said.

It can get mean on the lake. Rowan deputy Travis Allen wore body armor for
protection from bullets along with a personal flotation device. A boater
recently pulled a pistol on a Rowan deputy. After a struggle, the pistol
fell in the lake and the offender went to jail.

" I wear my body armor," Allen said. "If I fall in the water my personal
flotation device can support me and all my gear with no problem."

Wildlife officers are issued body armor. Most choose not to wear it.

"I would wear one all the time if I were a city policeman," Isley said.
"Out here, I do not feel the need."

All the stops started as routine inspections for required safety equipment.
Isley answered one call for a pontoon-boat operator spotted drinking and
smoking marijuana. He pulled the boat and made the driver perform a series
of sobriety tests. The driver blew .07 on the portable alcohol sensing
device, just below the .08 standard for operating while impaired.

"You are just one decimal point away from going to jail," Isley said.

The boater's wife took over the wheel and Isley sent them on their way with
a firm, but polite warning. Just a few yards away a pair of Davidson County
deputies pulled a trio of personal watercraft riders. After failing the
sobriety test, one of the riders was taken into custody and handcuffed. The
deputy took his prisoner to shore for the ride to jail.

Spotters radioed Isley when they saw a bottle of rum on a burgundy pontoon
boat beached on the island. Isley pulled up and addressed the crew.

"I will not tell you how, but I know you have liquor on the boat," Isley
said. "You can give it up now or we will ransack the boat and find it."

The boat owner surrendered the bottle and took his ticket. Isley warned the
man about driving the boat while drinking.

After Isley finished his shift, wildlife officer Mickey Little took his
place. Just a few minutes later, spotters reported that the burgundy
pontoon boat was motoring toward the main lake.

Little pulled the boat over. The owner/operator admitted to drinking
several beers and blew .13 on the field alcohol sensor. He offered no
resistance when Little handcuffed him aboard the patrol boat. Little found
a sober passenger to drive the pontoon, then took the prisoner to shore and
a waiting patrol car for a ride to Salisbury.