To make things safer on the water, the Missouri State Water Patrol conducted five sobriety check points at Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, Mark Twain Lake, Pomme De Terre Lake and Smithville Lake this past weekend. Officers stopped 343 boats, and there were  a total of 17 arrests for drunken boating while intoxicated were made.   Not only that, 17other citations were issued for equipment violations and 62 warnings were issued.

These check points were in conjunction with the nationwide campaign “Operation Dry Water” that 49 other states and U.S. territories were involved in. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of and to decrease the incidence of intoxicated operation of vessels.