Hmm…they like fireworks?
Next year scuba gear and limpet mines…
While its fun to snicker and wonder what sort of damage Sealances or those new Rail Guns would have done…I have to offer a suggestion. Since police & fire Run most fireworks shows, why didn’t they call in a cancellation and make sure that the speakers announced that they were cancelled due to the Un-American Activities of the boaters on the lake?
OK, admittedly 10,000 airborne beer and Snapple bottles wouldn’t do a lot for the environment of the lake. But could you imagine the effect on Fiberglass? I mean, haven’t you ever wondered how many beer bottles it takes to sink a Scarab or a Bayliner or a Sea Ray?
I have to echo quietman’s question: if the police knew that the reason people were being unruly was because of their desire to see the fireworks, why the hell didn’t they just cancel the show? These assholes received no consequences at all for their behavior- the chances of them getting arrested are slim, they got to harass police and fire workers with impungity, and they got to continue to party with the payoff of fireworks at the end. I understand the lack of backup, but all it would take was a phone or radio call to stop the show. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
If they ever find out there was a reasonable chance to save this man, I hope they hunt down every one of those fuckwads and charge them with accessory to murder.
I agree? The problem is the horrible carnage that ensues if the police get into a large battle with drunk–and apparently pathalogical–boaters. It’s always a judgment call. But, based on the apparent facts, it makes you wonder why more force wasn’t used. Maybe not immediate gunfire, but a something hard to the face would almost be SOP, right?
I guess calling for backup on the lake isn’t quite that easy. They might need a chopper with a sniper, seriously. How many boats could they call for backup? It can’t compare to the number of private boaters. I’ve never heard of boaters rioting, but I guess Minnetonka is the exception to the rule.
I don’t think they’d riot. But it would be a pain to try to get the number of policeman out on the lake in boats to take care of the problem. Not to mention that drunks on boats wouldn’t be easy to deal with in the best of circumstances. They start falling in or speeding away because the cops show up and its another boating accident waiting to happen. The aftermath of dealing with people from this part of town isn’t riots, its calls to their lawyers and the politicians - who Daddy gave a lot of money to last year.
But that is giving the Minnetonka Rich too much blame. Because Minnetonka also has a ton of public access as well - and a few people living on the lake who have held their property thirty years and are by no means wealthy (other than what their house would sell for now). On the Fourth, you can expect most Minnesota lake dwellers to take the boat out for a spin, plus most Minnesota boat owners who don’t have a lake out their back door find someplace to launch from. That’s a lot of boat traffic - and Minnetonka gets hit hard - with everything from sailboats to jetskis to cabin cruisers to fishing boats to … well, if it floats, and it can fit in the lake, its probably there.
They should have cancelled the fireworks, that would have showed them.
I agree that if someone threatens a deputy, that person should be arrested on the spot. Any resistance and their ass should be capped.
As far as all those schmucks on the boats, who needs to get them out on the lake? Wait ill they come to land and nap them one by one. (this is assuming they are on a lake with an escape that could be easily cut off)
Good point Dangerosa. I grew up on that other metropolitan lake, and can testify to the fact that most of the problem boaters I saw didn’t live on the lake. For some reason though, even the trailer-ins on Minnetonka are worse than on White Bear Lake, at least that is my experience. There just seems to be an attitude out there.
Although against the rules, capping off a few warning shots into the air would have gotten some boat engines started. Any further resistance is met with instant confiscation of the offending party’s watercraft for interfereing with officers in the course of their duties. Using a confiscated boat to ram the others out of the way also springs to mind. The deputy on the boat that was boarded should have been a little more liberal with his billy club.
“You want to see how it feels to float unconscious in this lake? Sure thing!” [WHAP, THUMP, SPLASH]
NurseCarmen - Hi neighbor! My parents are on Centerville Lake - just up the road (ok five miles) from WBL. They didn’t even have decent public access until recently, and once public access was available, the nature of the traffic changed.
So did the number of people taking out their props on the sandbar in front of my parents place 
You are right, but WBL doesn’t have a dock and drink place like Fletchers. The boats are smaller. There aren’t as many people feeling a need to compensate for penis size. And the St. Paul side of the world just has a lot more class 
The nature of boat traffic has changed in the last ten years or so. More big fast boats. A TON more Jetskis. More tubers and less skiiers.
Well alrighty then, that explains everything! This is what happens when you let potatoes own big power boats.