DNR: 17 charged in BUI crackdown over Fourth of July weekend

Staying safe on Georgia's waterways

Forecasters expect the long Fourth of July weekend will be a summer scorcher. Many will look for any relief to beat the heat, including heading to Lake Lanier. Game wardens are preparing to keep people safe on the water.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says that more than a dozen people were charged with boating under the influence over the busy Fourth of July weekend.

In total, officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division say they handed out 17 BUIs on Saturday and Sunday.

Seven of the charges came from the Thomson region, which is home to Clarks Hill Lake, while five others came from the area around Gainesville, known for Lake Lanier. 

Officials say along with the arrests, there was a boating incident on Lake Allatoona when the propellor of a slow-moving boat hit a man while he was holding onto a pontoon boat. Officials have not given an update ton his condition.

FOX 5 was on Lake Lanier with members of the DNR's game wardens as they began their Fourth of July water patrols looking for safety violations and illegal activity.

Major Stephen Adams said wardens will be enforcing the child life jacket law, looking for boaters under the influence, and watching for other violations. 

"We will be out in force, and there will be no warnings for boating under the influence," Adams said.

One of the new things game wardens are on the lookout for is wakeboarders and wake surfers. A new law goes into effect on Saturday that requires they stay at least 200 feet away from everything, like boats, bridges, and even the shore. The law also only allows it during daylight hours and requires a life jacket to be worn. 

"It’s to promote public safety so the wave or wake doesn’t knock someone down who’s on a dock or on a shoreline, and the second is for the protection of property," Major Adams said.

So far this year, DNR says three people have drowned at Lake Lanier, and the agency hopes people stay safe this holiday. 

"Lifejackets save lives," Adams said. "That is one of the worst calls that a game warden or any other officer on the water can get is an in-progress drowning. Those don't happen when lifejackets are used."