Task of Newport Beach Sheriff’s Deputy Is to Keep Drivers From Drinking and Sinking

Sheriff’s Deputy Harry Gage of Newport Beach always had a problem when he arrested drunk drivers. First of all, none of the drivers he stopped had a driver’s license, and second, it was difficult giving a sobriety test on a boat.

“But it was a good job” working for the Harbor Patrol, he said, with different shifts at different locations, looking for drinking drivers, burglars and boats that were sinking.

Gage is now a captain in charge of the 12-boat, 49-man Orange County Harbor Patrol in Dana Point, Newport Beach and Huntington Harbour. And he is hoping for tougher controls to help protect others from drinking boat drivers and to protect the skippers from themselves.

Since the days when Gage drove a 12-foot patrol boat and asked boat drivers to “pull over” to the nearest dock, legislation has been introduced that would make the .10 blood-alcohol level a court weapon against drinking boat drivers.

“Having a threshold to make prosecution a lot easier is the key,” Gage said in his office overlooking Newport Harbor. “There really isn’t a defined law on the books for boat drivers.”

The state Department of Boating and Waterways estimated that alcohol was a factor in 59% of all fatal boating accidents in a two-year study period. Gage said his officers make about 100 drunk driving arrests a year in the three county harbors. While that may not sound like a lot, “every time they cause a problem, it’s usually a big problem.”

While Gage said licensing has been debated as a possible method to help control drinking and speeding boat drivers, “I don’t know if in my lifetime it will ever be resolved.” He expressed wonder that insurance companies don’t require training for boat drivers before insuring them.

Boaters sometimes speed past the 5-m.p.h. limit in the harbors, one of the clues that a boater might be drinking and driving.

“What our officers do is pull the boat over and check the driver,” Gage said. “If they decide the driver has had too much to drink, they’ll take the keys away and tow the boat to a mooring and make an arrest.”

It’s a walkathon. What else would you expect Orange-based Branch 1,100 of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers to sponsor for a fund-raiser?

The walkathon on June 8 starting at 7:30 a.m. in Huntington Beach Central Park is expected to draw 200 carriers, said spokeswoman Rozann Logan, 57, of Brea, who will be one of the walkers raising money through pledges.

“Letter carriers like to walk,” she said, “as well as to raise money.” She said Branch 1,100 has donated $18,000 to the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. in the last three years.

After teacher Melissa Morse decided that her fifth grade at Helen Estock Elementary School in Tustin should study city government by holding mock council meetings, she asked the students to come up with a name for the fictional town.

Wouldn’t you know those bright kids decided on “Melississippi”?

You might wonder why Hulk, a Seal Beach cop, wears a police badge around his neck. First, he doesn’t have any pockets. And considering his size, he wears it any way he wants to.

Hulk is a 130-pound police dog--the only one in Seal Beach--and the department believes that when Hulk “appears at public functions, he should be able to identify himself as a sworn police officer,” said Capt. William Stearns.

Hulk, who works with Officer Neil Henderson, is a Bouvier, a breed used in Europe to herd cattle. Stearns said Hulk doesn’t wear the badge while working as a police officer, because he doesn’t need to identify himself to criminals.

Acknowledgments--Fluor Corp. secretary Gail Cornell, 34, of El Toro was one of six women nationally to win a $5,000 appreciation scholarship from Avery International, an office supply company, for her job ability and community involvement. She was flown to Washington for the award during Professional Secretaries Week.