Close to 200 people fall victim to a sweep on the Little Miami River.
Officials
in Warren County were targeting alcohol-related offenses, from open
containers
to underage drinking. The operation left many people drying out and
forced to
pay a hefty fine.
.. . .
The violations ranged from underage drinking to littering and life jacket
violations. Some people on canoes got stopped more than once for the most
popular offense, having an open container. The goal of the crackdown is
to make
sure the river is a friendly place for local families to make a splash.
Dozens
of empty beer cans were picked up in the seven-hour sweep
.. . .
http://www.local12.com/mostpopular/s...a-a6dad8d3d7a7

How many of the people who responded actually read (and understood) the
article?
Apparently not many.

This is NOT about people "driving" a vehicle.
Canoes appear to be the boats in question
This is NOT about general boating laws.

This is a quiet, scenic, river that has a special "no alcohol allowed" law
in this area.
They are trying to keep this a "family friendly" area near a state park.
The idea is that it is much easier to enforce a blanket no alcohol policy
than to try to chase down the problem people or have probably cause to
individually check id's on people who are drinking to check their age.

I don't know the details of the river but expect that it is similar to a few
of them around here where people go to kick back while canoeing or tubing.
They are slow, shallow, wide enough to not be difficult but narrow enough to
easily wade across.

You would need to be really wasted (like not be able to stand up) to be in
significant danger on them.

The Cannon (near Cannon Falls, MN) is longer, the primary activity is using
a canoe barely faster than drifting, and the activities are very quiet.

The Apple (near Somerset, WI) has a very different reputation. The water
has a small "rapids" at the end of the commonly used zone.

Googling for "apple river" wisconsin alcohol family, brought this up as the
2nd result.
DrinkingStuff - Content - Pictures - Details
Apple River, Wisconsin... Apple River, Wisconsin... +Zoom In
Submitted on Oct 28, ... what no more alcohol??!! ...shh, you'll wake the
baby. Jump to page: ...
www.drinkingstuff.com/pictures/97 - 47k

WARNIING: NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY

The primary activity is tubing. You park your butt in an inner tube and
drift along the river.
There are campgrounds along the river that have tube rental and some people
go there to party with their underage friends and/or get REALLY drunk and
obnoxious.

From what I have heard, it used to be a lot worse than it is now. The local
people decided that things were getting out of hand and convinced the county
sheriff's department to spend some time cracking down on: underage drinking,
public drunkenness, public sex acts, and littering. There are warnings
about this and you are supposed to pay a deposit on every container you
leave with.

I have been down it several times in the last 15 years and never saw
significant nudity but saw a number of obnoxious drunks. We generally have
a cooler in it's own tube and have a 2-4 beers in the few hours it takes to
drift through the trees. More fun that soaking in a hot tub.
Usually the tubes are tied together into a raft and whomever is towards the
front gives a quick (and sometimes surprised) call of "butts up" to warn
people about a rock near the surface.

--
Bill