Marine Patrol Troopers Prepare for Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend is just a few days away, and for many people that means the unofficial kickoff for summer.  It also means the Marine Patrol is gearing up for another busy lake season.

Marine Patrol Troopers say Memorial Day weekend is usually their busiest weekend of the year, and for the first time in almost 10 years Lake Martin now has a full staff of marine patrol troopers.  Senior Marine Trooper Frank Cartwright has been the only full time trooper at Lake Martin for many years now.  He says it is a very large lake for one trooper to cover alone.

“With 4 troopers, and all of them having their boats in the water, covering all 4 points of the lake we should have a lot quicker response time for any emergency calls or any type of accidents,” Cartwright explained.

The Marine Patrol says last year there were 17 boating fatalities on Alabama waterways.  So far this year there have been 6.