Marine patrol wins grant

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol won a $90,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation to purchase a patrol boat to serve the south end of Lake Pend Oreille.

The grant, along with $60,000 in revenue the marine patrol had , will be used to purchase a $150,000 patrol boat.

“We’re, right now, working on writing up the specifications for it,” said Lt. Cary Kelly, the marine patrol’s supervisor.

The new patrol boat’s scheduled debut is 2012 and will be stationed at Garfield Bay.

The boat will be about 30 feet long with a beam of about 10 1/2 feet, making it the longest and widest boat in the department’s modest fleet.

The patrol sought a larger vessel to shorten response times in the southern portion of the lake, especially when the weather and water is rough. The cabin will also be spacious enough to provide shelter for up to 10 people.

The boat will also have port and starboard decking. The patrol’s existing boats decks are concentrated around the stern, which can be cumbersome in some situations.

The grant was from IDPR’s Waterways Improvement Fund, which is sustained by money from the state’s gasoline tax. The local match came from unexpectedly high revenue the county received from boat registrations, Kelly said.

The prospect of a new marine patrol vessel has been welcomed by some, but derided by others as a needless expansion of law enforcement presence on the lake. But Kelly defends the acquisition on public safety grounds because it will mean better emergency response on a remote portion of the lake.

The grant committee concurred, as the proposal made it through a rigorous and competitive review process.

“If it’s not merited, then we won’t get it,” Kelly said of the grant.

The marine patrol keeps boats at Sandpoint Marina, Riley Creek, Albeni Falls Dam, the boat basin at Hope and at Priest Lake’s Kalispell Bay. Kelly said the boat at Hope may shift to Garfield Bay this season.