[ApS]

Skip: Mark Tournillon, a Florida boater boating (but where else) in Florida struck another boat on August 20th killing several people.

APS: Not Florida. Perhaps a closer read of the reference material is in order.

Skip: Once again, you should read closely the material you reference for its correct application in the debate confronting us.

APS: See above.

Skip: For those of you that would like the Reader's Digest version of this tragedy.

APS: At just four lines, I thought mine was the Reader's Digest version.

Skip: It is alleged that he was travelling approximately 60 MPH in his performance boat when the collision occured. Unfortunately what Madrasahs forgot to stress is that Tournillon had a BAC of 0.12, well above the legal limit of .08 BAC.

APS: Did I forget to mention that the night before he had run his boat at full speed through a "Sobriety Checkpoint" that the lake residents had requested? (Evading it -- and the MPs?)

Remind me to do a search on "arrogance" in the forum.

Skip: Oh, and he also forgot to tell you that the night of the crime, Tounillon also admitted he had taken the drugs Lortab & Naprosyn that day. By the way, both drugs can cause dizziness or drowsiness and are not to be taken with alcohol. And for those of you that may be wondering, it is universally recognized that Florida has what some believe to be the second toughest Boating While Intoxicated regulations in the country!

APS: Not Florida. See above.

Skip: By the way, when Tournillon goes to trial one of the things he will not be charged with is speed. You see, speed becomes one of the many elements of the operting while intoxicated charge.

APS: Like Winnipesaukee, there is no speed limit on that lake. (But they're working on it now).

I'd suggest going to www.sharkeymarine.com for a list of "Bad Boy" forums -- and see for yourselves just how "organized" they can become. Upon hearing of the deaths and a new speed limit, they formed a "Boating Organization", similar to NHRBA.

BTW: How old is NHRBA, anyway? Four months? I recall it was a "refreshed, but old, idea".

Skip: So let's add it up. Tournillon gets spiked up on a narcotic and another drug, mixes them with a copious amount of alcohol and gets behind the wheel of the boat, already committing several misdemeanor offenses. And we are now to believe that if he had been obeying a speed limit (by the way, haven't even bothered to see if a speed limit applied here, as it really isn't applicable to this debate) that this would have prevented this collision?

If the misdemeanor offenses he committed prior to slamming into the other boat were not enough incentive to keep him from being on the water in the first place, how in God's name would a speed limit made any difference?

APS: Without a speed limit law, there would be no legal "excess speed" provision -- just like New Hampshire stands today.

It was after Littlefield that we got a boating hit-and-run provision -- not before. Seems like it takes tragedies for New Hampshire to "catch up". For example, a child "under the supervision of an adult" can operate a speedboat, even if the adult is snockered. Remember?

Skip: There were plenty of laws in place that should have deterred this fool from getting behind the wheel of any type of vehicle.

APS: The only thing keeping him from getting behind the wheel was his back pain. His "Need for Speed" took him to the medicine cabinet and the liquor cabinet before boating.

BTW: Naprosyn (Naproxen) is an over-the-counter substitute for aspirin. There are no alcohol or sleep precautions on my container of Naprosyn.

Skip: To claim otherwise, especially inferring that an enacted speed limit would have been the deterrent necessary to prevent this not only is completely absurd, but in my opinion shows a complete lack of sensitivity towards the victims and their family involved in this horrendous crime

APS: We'd need to ask the victims that, wouldn't we?

We could still ask the family survivors how they'd have felt if there had been a speed limit enacted to net and identify arrogant speedboaters prior to these fatalities.

Skip: But remember, being drunk in a canoe or other small boat is about as deadly as it gets on the waterways in this country. With all the incessant talk about high speeds and performance boats, most people (by far) die every year in small craft, and many by the simple act of drowning. And like motor vehicle accidents that take place on our highways, alcohol & drugs are involved in a lion's share of these needless fatalities!

APS: The drunkest-drunk in a canoe doesn't threaten other boaters with a crushing Winnipesaukee death.