Out & About: Get on board for boater safet
OUTCLASS – Washington’s mandatory boating safety education requirement is gaining grip on the number of people who drive watercraft.
Under the phase-in schedule started several years ago, everyone under 36 years old must have a card showing they have passed a certified boater safety course.
Next year the requirement advances to everyone under 40.
Take your choice of classroom or online courses described at the Parks and Recreation website, parks.wa.gov/
• The eight-hour boater safety course is being taught in two-hour segments Monday- Thursday, staring at 5:30 p.m. at the Spokane National Boat Show at the County Fair and Expo Center.
Preregister: Pay to enter the Boat Show today or Monday and look for the U.S. Power Squadron’s booth just inside. Class participants get free entry to the Boat Show after that.
Lure of powder could net a fine
OUTLAW – If the threat of getting snuffed out doesn’t detract you from going for off-limits powder, maybe a stiff fine will do the trick.
Skiers who venture into dangerous areas that are closed to the public could be fined up to $1,000 under a proposal being considered by the Washington Senate.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, calls for fines for any skier who crosses in to a marked area that has been closed because of dangerous conditions.
Those skiers aren’t just risking their lives, they’re risking the lives of ski patrol members who go in after them, Kastama said.
It would not prohibit back-country or off-trail skiing, he said.
Shot hunter calls for stiff penalty
OUTCRY – A 35-year- old eastern Idaho man who lost his right lung and most of the use of his right arm after being mistakenly shot during hunting season last fall is in the news for stating publically that he’s frustrated the shooter is facing only a misdemeanor.
Korby Hansen of Rexburg says his medical bills will top $400,000 after being hit with a 12-gauge shotgun slug fired by Mark Later, 57, of Rigby in October.
The two men were in separate parties hunting whitetails in Madison County when the accident occurred near the end of legal shooting hours. Hansen was wearing camouflage.
Later faces a misdemeanor charge of injuring another by careless handling and discharge of a firearm.
Hansen wants Later charged with felony aggravated battery, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Ducky new apps for waterfowlers
OUTBROWSE – Want details on a Ducks Unlimited event? There’s an app for that.
Want to identify waterfowl in the field through photos and sounds? Ducks Unlimited has an app for that, too.
Need hunting and cooking tips, including more than 360 DU videos, along with science-based conservation information about wetlands and waterfowl? DU also has an app for that.
Yes, the wetland conservation organization has an official iPhone app.
Cost: $1.99 through iTunes. Sales proceeds help DU conservation efforts.