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COLLEGE STUDENTS IN LA CROSSE SET UP 'OPERATION RIVER WATCH'
WPR News - College students in La Crosse set up 'Operation River Watch'
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Monday April 16, 2012
by Terry Bell
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(LA CROSSE) College students in La Crosse have taken it upon themselves to keep young people who've had too much to drink from drowning in the Mississippi River.
Since 1997, 10 young people have drowned in the Mississippi in downtown La Crosse, a short walk from the city's popular Third Street taverns. Task forces and new ordinances appeared to have little effect.
Five years ago, students at La Crosse's three colleges formed a group called "Operation River Watch." Volunteers take turns patrolling Riverside Park after it closes at 11:00 p.m.
Josh Kohnhorst is the group's volunteer coordinator for Viterbo University, "The volunteers intercept the individuals who are in the park, and they kindly ask them to leave. If the individual does not leave, we do have walkie-talkies with the La Crosse Police Reserve, who are based in the park. And we just call them over, and they take care of the situation."
Last year alone, "Operation River Watch" volunteers say they intercepted 1,300 young people near the river. Two people have drowned since the watch group was formed, but those happened outside the watch area.
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