RiverWatch group prevents drowning deaths

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Wisconsin’s drinking culture is still on full display in La Crosse, but college students say they’ve found a way to prevent young drunk students from dying in the Mississippi River.

Since 2008, police cadets have joined students from three La Crosse colleges in a group called “River Watch” – late-night patrols at the city’s Riverside Park near the downtown bar district. Police credit them with saving almost 10 lives of young adults who ventured into the Mississippi.

Two students have drowned since the watch began, but both were beyond the Riverside Park area where the patrols take place and where the biggest concentration of drinkers is located.

Ten college-age men have drowned in the Mississippi, Black, and La Crosse rivers since 1997 – and at least 20 others almost drowned. Observers say the River Watch patrols seem to have worked after other measures had not.

Among other things, La Crosse has cracked down on public intoxication in recent years – and the city made those who buy kegs of beer register with officials.

Tags: education, wisconsin