Marine Patrol Trains For Lake Zoar Boating Season

By Andrew Gorosko

Police officers from the four towns that are members of the Lake Zoar Authority (LZA) recently received some boating training from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to prepare them for work this boating season on the Lake Zoar Authority Marine Patrol.

The marine patrol enforcement unit, which is staffed by certified police officers, operates two boats on the lake with the goal of boating safety for the public. Police officers from the LZA’s four member towns — Newtown, Monroe, Southbury, and Oxford — work on a rotating basis as the members of the marine patrol.

The officers, who have full police powers, patrol the 11-mile-long impoundment on the Housatonic River, which extends from Shepaug Dam downriver to Stevenson Dam.

The May 26 classroom training session held at the Newtown Police Department included about 30 police officers overall.

Also, some of those officers received practical boating instruction while on a large DEP-owned inflatable boat navigating on the lake near the Newtown-owned Eichler’s Cove Marina, near the Monroe town line.

At the same time, Sergeant Dan Semosky and Trooper First Class David Hare, both of the state police, traveled on one of the LZA’s power boats downriver toward Stevenson Dam.

Sgt Semosky, who is Oxford’s supervising resident state trooper, is the supervisor of the LZA marine patrol. Trooper Hare is an Oxford resident state trooper. Oxford has four resident state troopers and nine town police officers.

As they advanced toward Stevenson Dam, Sgt Semosky and Trooper Hare encountered a large bobbing tree trunk floating in lake during windy conditions.

Realizing that the heavy dark object, which was largely submerged below the waterline, posed navigation hazards to boaters and especially to water skiers, the two state policemen worked to isolate the log and then move it toward shore where it could be taken out of the water.

After repeated efforts to snag and secure the floating wooden hazard, they gained control of the tree trunk with hand tools and towed it alongside the slow-moving boat.

After reaching a gravelly beach on the Monroe shoreline, Trooper Hare pulled the log onto dry land, reducing the risk of a boating accident on the heavily used lake.