Are you kidding me? While the article does not state the cause of all this torn up equipment, it doesn't say much as to the oversight abilities of the sherrif's department on its own equipment. Shame on them for WASTING Mason county tax payer money by blowing engine after engine. Is maintenance that lax or are the deputies out of control? This is shameful.

Must be how Fiers saved money. He never maintained or fixed anything. And how the heck you can blow that many engines is beyond my comprehension. But, I believe it. It is never an encouraging site when you see the sheriff boat getting towed in, and that has happened plenty in the past couple of years.

I've owned boats and been around others boats since childhood. It's not rocket science to know that boats require steady and repetitive yearly maintenance to keep them running proper. To say $26K to rebuild two engines, sounds very high to me. You can put new rebuilt engines in for less than that even in a big yacht, probably around $10-12K. How the deputies run these boats is also important, they are probably not meant for hot-rodding stunts like their car cruisers are.

A training class on how to operate a boat would be more cost effective.

In reality this is a very easy fix. A large boat is not needed at all. The DNR, Coast Guard, and Ludington Fire Dept. can handle any patrolling, or emergencies that will come up on Lake Michigan or in PM Lake. The only thing the Sheriffs Dept. needs to worry about are the inland lakes, and that can be done with one medium size craft. Not having to worry about Lake Michigan will free up all of the sheriffs departments resources for the inland lakes. The DNR also patrol inland lakes so that gives some coverage. Also many of the local fire departments have boats, that are used in many emergencies. Also, has far as the MCSD is concerned, the less boats you have, the less trucks you need to pull them, and the less staff you need to be draining $$$$ from the county coffers. We all win.