Stay safe during holiday weekend

Avoid the 14, named after the number of law enforcement agencies in Ventura County, begins its fourday Memorial Day crackdown on Fri., May 25, ending at midnight Mon., May 28. Its purpose is to inhibit drinking and driving/boating over the holiday weekend.

Coast Guard lawenforcement officers from the Channel Islands Station will educate boaters on the piers and will board vessels looking for boatingunder-the-influence suspects, said Lt. Marcus Gherardi, station commander. "Not many people know that you can lose your driver's license for a BUI conviction," he said.

Landbased operations include a sobriety checkpoint set for Sat., May 26 in Santa Paula. It begins at 7 p.m. and ends at 1 a.m. It is a combined effort of many jurisdictions in the county, said Senior Officer Humberto Jimenez of the Oxnard Police, who coordinates Avoid the 14.

Sheriff's deputies will flex their hours to accommodate prime time for DUI arrests and will work overtime, according to Senior Dep. Tom Wooff.

California Highway Patrol squads in Ventura and Moorpark will assign nearly every available officer to the road, said Moorpark CHP Capt. Cliff Williams.

Midnight-shift officers Wayne Goral and Sam Clarkson of Williams' squad, who tied for top DUI officer in Ventura County at an awards ceremony in Oxnard April 26, will spend all four days on the road.

Officers brought in 287 DUI suspects during an 18day campaign at the end of last year. The crackdown will hit the roads again on Labor Day weekend.

All Avoid campaigns throughout the state are funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration.