Drinking and Drowning?

There has been 9 river drowning’s in the past 14 years in LaCrosse between 1997 and 2006. What's puzzling is why do people go to the river and end up drowning there? Keeping people from drowning in the Mississippi is still a top priority for our local law enforcement with the help of student volunteers.
The two recent drowning’s are of Craig Meyers and Luke Homan. Luke was the 8th college student to drown after partying with friends at Oktoberfest in 2006. He was only 21. Craig was the 9th after partying at a wedding reception in 2010. He also was only 21. The first seven all ranged from ages 19-28 and all of their deaths have been related to alcohol consumption.
Although the mysterious drowning’s have become apart of the past there are still measures taken to prevent one from happening again. Volunteers are patrolling Riverside Park on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, even during the winter. The group started out as only patrolling the river on weekend nights and now, they are equipped with flashlights, police radios, and warm clothing. This semester the group has about 100 volunteers who take turns with the patrols. But, they could always use more.
The river safety volunteers say they are routinely stopping people from heading towards the river. What makes it scary is the majority of those people are intoxicated and lost. One of the volunteers says, "There are incidents where people will come down there and they have no idea where they are or where they're going. That's really when it gets kind of scary and you're just glad that someone was down there."
There have been speculations of a so called serial killer causing the drowning’s. It was rumored that there was someone on the prowl for good looking young men who were intoxicated and pushing them into the river. There was a lot of talk that it was a random taxi driver, a women, and or even a police officer! So far investigators say there is no boogeyman causing the drowning’s.
If you plan on "partying" in downtown LaCrosse be aware of your surroundings and keep a "buddy system" so neither you or your friends end up near the river. The river has already taken the lives of Craig Meyers, Luke Homan, and several others simply by them being intoxicated and not knowing where they are going. As a city known for the largest six pack and street line of bars, we should be extremely appreciative of the volunteers who use their own time to ensure the safety of others. Although LaCrosse hasn't had a drowing recently, it's still a top priority to prevent one from happening again.