CINCINNATI —

The great weather drew big crowds out on the waters of the Ohio River this Labor Day weekend, with 2,500 boaters out on Sunday and hundreds more out on Labor Day.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources are out patrolling the waters, looking for a few things: proper number of life jackets, working fire extinguishers, updated registration and boaters following proper alcohol consumption laws. Advertisement

Captain Michael Sterwerf is one of many officers out patrolling this holiday weekend.

“Nationwide, 87% of our drownings could have probably been prevented by having life jackets,” Sterwerf said. “In Ohio last year, we had 16 fatalities. Fourteen of them were folks that were without life jackets.”

Officers have also been cracking down on boating under the influence viol

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