[OSMB-News] News Release -Marine Board Looking for Boaters Saved By the Jacket

Ashley MASSEY ashley.massey at state.or.us
Wed Apr 1 16:41:14 PDT 2009


For Immediate Release	Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Marine Board Looking for Boaters Saved By the Jacket
	
If you’ve ever been boating and unexpectedly wound up in the water
with your life jacket on, then the Marine Board wants to hear your
story.
	
“For the last few years we’ve focused our life jacket campaign on
some amazing survivor stories,” says Ashley Massey, Public Information
Officer for the Marine Board.  “We’ve highlighted a variety of
survivors, including an angler whose boat capsized near the Columbia
River bar, an OSP Trooper whose boat capsized on the Santiam River, a
duck hunter whose motor malfunctioned and fell overboard, and a boater
floating the McKenzie River when his pontoon boat came apart.  In all of
those cases, the boaters would have likely drowned if they hadn’t been
wearing their life jackets,” Massey warns.  “None of them expected
to get wet.”
	
The Marine Board has been educating the public about wearing life
jackets for years, and for the last six years, has produced public
service announcements for television and radio and produced print ads
with the survivors’ stories.  
 
“It’s important to create a message that people can identify with. 
By using real-life stories, boating situations hit a little closer to
home,” Massey says.  Although adults are not required to wear a life
jacket, only to have one “readily accessible,” often there isn’t
time in an emergency to put one on.  

“We’re interested this year in hearing from boaters who’ve had a
close call on a lake or reservoir in a motorized boat, and survived
because they wore a life jacket,” says Massey.  One story will be
selected and the survivor will be highlighted in television and radio
spots.

To share your story, contact Ashley Massey at 503-378-2623 or
Ashley.massey at state.or.us.  You can view the 2008 print ad with
survivor Doug Welsh and his wife, Wendy at
http://www.boatoregon.com/OSMB/campaigns/campaigns.shtml. 
###


Ashley A. Massey
Public Affairs Specialist
Oregon State Marine Board
503-378-2623
503-378-8587 ext. 82623
ashley.massey at state.or.us

Everything of value takes effort.




More information about the OSMB-News mailing list