“It was better than some of the previous years, it went off very well,” said Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee referring to law enforcement involvement in the Pioche Labor Day celebration.
Large crowds and a busy weekend did not tax law enforcement more than they could handle, he said.
“There was a big crowd Saturday and for the Sunday night fireworks and Monday parade. It was a steady stream of people. We were very happy to have no major incidents, or traffic accidents. Officers stayed busy,” he added.
Like with many holiday celebrations, some arrests were made, mostly for minor infractions, except for two stolen vehicles, both of which resulted in arrests and recovery.
Lee said 155 traffic stops were made during the holiday period. “We had a special enforcement going on, so we had extra local officers on patrol duty, paid for by some of the grant money from the Office of Traffic Safety.” Seventy-four citations were written.
“I was pleased with the way the overall celebration went,” Lee said. “No major incidents, no major fights, and a lot more people attending than in the past.” Not counting traffic tickets, only seven arrests were made, four of which were DUIs.
“We had many calls to dispatch, but with our extra people, paid for by the grant money, we were able to keep up with all of them in a timely fashion,” he said. “We did really well.”
He did say one problem that affected many attending was the lack of cell phone service as the system was just overloaded with the size of the crowd. However, lines were open in order for people to call 911 for emergency situations.
Lee added, “One out of town softball players told me, ‘I can’t get cell phone service. That’s kind of nice. I like that.’”
The sheriff also noted the local state parks were mostly full with out of town visitors and no major incidents occurred there either.
