HERRINGTON LAKE, Ky. — Volunteer members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary are working to make boating safer on Herrington Lake — a 1,860-acre reservoir that touches Boyle, Mercer and Garrard counties.

        “We do everything that the regular Coast Guard will do except law enforcement,” said Robert Gaut, commander of the auxiliary's Central Lakes Flotilla 41 in Lexington.

        On Sept. 21, Mr. Gaut and other Coast Guard brass will inaugurate the new Herrington Lake detachment, five volunteers who all live near the lake.

        They will patrol with a 40-foot Sea Ray cabin cruiser outfitted with extra fire extinguishers, first-aid kits and towing lines to haul stranded vessels to shore.

        The Central Kentucky Flotilla has 27 members in Georgetown, Lexington, Elizabethtown and elsewhere. They teach boating safety to adolescents and adults, inspect watercraft and monitor the waters for any unsafe behavior.

        Flotilla members also patrol Cave Run Lake and Lake Cumberland.

        “We don't get paid for our time spent on the water but we all have an interest in making boating safe,” Mr. Gaut said.

        Perhaps the most crucial use of the auxiliary will come when divers and rescue workers search for suspected drowning victims, said Burgin Fire Chief Donald Brown. The auxiliary can assist his department's divers.

        “We welcome them with open arms,” Chief Brown said.

        At least 11 people have drowned at Herrington since 1985.

        One was 46-year-old Tony Gene Proctor, whose body was found floating in the lake in December 1987. The Harrodsburg man drowned July 27, 1985, when he was thrown from a boat as he started it, officials said.

        Beneath the lake's placid surface are barrels, refrigerators and even tobacco barns and other buildings submerged when the Dix River was dammed in 1925.

        Herrington isn't more dangerous than any other lake, but its heavy use, twisting channels, high rock cliffs and dozen marinas pose challenges for water patrol officers, said Col. David Casey, director of law enforcement for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

        “They (the auxiliary) are eyes and ears for us,” Col. Casey said. “They'll see people doing unsafe things with personal watercraft or with other boats and they may flag them down and point out the law violation to them, or they may contact us by radio. If it's severe enough, we'll respond and take whatever action is appropriate.”

        Several other auxiliary detachments help state and local officials patrol other Kentucky lakes and the Ohio River.

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