 The 4th of July is the peak of traffic for the areas, lakes and rivers. The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department was out in full force over the holiday to make sure boaters stayed safe. Sarah Winkelman has that story. The state of Minnesota has seen nine deaths on the water due to boating incidents already this year. The 4th of July kicks off the busiest boating weekend of the season and it will remain consistently busy until Labor Day. The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department knows just how to control the area lakes during this time. So we designate some on the area lakes at Wakeford's chain, we usually designate one because of the volume and the calls we know we're going to get and then we always have a few that can respond to different incidents that take place wherever in the county. The department received around 75 boating related calls from either traffic stops or directly from the public. We didn't have any reported injuries, just a lot of activity. When our volume and everyone comes up from the cities to our lakes area, the volume and the usage of our lakes greatly increases. Crow Wing County officials say that there were no major incidents on the waterways over this 4th of July holiday, however they are encouraging boaters to keep those life jackets handy for the remainder of the season. The biggest thing we see over and over and we've already had one drowning relating to boating activity this year is just to wear their life jackets. Be patient, don't drink and boat, designate someone to be able to operate the craft that has not been drinking. Over the 4th of July this year, the calls ranged anywhere from impaired boater to registration violations. The captain thinks the largest problem out on the water is the lack of respect for other boaters. The complaints we got a lot this weekend were related to noise, you know, with the crafts with really big speakers, music that not everyone loves, and people from the shoreline, other people that are boating, so be respectful. A study suggests that there were nearly 9,000 water crafts in the water on the 4th of July weekend in the area, demonstrating how locals and out-of-towners alike enjoy the Brainerd area lakes. Reporting in Brainerd, Sarah Winkelman, Lakeland News. The Kirlin County Sheriff's Department wants to remind everyone to stay vigilant and if you see something that looks unsafe, to report it. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.