Police to Patrol more on St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is Tuesday and the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office will have more deputies on the roadways.

Sheriff Matt Lutz said it’s not to cause trouble, but rather to protect against it. Many people will head out to celebrate one of the biggest party days of the year. Lutz said officers will be out to help slow people down.

“The biggest thing is just being careful,” Lutz said. “Just trying to be as patient as possible, and of course that goes to when you get to your party, making sure you’re being responsible. If you’re out there, you want to make sure you have a designated driver.”

Lutz said advance planning can help save not only your life but also other drivers on the roadways as well.

“It’s very important because it’s your life that you’re dealing with, and if you have no plan, and wait until you’re out, usually that’s not a good time to make a plan,” Lutz said. “And I want to stress that we have a lot of responsible people out there that do that. They’ll make sure that whoever they’re going with has a designated driver or they’ll have somebody that can come and get them or they’ll know to get a taxi.”

Lutz said many people will be out celebrating both Saint Patrick’s Day and the start of March Madness, so he said if you are heading out Tuesday night to give yourself plenty of time and take it slow. The highway patrol also plans to have extra officers out tomorrow.