Duke Now Offering Drunken Boat Cruises?

Okay, you are the athletic director at one of the most prestigious schools in America. Your star basketball player was just cited for DUI and your entire Men’s Lacrosse team was rocked by a scandal that was the result of a part where booze was as abundant as Cameron Crazies when the Tar Heels are in town.

So how do you squelch the rumors that drinking is getting out of control amongst the Dukies? Certainly not by getting on a boat with your drunken son, right? It what could be one of the worst timed accidents in boating history Duke AD Joe Alleva suffered a gash on his head, that required 42 stitches to close, when his son J.D. ran the boat aground on a rocky embankment.

Investigators took the younger Alleva to jail on the misdemeanor DWI charge, and he was released on $500 bail. He is scheduled to appear July 25 in a Person County court.

"I am thankful that the incident involved only one boat, that no one was seriously hurt and that my son was able to locate an occupied home on the lake with gracious people willing to assist us," Joe Alleva said in the statement, which made no mention of his son's arrest.

The statement also said father and son were "trying to navigate our way back to shore in dark, rainy conditions" when the boat crashed. Investigators with the Wildlife Resources Commission said that speed, weather and time of day could have contributed to the crash but that alcohol also was a factor.

At the time of the accident, the boat was traveling through a low-speed, no-wake zone in the southern part of the lake. Judging from the damage, Sharpe said, the vessel was moving at least 18 mph -- far faster than allowed. Boats should be idling through the area to comply with the law to not create rippling waves in the high-traffic spot, said Lt. Robert Sharpe of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.