A group of riverfront residents and others met Wednesday with Jackson County Sheriff’s Office representatives at TouVelle State Recreation Site concerning the safety of commercial jet boat operations on the upper Rogue River.

“Are we going to wait until somebody gets hurt?” asked Don Blaser of Eagle Point, a riverside resident who led off the hour-long gathering, which was held around a picnic table in the shade on the banks of the river. Seven area residents and three sheriff’s office personnel attended.

“People swim all over this river,” Blaser said. “I see speeding boats coming by.”

Bob Hunter, an Applegate Valley resident, said boats on the river move fast through narrow sections where other boaters might not be seen by a jet boat operator until it’s too late.

“There should be spotters,” Hunter said. “Boats are too big, the river’s too small and there’s going to be an accident.”

Riverside resident Anne Batzer of the White City area said people for years have come to TouVelle to swim near where commercial jet boats now launch. Park personnel previously put buoys out in the river, but the buoys have been removed.

“If you swim at TouVelle park, you swim at your own risk,” Batzer said.

Rogue Jet Boat Adventures launches trips multiple times daily from the park, which is located near the Table Rocks and White City.

While the group met, other park visitors went down to the water’s edge to cool off. When a jet boat launched and sped off upriver, it left behind a wake of about a foot or slightly more. The sound of the boat leaving was a low to moderate rumble.

An airboat sporting a propeller similar to one found on an airplane went by a couple times, sounding about 10 times as loud as the jet boat. It was not a tour boat.

Sgt. Shawn Richards told the group that there’s no speed limit on the river, although boaters must not operate recklessly. He said people can call 911 to report reckless behavior. He suggested that people be “a good witness” by taking a picture or a video of any incidents.

“A picture tells a thousand words,” he said.

Company jet boats carry their own cameras, with a 360-degree view that records videos for future reference.

Richards said there’s been “a handful” of calls for service during his 13 years with the department regarding reported conflicts between boats and other river users, such as a power boat endangering rafters.

“User conflict issues, there’s not a significant number of those,” Richards said after the meeting. “There’s not hundreds and hundreds of close calls.”

The sheriff’s office has three marine deputies who patrol waterways in Jackson County. In response to complaints, the department has been providing extra patrols.

The company, meanwhile, stands by its record.

“As a company both state and federally regulated, operating charter vessels on arguably the lightest used section on the entire Rogue River, we hold to the highest and most ethical standards, as evident by our impeccable track record,” Taylor Grimes, who owns and operates the company with his wife, Emily, wrote in a response for comment.

The company advertises three-hour tours leaving three times daily from the park area, launching from the north side of the river, immediately downstream from the Table Rock Road bridge. The trips go upstream as far as Rattlesnake Rapids, about 1.5 miles below Dodge Bridge, and then downstream below Lower Table Rock. If all three company boats are in use, that could mean nine boat trips a day.

Other trips might make shorter jaunts to the company’s Discovery Park, located across the river from Lower Table Rock. The three boats carry up to 25, 18 and 10 passengers, respectively.

Wednesday’s meeting was low-key. It follows a May 30 Rogue Valley Times feature story about the jet boat company and its services. Batzer, who has written a letter to the editor and a guest column in recent weeks for the newspaper concerning jet boat issues, said the article brought attention to jet boat issues. She said the gathering at the park was an informal way to meet with deputies.

“We just wanted to get to know them and talk about our shared concerns,” she said.

Batzer said people have been gathering signatures online and in person on petitions in an effort to “stop the proliferation of jet boats on the Rogue River.”

Blaser said jet boats in the past operated mainly below the park, but that there’s been a shift to trips headed upstream.

“All we’re trying to do is stop an accident from happening,” he said.