Intoxication aided drowning
LA CROSSE, WI (AP 10-22-97)

Intotoxication is listed as a contributing factor in the drowning of a La Crosse area teenager whose body was found in the Mississippi River.

La Crosse County Medical Examiner John Steers said Tuesday that a toxicology report showed the BAL for Anthony D. Skifton, 19, was 0.23%.

The legal limit for intoxication in Wisconsin is 0.10%.

Skifton's body was found Oct. 11. He had been missing for about a week after leaving a party.

Another body was found a week earlier not far from where Skifton's body was discovered.

In the earlier case, the body of Charles Blatz, 28, a UW-Platteville student from Kiel, was spotted floating face down in the river. Blatz had disappeared after leaving a tavern during La Crosse's annual Okberfest celebration.

An autopsy indicated Blatz drowned. Officials said tests showed his BAL was 0.31%.