Crime or tragic accident? --Trial opens in boating fatality

The driver of a boat on trial for negligent homicide in the Father's Day 2008 death of a 34-year-old Meredith woman had a blood-alcohol level one-and-a-half times the legal limit of .08 when the power boat she was piloting hit Diamond Island, according to the state. Prosecutor Jim Carroll told jurors during opening arguments Monday in the trial of Erica Blizzard, 37, of 36 Gold Street, Lakeport, that the defendant was "impaired" when she crashed the 37-foot 2008 Formula 370 SS she was piloting into the 27-acre island located in The Broads — the widest section of the lake.