NATCHEZ — If all goes according to plan, a new Adams County Sheriff’s Office unit will be on patrol during the balloon races this weekend — but it won’t be on the roads.

In July, boat builder Vance Breaux donated a $122,000, 28-foot aluminum vessel built to Coast Guard specifications to the ACSO, and Friday morning the sheriff’s office will christen the boat the Ronny Brown, after the late sheriff of the same name.

Breaux’s company, Breaux Brothers Enterprises, built the boat, which has a motor that is strong enough to push a tugboat.

The christening will be 10 a.m. at Natchez Under-the-Hill, Sheriff Angie Brown said.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors approved the christening name at their meeting last Monday.

The sheriff’s office previously had a boat, a Boston whaler, but because it was obtained through state surplus it had to be returned when the sheriff’s office was no longer using it, Brown said.

The new boat has been in the water a few times, but Brown said it has not been put to official use yet.

“It will be used if we need to do search and rescue, we can use it for patrolling the areas that are flooded by high water,” Brown said.

“Anything that we need to get into the water for we will be able to use it.”

At the ceremony Friday, Ronny Brown’s children, Kevin Brown and Courtney Feltus, and grandchildren, Meagan and Lilly Brown and Allie Feltus, will do the actual christening, Angie Brown said.

The Rev. Clifton Marvel will also bless the vessel during the ceremony.