Third Lake honors selfless acts

Third Lake village board members Monday night formally recognized the heroics of residents who helped rescue four children from an icy pond in February.

In the framed resolutions presented to the three adults and two teenagers by Trustee Jim Rogers, each was praised for actions that "helped prevent a potential tragedy within the village of Third Lake."

"Such a spontaneous act of unselfishness is deserving of the highest commendation," the resolutions state.

Receiving the honors were Robert George, Izabela Stepien and Maribeth Rauch, along with 17-year-old Maggie Stojak and Katie Rauch, 16.

"Thank you to the honorees here tonight," Rogers said. "We like situations like this where we actually give a hand to our people who come out and help in times of need. Third Lake is like that. Everybody does help each other here."

On the afternoon of Feb. 16, Maribeth Rauch was driving on Mainsail Drive near the pond with her daughter Katie and Stojak, while following Stepien. That's when the teens noticed the four neighborhood children on the retention pond ice. Both girls told Maribeth Rauch the children had crashed through the ice and were in the water. Rauch pulled into Stepien's driveway across from the water in the Mariner's Cove subdivision. Stepien, who heard Rauch yelling about the children, reacted by quickly bringing rope to the retention pond.

George was working at home on his computer when his daughters rushed in to tell him about the trouble at the pond. He said he doesn't remember if he even looked for traffic when he ran across the street to the water. He grabbed the rope from Stepien, tied it around his waist and reached an unidentified 16-year-old boy about 100 feet from shore. George had to smash through ice he estimated was about an inch thick and wade in water that was gradually getting deeper. After the boy climbed on George's back, people on shore pulled the two in with the rope.

Grayslake Fire Protection District officials said none of the four children was injured, and all were treated by paramedics at the scene. Officials don't know how long the teen, a 12-year-old girl and two boys, ages 10 and 9, were in the frigid water.

Fire officials said the water reached the children's chest or chins as they held an ice shelf. Officials said the main concern was hypothermia, which can take as little as two minutes to set in.

After Monday night's ceremony at Third Lake village hall, George said now that the pond ice has melted, he doesn't have a daily visual reminder of what could have been a tragedy across from his house.

"I replay it in my mind every once in a while," George said. "Different people tell me different things happened. And I'm surprised, all the kids with their iPhones and everything, nobody caught a video or anything of it. They said I was like an animal crossing through the ice."