Editorial: A tragic lesson on winter safety
A trip to a lakefront home in Wisconsin, a gathering with friends and a paddle in the lake in a 14-foot canoe.
It's the itinerary for plenty of suburban residents on vacation, often on sun-soaked days when popping on and off the water is as effortless as can be. Perhaps that ease is what sets the stage for tragedy. Our rivers and lakes are such a part of our lives in the suburbs, we might lose sight of their unique dangers this time of year.
No one knows exactly how four young men, friends from New Trier High School in Winnetka, lost their lives early Sunday on Lake Beulah north of East Troy, Wisconsin. Friends followed footprints to a boathouse, then to wallets and phones left on shore, then to a view of an overturned 14-foot green canoe in the water. Bodies of Lanny Patrick Sack, 20, Christopher J. McQuillen, 21, and Mori Weinstein, 21, were found, and rescuers are looking for a fourth man as family and friends mourn the enormous loss.
While singular for the magnitude of the tragedy, the accident is not unique. The day after the deaths near East Troy, another man's small boat overturned in the Fox River near Algonquin. He was fortunate that he was spotted and rescued before he succumbed to hypothermia, which drastically cuts a person's ability to stay afloat unaided.
Dangerous accidents this time of year on our lakes and rivers often involve falling through ice rather than falling out of boats, but rescuers and safety experts say safety starts at the same point: deciding whether you should be on a body of water at all, then thinking through dangers you could encounter and whether you are prepared to deal with them. Many people, they say, plan for cold air temperatures but don't think about the dangers of cold water.
Among their guidelines: Don't drink alcohol. Tell someone where you are going and when you'll be back. Wear layers and a hat, which will help you retain some warmth even in water. Wear a life jacket on a boat.
"Whether or not you have a life jacket on really contributes to how long you can last in this," said Walworth County Sheriff Kurt Picknell, one of the searchers for the four suburban men.
Ice often is deceiving. Don't let pets run where they might stray onto ice that's too thin for you to follow safely. Avoid snowmobiling on lakes and rivers, where falling through ice claims lives every year. Don't be on any lake or river - frozen or not - after dark.
Our hearts go out to the families of the four young men. It's a sorrowful start to the new year. Let's take the right steps to avoid any more deaths on our waterways this winter.