Six-year-old Trevor Wayne Young of Nashville, Ind., and 50-year-old Allen D. Johnson of Galva, Ill., probably had little in common — except the way they died.
They both drowned under thin ice. Both are sad stories.
Trevor was out for fun time on a Sunday afternoon when he fell through ice on a pond near his home. He was under water for about an hour before divers recovered his body. The odds of his surviving were long, and he died Monday afternoon at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
Johnson was ice fishing with his son on a lake near Victoria in western Illinois, also on Sunday. His son came back to the fishing site after an absence and found a hole in the ice and his father gone. Divers pulled Johnson from frigid waters; he died later in a hospital. A news report said the ice was just three-fourths of an inch thick.
As winter temperatures continue their ups and downs the dangers that took those two lives are present for all of us who venture near icy bodies of water.
Enthusiasm for the great winter outdoors needs to be tempered by the realities of the dangers of life — and death — on the ice.
Plenty of self-safety information is available to guide us. Just Google the words “ice safety” and you will find these among many:
• A six-page fact sheet from Ohio State University that includes sections on “reading” ice, ice thickness, safety equipment and rescue procedures:
ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/pdf/0392.pdf
• A video on how to survive a fall through the ice:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysnKtuUTt8k
• A guide from outdoors experts in a state that is home to extreme cold, Minnesota: www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/index.html
Those are all helpful. But here really is all you need to know:
• Stay off the ice entirely if you cannot swim.
• Make sure the ice is at least 4 inches thick before putting your weight on it. Even then, be cautious.
• Don’t be misled that the ice is all frozen evenly. It will have thin spots.
• Don’t go onto the ice on a day when it might be thawing.
• Wear a life preserver when on the ice.
• Use a buddy system: never go onto the ice alone.
• Never let children go onto the ice unsupervised and without adequate rescue plans and equipment.
• Safest of all, stay off all ice.
Don’t let Trevor and Johnson’s situations be repeated in your family.




