Listen to your intuition
Published 1:34 pm Thursday, February 28, 2013
People who pay attention save lives. Two recent, improbable rescues happened because the heros involved were paying attention to their surroundings, instincts and intuition. (Or “gut.”) Whatever you want to call it, when it calls, it’s important to listen.
The diverse populace known as “outdoors” people, be they birders, hunters, boaters, etc., rely on their ability to observe and read the land or water, in all its forms, depending on their particular pursuit. For Stanwood’s Ryan Neubauer, it’s fishing. Every time Neubauer crosses a bridge, he can’t resist trying to see the water to check the conditions, as The Herald’s Eric Stevick reported Wednesday. Neubauer’s habit is why he spotted Snohomish County Undersheriff Tom Davis struggling in the Stillaguamish River on Feb 17.
Neubauer pulled a U-turn, flagged down another driver to call 911, and hurried down to help Davis. Importantly, Davis also followed his instincts and training when he fell in the river after getting his dog to shore. Stuck in an eddy, he knew treading water he would quickly use up his energy and he would drown. He let the river take him, feet first, the way you are supposed to do. After a harrowing ride, he was finally able to snag a stump near shore. His feet touched, but he couldn’t move. The last thing he remembers is someone yelling for him to hang on. Enter Neubauer.
A few days later, instinct saved two sisters in Oregon. Two commercial fisherman traveling along State Highway 401 between Oregon and Washington spotted a basketball-sized gash in an alder tree. Kraai McClure and Scott Beutler, AP reported, travel the road frequently, and had a gut feeling something was wrong.
The men decided to turn around. McClure called 911 to see if there had been any reports of a wreck during the night. There weren’t. They checked it out anyway.
The men found a wrecked car a few hundred feet from the road. Nearby were two scared girls. The Washington State Patrol said the girls’ mother, Jessica Rath, probably was asleep when she veered off the road and hit the tree shortly after midnight. She died at the scene.
Investigators believe the 4-year-old, Aryanna Huff, pulled her sister from the vehicle and helped her to a spot about 20 feet away, where the fishermen found them, many, many hours later. Aryanna saved her sister by keeping her warm.
“I don’t know exactly what told us to turn around, but I’m just really thankful we did,” McClure said.
It was their keen observation and intuition that told them to turn around. Importantly, they listened.
