If fate had dealt my family a darker hand this week, the Ruttles may have been making funeral arrangements for my older brother Perry.
Last Saturday afternoon, he was down in Elbow catching some sun on Lake Diefenbaker with a few friends when he was asked to help unload a couple of Sea-doos into the water with his buddy.聽 For whatever reason, his buddy 鈥� who won鈥檛 be named here because he already feels terrible enough 鈥� wasn鈥檛 watching where he was going while doing a good speed and smashed into Perry, knocking him for a loop into the water and doing some heavy damage.聽 After some drama that included a very real threat of drowning due to the seven broken ribs he鈥檇 just sustained, Perry was eventually loaded up into an ambulance and sent to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, where he still was at the time this particular issue went to the printers.
My brother is nothing short of ridiculously lucky that he still has his life.聽 Now if you think I鈥檓 小蓝视频 overly dramatic with that statement, or that perhaps I鈥檓 too close to the situation 鈥� I mean, he IS my brother, no matter how much physical and/or emotional torture we put each other through as kids 鈥� then I鈥檇 say you鈥檙e both right and wrong.
You鈥檙e right in the sense that I鈥檓 obviously close to this particular situation because it involved my brother, and I鈥檓 very happy that he鈥檚 still here with us.聽 (Dammit, now he鈥檚 gonna read that and never let me hear the end of it)
However, you鈥檙e wrong in the sense that I鈥檓 a reporter whose job is to lay out the facts for my reading public, and here鈥檚 a fact for you:聽 Lake Diefenbaker and the connecting 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River have claimed FOUR lives in a span of just two weeks.
Perry could鈥檝e, and perhaps even should鈥檝e been number five, given the circumstances and his injuries.
Allow me to recap the deadly grip that our local waters have had very recently:
On Sunday, July 16, young teenager Justin Warwaruk, 17 years old and freshly graduated from Outlook High School, jumped into the waters of the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River just about 12 clicks south of Saskatoon.聽 He wasn鈥檛 seen again until the RCMP had found his body five days later.聽 A community came together in sorrow, and it鈥檚 something still 小蓝视频 felt in Outlook and the surrounding area that won鈥檛 be forgotten anytime soon.
On Thursday, July 20, two local men lost their lives while out boating on Lake Diefenbaker near Elbow when their boat capsized.聽 That same night, a major storm rolled through the region and made its presence felt, including shaking the lake and producing waves as high as almost two meters.聽 The first man was brought to the beach and someone performed CPR, but he had already died.聽 The second man wasn鈥檛 found until the next morning because of the ferocity of the storm preventing rescue teams from conducting a thorough search.
On Saturday, July 29, coincidentally just a little bit after Perry鈥檚 incident, a man fell out of a boat into the water on Lake Diefenbaker closer to Outlook, which called the local RCMP and rescue teams.聽 Hell, I was sitting in the Modern Caf茅 in Outlook with my buddy Alex when I saw a cruiser go screaming out of town.聽 As of now, the man hasn鈥檛 been found, and honestly, when even a matter of HOURS goes by in the case of someone missing in the water, it鈥檚 safe to say at that point that you鈥檙e looking for a body.
I guess that isn鈥檛 even two weeks, huh?聽 Thirteen days is more accurate.
Two years ago, I started a weekly feature called 鈥楽tored Stories鈥� where I highlight what made news in the local area as far back as 100 years ago.聽 I can鈥檛 tell you how many headlines I鈥檝e come across where people have drowned in the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River or in the body of water that became known as Lake Diefenbaker.
I wish more people would take heed and learn not to underestimate the water.聽 I know the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River looks pretty docile from up on the traffic bridge driving into town every day, and that Lake Diefenbaker is all too inviting on brochures and websites, but looks can be deceiving, and in the case of the last two weeks around these parts, they most certainly are.
Respect the water, people.聽 Because it doesn鈥檛 have to respect you back.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
