PSoTD

And they're damn lucky it didn't end in tragedy.

A teenage boy was rescued from a flood-swollen creek at Lykens yesterday after he ran into trouble and was abandoned by three companions as the boys rode rapids created by the recent rains.

The boy, who was not identified, was found shortly before 2 p.m. clinging to one of the rocks in the normally shallow Rattling Creek, said Carl Slough, chief of Liberty Hose Company.

"The rescue didn't take that long," Slough said.

He said the boy and three friends had been riding the creek's rapids. Three made it safely down the stream, but one didn't. The others didn't hang around to help, Slough said.

"They left their friend stranded," he said. "They went home. All three were scared that they were in trouble, and they didn't bother looking for him."

The boy's cries for help caught the attention of an employee at Reiff and Nester Co. in Lykens, Slough said. The creek flows behind the business.

Emergency crews from Lykens and surrounding areas found the boy stranded on the rock with the swollen creek raging around him. His deflated tube was found nearby.

As a crowd gathered to watch, the rescuers tossed a rope to the boy and a ladder was extended to the rock, Slough said.

A firefighter eased out onto the ladder to the boy, grabbed him and pulled him onto the ladder, Slough said. The boy was taken to shore and examined by an ambulance crew.

Slough said the boy appeared to be suffering from hypothermia and was taken to Harrisburg Hospital. His condition was not known last night.

I'm not sure the public deserves to know who the kids were that abandoned the stranded boy, but that information is likely to get out. I don't know how old they are, but they did make a decision - try to avoid trouble rather than help a friend in need. I expect - and the Harrisburg area ought to have - a discussion about personal responsibility for kids, and the life-and-death ramifications when that responsibility is abdicated. I'd like to hope my kids wouldn't abandon someone in trouble, but I'm going to do more than hope it. I'm going to discuss with them this story as a reminder about expected responsibility.

Now says that the BEST CASE for lifting the boil advisory for water is Thursday.

Best of luck to them finding a buyer that will keep it as an amusement park. For anyone in the Harrisburg area with little kids, the scope and the price of the park is hard to beat. It would be a shame if we lost it.

I'll admit it, I like diners. And for my money, the best one I've been to in the Harrisburg area is the Middlesex Diner, which is just outside of Carlisle? Don't take my word for it, check out the words of the hungry and less-than-flush college students of Dickinson.

Duncan Sheik played at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg last night. Good show, but disappointing crowd size - I'm not sure they even reached half of capacity. Considering the tickets were only $20 per person, it makes me wonder if the Whitaker Center is going to be able to pull in shows that would be successful in Philadelphia without better support. I didn't really see or hear much marketing for this show, either, so that may have been a problem...