Good News! Quicksand Love, Cows In Distress

by Kevin Burton

    An Indiana boy who was paying attention and cared, saved the day for a young mother.

   A young mother cow that is.

   “A nine-year-old boy was convinced something was wrong when he spotted a cow in a field acting erratically—and he would not stop begging his mother to turn the car around,” reads a story by the Good News Network.

   “Wyatt Ban was heading home with his mom after getting breakfast recently when he saw the mother cow running around frantically near Eminence, Indiana.”

   “She initially brushed it off, but Wyatt was relentless.”

   “I didn’t think anything of it at first, but he was so upset and kept saying we had to go back, so I turned around.”

   “After pulling off near a bridge, Wyatt told her to stay in the car, saying he could fit through the fence. He then walked along State Road 42, slipped through the barbed wire and into the pasture.”

   “While his mom shot video through the window, Wyatt approached the cow, and realized her baby was stuck down the steep bank of a creek.”

   “His mother, Morgan Ban, recounted the rescue with pride, speaking with SWNS news agency.”

   “He made sure the momma was out of the way, then gently pushed the calf up and out of the water.”

   “Then, the baby and momma were happily reunited. It was incredible,” said the boy’s mother.

   “He knew just what to do.”

   The Good News Network could be a vital part of your news diet. As opposed to most other outlets, it’s filled with stories that won’t give you indigestion.

   Here are two more from the pages of GNN.

   In our second story, written by Nathan Frederick, everyday citizens who cared made up for the shortcomings of local governments by installing benches at bus stops.

   “A photo showing a man with a cane sitting on the ground at a bus stop led to a groundswell of compassion and a determination to make things right. From that uncomfortable predicament, a local movement in Berkeley, California, was born.”

  “It started when Darrell Owens noticed his neighbor, who had just undergone surgery for chronic leg pain, sitting down on the sidewalk while waiting for a bus.”

   “For many years, I had complained about the lack of seating for bus benches in Berkeley and got no response from either the city of Berkeley or AC Transit,” Owens told SFgate. 

   “Owens snapped a photo of his neighbor awkwardly sitting on the curb and posted it on social media, which gained the attention of Mingwei Samuel, a local software engineer who offered to move his own bench to the location.”

   “Samuel had been building benches after learning about the Public Bench Project, which installs them—and donates them to local businesses and organizations—to ‘promote community-oriented public spaces.’”

   “Before long, Samuel’s bench was placed at the infamous bus stop—and he tweeted a picture  of the problem solved.”

   “Samuel’s social media post soon earned more than 100,000 likes and created a whole bunch of positive vibes and goodwill in the community.”

   “An idea and a movement began. Dozens of benches were soon on the way”

   “Samuel and Owens, strangers just a few weeks prior, started collaborating on their own bench building project called the SFBA Bench Collective, launching a simple website that allows visitors to join the movement, report a problem, or request a bench,” Frederick writes.

   “To date, their organization has installed 77 benches at local bus stops. Each bench complies with AC Transit guidelines and the regulations required for the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

   “The estimated cost for each bench is just $70—and the group prioritizes placing benches at the highest-ridership stops.”

   “The effort has created a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game in the transit community. The bench collective will sometimes install their own benches, only to see them replaced (belatedly) by official ones from the city.”

   “Owens finds it satisfying, saying, ‘That means the collective’s work is complete: We got the cities to build benches for its citizens.’”

   Our third story is by GNN reporter Andy Corbley and takes us to the shores of Lake Michigan, to a young man and young woman, falling in love, but with that sinking feeling.

   “Everyone in a relationship will know how love often works in mysterious ways, but quicksand?”

   “Typically no, but just ask Mitchell O’Brien and Breanne Sika, a new couple, for whom falling in love first meant falling in quicksand,” Corbley wrote.

   “O’Brien, 37, and Sika, 36, were both single and interested in the other, but under impressions the feeling wasn’t reciprocal. This carried on until a mutual friend asked them why they didn’t go out on a date together.”

   “Deciding to visit Van’s Beach, located in Leelanau County north of Traverse City, the perspective couple were hoping to find Leland blue stones—a bizarre and seemingly natural beach treasure and relic of Michigan’s industrial past made up of blue glass and various chemicals.”

   “At one point, Bre points to a spot on the beach which was right next to the water, and she goes, ‘That looks really dangerous,’” O’Brien told The Detroit News. “I didn’t realize she was referring to a singular spot; I thought she meant the whole area. I ended up turning around and walking straight to that spot to see if there were any stones in the water.”

   “Sinking immediately up to his waist, it was the second time O’Brien had been caught in quicksand in his life. He was fortunately able to remain calm enough to think of a plan.”

   “After trying to dig the sand out from under his waist only for it to be replenished with every cold wave that splashed onto his back, Sika tried to help pull the man out. This also failed, and the two were left trying to call 911, with spotty cell service.”

   “At one point, reported the Detroit News, the operator thought they were telemarketers and hung up on them, but eventually they received connection enough to explain the situation.

   “At the end of me telling them what’s going on and where we are, I said ‘I think my girlfriend is calling as well,’” O’Brien said. “She’s like 20 feet away, and she was saying ‘My boyfriend is here, stuck in the sand.’ It was the first time we had called each other that.”

   “With rope, pushing, digging, and pulling, three rescuers eventually got O’Brien free from the soup that appeared to be a mixture of sand and Jello.”

   “Quicksand or quickmud occurs in sandy or muddy areas where the understory—whether of rock, seabed, leaflitter, or something else—has eroded away, usually due to water running beneath it. The hole creates a vacuum that quickly fills with material, and any disturbance, for example from a footfall, creates further vacuums that suck the material and the disturbing object down into it.”

   “This is why the number one rule if stuck in mud or quicksand is not to fight it or try to struggle free, since every jerking movement will pull you down further, faster.”

   “Always seek to escape in the same direction you entered from. You won’t be able to take a step, jump, or generate any forward motion, so the best option is usually to simply allow yourself to fall flat onto your stomach. If you have a backpack or a walking stick, hold it in your hands and reach them towards the ground where you want to move to, then began to wriggle your waist and torso until you can free your legs,” Corbley wrote.

   “When O’Brien got trapped, the weather had been in the 40s, and in mid-April, the water temperature was below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Though shivering in the cold, O’Brien retained his sense of humor, and asked Sika to take a picture of him since “nobody’s gonna believe us.”