LOCAL HEROES RECEIVE PROPER RECOGNITION

Everybody wonders what they would do if confronted with a life-or-death situation.

Would you risk your own life to save another person's life? Or would you sit on the sidelines and watch in horror?

At least one Cape Girardeau man knows the answer.

James Russell, 36, watched a woman, dumped last July from her pleasure boat on the Mississippi River, struggling against the current. Without hesitation, he ran along the bank, got ahead of the woman and then jumped into the river. He swam through 50 feet of driftwood to save her.

Russell is an ordinary guy. But in these extraordinary circumstances, he rose above his natural fears and saved a life. And afterward, he said anyone else would have done the same.

Two other Cape Girardeau men saved a second passenger from the boat who was clinging to a pipe and battling to hang on. Off-duty animal control officer Aaron Baughn and his construction-worker friend, Donald Van Horn, heard about the boating accident through Baughn's police radio. They immediately towed Baughn's boat to the river and put in to help.

But heroism knows no age. Eight-year-old Kyle Flynn stepped in to save his brother's life after childish kidding around with a noose turned into a deadly situation. Kyle rushed into the house, grabbed a knife and cut his brother down.

One would imagine many 8-year-old boys may have stood around helplessly, panicked as their brother gasped for air. Not Kyle.

All four of them received Lifesaver Awards from the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. Fire Chief Dan White said he's considering making the awards a city tradition.

Local heroes deserve special attention from the community, and this is a good way to do it.