Bob CollinsAs just about everybody has been reporting for the last few weeks, ice on Minnesota lakes is too thin to be safe.
But few people seem to be listening.
The latest rescue happened this morning in Eagan, according to WCCO, when two people had to be rescued from a vehicle that had gone through the ice.
Up on Mille Lacs, the capital of ice fishing in Minnesota, a huge area of open water has opened up, according to satellite imagery from Mille Lacs Lake Webcam.
The Red Door Resort closed fishing access around its property, according to this post on New Year’s Day:
The main sheet of ice broke loose from the north shore again, about 12:30 this afternoon. It’s now open about a 1/4 mile or more wide from Myr Mar to Knox Point. The break heads southeast from Knox Point so as it goes by our place, it is about a half mile out-for now.
But there are still ice houses on the lake.
Two people broke through the ice Saturday on Lake Riley in Eden Prairie. A DNR ATV went through the ice last week on Lake of the Woods, and a Deephaven man had to be rescued on Saturday when his ice boat broke through on Lake Minnetonka.
The Fargo Forum editorial board didn’t mince words today…
Still, there seems to be a dummy factor at work. Surely every angler who loves fishing through the ice knows the weather has been warm. Surely they understand that — and this is not rocket science — warm weather means thin ice, and thin ice is unsafe. Yet, out they go and in they go.
Now this would be no big deal — no business of anyone but the anglers themselves — if all they did is exercise their stupidity, and risk was limited to only them. But without fail, anglers who get themselves in life-threatening situations because they thought they could fool Mother Nature require rescue and often medical attention. Rescue and on-the-scene medical attention invariably entails mobilization of public resources, and that can get expensive. Therefore, the public expense of dealing with the ice-macho crowd is a concern of the taxpayers who pay the bill.
