Last Thursday was pretty scary for Lonnie Strauss, the morning show host for Sunrise Broadcasting in Wausau, WI. At 6 a.m., Strauss was attempting to clear snow off the station’s satellite dish when he stepped and fell into four feet of the white stuff. He became disoriented, couldn’t stand up, and was having a hard time moving. Then, his pants froze.
The temperature was four degrees below zero and Strauss could feel his hands starting to go stiff on him. He started yelling for help but nobody could hear him. After about 90 minutes stuck in the snow, Strauss tells Radio Ink, he was starting to get worried. Then, 13-year-old Michael Dickman walked by the station on his way to school.
Strauss tells us what happened next: “Michael heard me. He came back to see if he could help. When he realized he couldn’t he tried flagging down vehicles. No luck. I was about 100 feet from the street. Being early in the morning it still wasn’t completely light and there was a lot of snow on the roads, so no one was looking toward the back of the station. I told Michael to call EMS, so he went inside and called 911. The EMS were there in just a matter of minutes and took me to the hospital. After being treated for hypothermia and frostbite in the ER I was moved to a room and spent the night.”
On Monday morning, Michael was given a Commendation of Bravery from the City of Merrill. Strauss said the 13-year-old certainly deserved the commendation. “Because I probably wouldn’t be here without his help.”
Strauss says he’s able to joke about it now and everyone reminds him to always have his cell phone with him. “I’m also forbidden by my boss to go to the back of the building.”
