Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Don't Panic
May 29, 2007
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

Don't Panic. If you haven't heard those two words somewhere in your scout training, you will. When learning safe hiking, if you get lost the first rule is "Don't panic". In most emergency First Aid situatiosn, the first rule is "Don't Panic". So when I was searching through news stories and saw one from the Star Press in Indiana titled "Don't Panic", it cought my eye.

It said:

That's the first lesson that Luke Murray's Boy Scout emergency training had taught him, and when the time came to put those two words into action, he remembered them. He and his mother, Cheryl Murray, were on their way home from a band practice session one icy day in December of 2005 when their car began to slide on a rural stretch of North Walnut Street, with jarring results.

"We T-boned a telephone pole," Cheryl said. They slammed it hard, which is proven by the fact that her seat was compacted into just eight inches of width. Both suffered significant injuries and she was going into shock when Luke grabbed their cell phone from where it had landed inside the car, fishing it out by its recharging cord.

While they were both trapped in the car by the crash damage -- which eventually required rescue workers manning a Jaws of Life device to cut open three doors to free them -- Luke calmly called 911. Then he called his father, Tracy Murray, another friend who would be worried about them and even answered a call or two back from an emergency dispatcher when confusion arose involving another car crash that had occurred within a mile of theirs.

He also inquired after his mother. "He was asking me if I was OK," Cheryl recalled.

In fact, the only time he got a little excited was when the emergency crews reached the crash site.

"He argued with the EMT's to get his mom out first," his father said.

In short, Luke followed his scout training to the letter.

"He was in the right place at the right time and he did the right thing," Tracy said. "They had taught him 'don't panic,' and he didn't panic."

Earlier this year, Luke's grit was recognized by a Boy Scout National Court of Honor when he was given the scouts' Medal of Merit "for meritorious action," something his mother's research shows doesn't happen very often. Take Luke's Golden Eagle District of scouting, for example.

"That's the only one that we're aware of," she said of his award, noting her son is a 4-H club veteran who has completed projects in woodworking, weather, photography, plus soil and water conservation.

When the time comes, Luke is hoping to study at Purdue University.

Whatever the future holds for him, however, the care and common sense he displayed in helping his mother get through their car crash has become the stuff of family legend.

He was credited, the Murrays said, with saving Cheryl's life, which is a fine reward in itself.

"You're still here," he said to his mother, to which she responded with a good-natured chuckle.

"Aren't you the lucky one?" she said.

Thanks for listening