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Afloat on her yellow jacket, Chas Snyder, 11, saves a pair of canoeists in peril

It was one of those delightfully warm days that can fool the winter-weary into thinking the worst is over. So in Lima, Ohio, homemaker Cherie Snyder took her daughter Chasity, 11, down to the reservoir on March 6 to see if they could hook a few fish. Meanwhile, James H. Moore Sr., 36, a delivery driver, and Aaron Schafer, 22, a roofer, had already launched Moore's newly patched canoe on a test run. But the two men were about 25 yards from shore when the canoe started to roll. They jumped - without life jackets - into water so frigid that swimming was nearly impossible. Spotting the men struggling, Snyder, 30, waded in to try to save them, but quickly retreated because of the cold.

That's when Chas sprang into action. "I said, 'Chas, no!'" recalls her mother. But Chas shouted, "Mom, I have to! I've got to do something!" and then shed her yellow winter jacket and leaped in. Using the jacket as a flotation device she paddled out to Moore, who had slipped below the surface, and dragged him to where he could touch bottom (sic.). "I had floaties when I was little," says Chas, and explains that her jacket looked similar. Chas then helped Lynn Wallace, 41, who was on an afternoon walk, rescue Schafer. "If that girl hadn't been there," Moore says of Chas, "I would be in the funeral home."

Back home after the rescue, Chas, who lives with Cherie and her four siblings, says she never doubted she could help the men: "My guardian angel and God gave me courage and told me I could do it and nothing would happen to me."

Courtesy of People magazine, 3/27/00. Captions to the picture says: Rescued and grateful, Aaron Schafer (left) and James H. Moore Sr. give their savior a boost.

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3-year-old's seat belt reminder may have saved family

DENNIS, Mass. (AP) A Cape Cod man says a timely reminder from his 3-year-old daughter may have saved both their lives.

Seamus O'Hara of Dennis had just put his three young daughters into the back seat of his Ford Explorer yesterday when one of them Macklyn said: ''Daddy, daddy, you forgot to tie me in.''

O'Hara tells the Cape Cod Times that he tightened the restraints on Macklyn's car seat and got ready to drive off. But the little girl wasn't through. She told her father he couldn't start driving until he put his own seat belt on.

Minutes later, O'Hara lost control of the sport utility vehicle on rain-slickened roads. It spun around twice and flipped over.

No one was seriously hurt.

A thankful O'Hara said it shows how important it is to make sure that everyone is buckled up.

Courtesy of Boston Globe Online. By Associated Press, 2/26/2001 11:10

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