Michigan Safety Patroller Wins AAA National's Lifesaving Medal
3 May 1999
Michigan Safety Patroller Wins AAA National's Lifesaving MedalDEARBORN, Mich., May 3 -- Michael T. Wiltsie, a 13-year-old sixth-grader at Ganiard Elementary School in Mount Pleasant, will be in the national spotlight Tuesday (May 4), when he receives the AAA School Safety Patrol Lifesaving Medal. He will be one of seven safety patrollers from throughout the country to be honored. Wiltsie, who lives in Weidman, was manning his patrol post on Adams Street in Mount Pleasant on Sept. 2, 1998, as children were going home after classes at Ganiard Elementary. He was working with Mary Kay Price, an adult crossing guard. When Price went into the street to stop traffic, seven-year-old Austin Lighthart dodged around Wiltsie's outstretched arms to follow Price, just as a truck turned into Adams. Wiltsie stepped off the curb, grabbed Lighthart's backpack and yanked him to safety. In a report, Price said of Wiltsie, "It was a good thing he was doing his job, or someone could have been hurt. The turning vehicle would have hit Austin." The Lifesaving Medal is the highest honor that can be awarded to a member of the school safety patrol. Patrollers who have risked their lives to save others are nominated by local patrol units. A national panel of judges reviews the nominations. To date, 349 boys and girls from 50 states and the District of Columbia have received the Lifesaving Medal since the program began in 1949. The first Michigan AAA school safety patrol unit was organized during the 1919-1920 school year at Alger School in Detroit. Today, more than 500,000 youngsters serve as safety patrollers in communities across the country. AAA Michigan sponsors patrol units at more than 1,600 schools throughout the state.