If we find ourselves in a tough predicament, we want 12-year-old Ryan McKillop of Hubbard Lake at our side.

McKillop is today’s version of MacGyver, the popular ’80s action hero who, regardless of what predicament he found himself in, could escape using but a Swiss Army knife or duct tape.

We were in awe of McKillop’s solution upon coming across some vandalism in the Mt. Mariah area. Instead of waiting for police, McKillop converted his iPad into a mobile emergency siren by downloading a siren app onto his tablet, then – when the iPad’s internal speakers weren’t quite enough – he added compact speakers to the device to amplify the sound.

Cranking up the volume, the neighborhood soon sounded as if emergency sirens were quickly approaching. Certainly the vandals thought so, as they quickly ceased their mischief and “hightailed it” out of the area.

We are impressed. Keep in mind all this happened rather quickly, yet McKillop kept his composure and logically processed through successful scenarios to overcome the obstacles he and his family faced.

We always thought MacGyver was the best.

Today, we know differently. McKillop is our new “go-to” guy.