The Kindness Of Strangers

[dales]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/12 ... iker_shot/

Hitchhiker shot while researching 'Kindness of America'

Sticks out thumb, catches lead

By Joe Fay •


A hitchhiker researching a book on "The Kindness of America" is currently recovering in hospital after a gun-toting truck driver gave him a small donation of some searing hot lead.

Ray Dolin, was hitching on Highway 2 in Montana on Saturday as part of a project to produce a memoir on the great things about the open road in the big country.

Dolin was sitting on his backpack, just west of of the town of Glasgow early Saturday evening when a pickup truck slowed down.

However, rather than extending the offer of a ride, the driver extended a gun out of the window and shot Dolin in the arm.

The pickup truck then headed west, leaving Dolin to use his other arm to flag down a passing driver, who then notified the authorities.

"An intensive manhunt ensued," The Great Falls Tribune reports, until they got a report that a driver in a car matching the description given by Dolin had asked a local farmer for directions. The suspect, Lloyd Danielson of Washington State, was then pulled in by deputies in Culbertson, where he was taken to jail.

"It appears to be a random shooting. We don't know exactly what caused him to do it. He just drove up and shot him," Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier said.

Meier told the AP: "We're still the wonderful people in Montana we've always been, and we'll get through this."

Danielson did not enter a plea yesterday when he turned up in court to face charges of felony assault with a weapon and driving under the influence.

The Tribune reports that the suspect worked at the Bakken oilfield near Williston. However, it is not known whether his connection to the fossil fuel industry that prompted his alleged ire at a would-be car-pooler.

The AP reported that Dolin operates a website called OneShot Impressions, which apart from its unfortunate title features a logo with the cross-hairs of a rifle scope.

The comments page includes an entry from Mary from Wolf Point, Montana, expressing regret that she hadn't driven Dolin "Farther".

A nurse at the hospital where Dolin is recovering told the AP he was not taking calls yesterday, suggesting he's had his fill of kindness right now. ®

[Gob]

I love irony.

[BoSoxGal]

This is so NOT exemplative of Montana - where kindness to strangers is pretty much the norm.

The Bakken is changing things, sadly - crime is on the rise. Some oilfield workers on a meth binge kidnapped a HS teacher and murdered her last fall; I think I posted about it here.

I am already contemplating where in Alaska I will escape to when Montana goes to shit.

[Sue U]

I am already contemplating where in Alaska I will escape to when Montana goes to shit.

You're too late for Alaska.

[Guinevere]

Who needs to go to Alaska, the lowest murder rate in the nation (on a per capita basis) is consistently Vermont.

[Jarlaxle]

Yeah, but there are too many weirdos per capita in Vermont!

(Not to mention the nine months of winter and nine days of summer every year.)

[dales]

THE STORY WAS A HOAX

From NPR:

Hoax No. 2: 'Kindness In America' Memoir Writer Shot Himself




01:05 pm

June 15, 2012

by Mark Memmott


We were very tempted earlier this week to post about the guy who said he's writing a memoir called Kindness in America and had gotten shot while hitchhiking across the country. Many sites picked up that oh-so-ironic story.

Then we got distracted. Probably by our shoes.

So it's with some sense of relief that we now pass along word that the sheriff's department in Valley County, Mont., says Ray Dolin made up the whole story about being shot. A man who had been taken into custody based on Dolin's claim has been cleared of wrongdoing.

If you're keeping track, this is our second hoax-related post of the day. These things usual come in threes. So keep an eye out for another one.

[BoSoxGal]

Wow; that's taking the James Frey syndrome a bit too far.

I guess he figured it would boost book sales. Douchebag.

Montana: still The very friendly Last Best Place.

[Guinevere]

Yeah, but there are too many weirdos per capita in Vermont!

(Not to mention the nine months of winter and nine days of summer every year.)

No there really aren't - just a lot of independent yet community-minded folks who really give a damn about the world. And it snowed in Montana last week, but it was glorious and green when we were in Vermont last weekend. The summers there are beautiful, the falls incredible, and the winters are really not that bad -- its the two months of mud and the lack of much spring that are the toughest season.

[Econoline]

Yeah, but there are too many weirdos per capita in Vermont!

No there really aren't - just a lot of independent yet community-minded folks who really give a damn about the world.

...plus one totally, thoroughly, certifiably batshit Harley-riding, tinfoil-hatted electrical contractor in the otherwise-innocuous village of Chester...

[Lord Jim]

[BoSoxGal]

Vermont IS lovely, but FAR too expensive for regular folk. I've got a dear friend from law school who lives there and practices as a legal aid attorney (another do-gooder), she and her partner struggle due to outrageously high rent plus heating oil costs.

I made the decision already, when I left Maine, to stay away from rural New England until I've finished paying my student loans and have an extra grand to spend on living expenses every month.

I'm not sure Alaska isn't still a place that meets my needs (gorgeous natural landscape, low density of humans), but I'm not sure I could take the long nights in winter and it's also not an inexpensive place to live.

[Guinevere]

Yeah, but there are too many weirdos per capita in Vermont!

No there really aren't - just a lot of independent yet community-minded folks who really give a damn about the world.

...plus one totally, thoroughly, certifiably batshit Harley-riding, tinfoil-hatted electrical contractor in the otherwise-innocuous village of Chester...

Please don't remind me, although Steve-o isn't a native, he's really from Lowell, Massachusetts and escaped up there at some point -- so he doesn't really count. One of my dearest friends from college is from Chester, VT, and I have many other friends and classmates who live and work in the state. Luckily, all these terrific people far outweigh the Lowell nut job.