James Allen Gooing

      I met Jim in 1996 at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale, Akansas.  He wandered back into the Television Studio where I worked and kept bugging me with questions about how everything worked.  One day when I happened to be hungry I 'hired' him to go to the corner burger joint (Patrick's) and get me some lunch.  He insisted that I buy him a burger too to cover his service fee.  This became a daily occurance from that day forward.

      In the weeks that followed, I learned that Jim didn't have a Dad and had been very disadvantaged most of his life.  He had never even met his father until he was 13, and even then it was only by a chance meeting in a video rental store.   His dad showed little interest in Jim and they lost contact shorly thereafter. 

      In the meantime, I decided I could help this kid in a positive way by helping him prepare for his Driver's Test.  He'd soon be 14 and able to get his Learner's Permit, so we got the book and began studying.   Even better, I put him behind the wheel of my new Nissan Truck (what was I thinking?!) and let him drive up and down an old dirt road.   On his 14th birthday, he took the written test and passed.  A month later he used my truck (a stick shift, by the way) to take the driving part of the test and passed that as well.    He was the first kid in his class to get a liscense to drive!  That was quite an accomplishment considering he was so far behind in his reading skills that he had been classified as 'learning disabled' and placed in Special Education.

• We went to Disneyworld twice!
• Did Mardi Gras in New Orleans, LA.
• Hiking and Boating countless times 
• Built a spectacular Garden outside Community Access TV.
• Spent the weekend at Blanchard Springs Cavern in eastern Arkansas.
• Once we were in a spectacular car crash in which the driver (not me) lost control, spun around backward, slammed into an embankment and flipped upside down.  Jim and climbed out the back window uninjured.  The driver and front passenger also managed to climb out unharmed.  We were all EXTREMELY lucky!
• Been to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo. multiple times.
• Went Spelunking at Fitton Cave in Jasper, Arkansas.  
• Survivied a sinking boat on Beaver Lake.
• Camping a numerous occassions in various places
• Canoed the Buffalo, Elk, and Mulberry Rivers.
• Watched 100,000 movies or more. 
• Went to St. Louis and Six Flags.
• Went to World's Of Fun in Kansas City.
• Skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado.

   As I write this, he just turned 19 and thinks he's completely grown up already.  He wants to be a police office or maybe join the Air Force.   I'm not sure what the future holds, but as for the present it is great just having him around.