Kindness Researcher Kind of a Liar



Ray Dolin's Business Logo

Last week, a West Virginia man named Ray Dolin set off across the United States to research a book he intended to write.  The book was tentatively named The Kindness of America.  He suffered a setback when he was supposedly the victim of a drive-by shooting in Montana.  Now Mr. Dolin has admitted that was a lie.  He shot himself in the arm as a stunt to drum up publicity for his book.  Ironically, on Facebook Mr. Dolin lists his occupation as the Owner/President of One Shot Impressions, a photography business.  His logo is shown at left.   Funny, huh?



Charles Lloyd Danielson III Exonerated

I'd say 99.999% of all the people who heard Mr. Dolin's story initially felt sympathy.  The exception to that was Charles Lloyd Danielson III, shown sleeping at right.  Mr. Danielson  was mistakenly arrested for shooting Ray Dolin.  The charges have since been dropped, with the possible exception of the driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which was the reason he was stopped by police in the first place.  

Actually, Mr. Dolin's book idea was kind of a ripoff anyway.  Last winter I read a book titled The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America, by Mike McIntyre.  In 1994, Mr. McIntyre left his home in San Francisco without a penny in his pocket and hitchhiked to Cape Fear, N.C.  Though a ground rule of his trip was that he would accept no money, he did accept food, a place to sleep, and rides.  He made it safely with only a couple of bad rides.  One was from a guy he feared might rape him and dump his body.  The other from a large, manic-depressive man who alternated between fits of generosity and rage.  Mr. McIntyre's book is available an a ebook for a couple of bucks if you are interested.

Hitchhiking across America and writing about the experience would definitely be a good source of material for a book.  Luckily, for Mr. Dolin, so will spending time in a Montana jail, though The Kindness of Montana Prison Inmates may not make for a lengthy book. 

Ray Dolin  - It Takes All Kinds