Code-blue experience turns man into a good Samaritan

It was raining like a son of a gun when the brakes on Don Black's '86 Ford Tempo let out a metal-on-metal, nails-on-blackboard screech.

The Shingletown man pulled into Napa Auto Parts on Balls Ferry Road in Anderson for some brake fluid and supplies.

Time was tight. Black, a 44-year-old father and Shasta County social services worker, felt constricted. He was supposed to pick up his kids at a party in a few hours.

But before Black could even get out of his car, his keys slipped off the console and disappeared deep into the bowels of the emergency brake's mechanism.

An agitated Black explained his situation to a Napa employee named Jon Richman, who let the first-time customer borrow tools to dismantle the console and retrieve the keys.

Tools were no help. The keys were long gone.

An increasingly anxious Black returned to the store to borrow the phone for what became a series of frustrating calls. He needed a ride from Anderson to Shingletown to pick up a spare set of keys. It just wasn't happening.

Not that he was eavesdropping or anything, but Richman couldn't help but overhear Black's predicament.

"This poor guy was calling everybody he knew in the world and getting nowhere," recalled 57-year-old Richman. "I felt sorry for him."

That's when Richman did something that absolutely flabbergasted Black.

Richman -- the Napa store employee with a Don Knotts stature and ready toothy smile -- handed Black the keys to his '84 Nissan truck.

"Jon didn't know me from Adam," Black said. "I told him I had to drive all the way to Shingletown for my other keys. Jon said it was OK." With no alternate solution on the horizon, Black accepted Richman's offer. (And yes, you'll be glad to know that Black gassed up Richman's truck before returning it.)

To Black (who still hasn't located the keys), Richman's act of kindness was out of the ordinary -- even odd.

"I suppose I have an honest face, but letting a stranger borrow your car to drive to Shingletown and back just amazes me," Black said. "It was almost as if Jon would have done it for anyone -- like it was no big deal." That's because for Richman, it wasn't a big deal. Besides, he'd been in a similar situation a few years ago when his car gave up the ghost at 2 a.m. outside Red Bluff. A young man stopped, gave Richman a ride, helped repair the car and got him back on the road.

"I know what it feels like to be stranded," Richman said. "And the way I see it, if you can help someone -- why not? Sure, I could get burned, but so far, I've been OK. What I've learned is that, for the most part, there are an awful lot of nice people out there." And grateful people -- like Black.

"This may have been nothing to Jon, but it meant so much to me," Black said.

"I came away from that whole situation reminded to watch for people who need a little help."

Meanwhile, there's Richman -- a single guy with such a fondness for wolves that he collects plates with wolves, sweatshirts with wolves and even pays for an annual sponsorship of a black wolf at Yosemite.

In his free time, Richman hangs out with Bear, his black Lab. He goes fishing when he can, visits his parents in Lake California and gets together with his siblings during the holidays.

Richman said life is good, made better by the realization that nearly 10 years ago, a self-destructive lifestyle landed him on an emergency-room gurney with a code-blue, near-death experience.

"I was pretty lucky because I got a second chance," Richman said. "I guess that's what I try to give other people whenever I can."