Big-hearted mechanic helps bullied student
Jordan Addison was spending his university spring break at home in Max Meadows, Va., when he heard his car alarm go off.
“I rushed outside and realized someone had keyed it,” said Addison. “Someone had keyed ‘fag’ on the side of my car.”
Days later, after returning to Radford University, a campus in a small town beside the Appalachian Mountains where he studies early childhood education, vandals struck again. This time, “die” was etched into his forest green 1999 Volkswagen Passat.
“Then I had some tires slashed,” said Addison, 21, who is a member of the LGBT club at the school. “A week after, I had my windshield shattered.”
Virginia isn’t known as a liberal state. Two years ago, Gov. Robert McDonnell signed an executive order barring discrimination in the state workforce on grounds that include race, sex, religion and age — but not sexual orientation.
However, students and faculty rallied behind Addison, an effort that would connect him with an honourable mechanic and ultimately result in a revamped car.
“We are in a community that is very rural, there are definitely some feelings in the community that maybe don’t love everything that this university brings in,” said Gwyn Moseley, who works as a counsellor at the school. “We don’t want to see any of our students going through this, regardless of their life choices,” she said.
Moseley contacted an old friend with a “huge heart,” Richard Henegar Jr., a manager at Quality Auto Paint and Body in the neighbouring town of Roanoke.
“I saw the car and I just was furious. People need to mind their own business,” said Henegar, a 27-yearold former U.S. navy machinist.
“I said, ‘Dude the least we can do is fix your car,’ ” said Henegar.
Earlier in August, Henegar got to work on Addison’s car, contacting neighbourhood vendors for $10,000 worth of donated parts and organizing many hours of volunteer labour.
On Monday, Henegar presented the car, complete with new tires, stereo system, paint, tinted windows and a new alarm system. “He just couldn’t take his hands away from his mouth and was holding back tears,” said Henegar.
Addison says his favourite part of the job is the alarm system.
“It plays sirens, gun shots, all kinds of crazy stuff,” he said.
“It makes me feel safer, knowing that if someone tries to do something again they’re going to get the crap scared out of them.”