Stranger lends a helping hand

To the editor:

There are still some really nice folks in these parts, as my great-nephew, Randy, experienced at the Southeast Missouri Crime Lab parking lot when he was trying to repair what he though was a dead battery in his wife's car.

It turned out the car's starter went belly-up. As he was bending over the car's engine problem, a stranger said, "Got car problems?" Yes, said Randy. It's the starter and I didn't bring any tools to work on the starter.

The man said he had tools, and Randy quickly crawled under the car and removed the faulty starter.

Now Randy needed to get a replacement starter. The man offered to take Randy to the auto parts store, and soon the starter was bolted up in the car. All this time, the man stayed until the car checked out and was running.

As Randy thanked the stranger, he noticed that his car had Illinois license plates.

LOU VARRO

Cape Girardeau