Story Published:
Aug 15, 2008 at 9:10 AM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 15, 2008 at 12:27 PM EST
For as long as he can remember, 9-year old Jameson Krauthammer has been obsessed with garbage trucks. His mother, Maureen Krauthammer, says Jameson has been intrigued with the garbage man since he was a little boy. "If we missed the garbage truck going around, we'd get on the bike and he'd go on the back and we'd go around to the different circles so we could find that garbage man."
When he was in third grade, he wrote a letter to the city of Fresno singing the garbage man's praises. The letter, addressed to BFI said:
I want to be a garbageman when I grow up. The job looks complicated but fun. The job would be time consuming to stop at every house in the area. I have seen many movies. My favorite one is There Goes a Garbage Truck. Thank you for all you have done.
Signed,
Jameson Krauthammer
Jameson waited and waited for a response, but nothing came, until this week. When Rob Overton got out of the garbage truck and walked up to the Krauthammer house, Jameson was speechless.
"You must be Jameson. I'm Rob Overton, driver of the year," said Overton. The city chose Overton to surprise Jameson since he was just recently honored with a nationwide award for his service to the community and his spotless driving record.
Overton gave Jameson a gift bag and a closeup look at the truck from inside and out. He explained all of the buttons and dials and let Jameson honk the big horn. Jameson also got to take a ride around the block in the cab of the garbage truck.
"He showed me all the cool devices, and if you wanted to pick up the garbage cans you could use the control buttons or you could use my favorite--I call it the video game stick," said Jameson.
Overton said he was impressed by Jameson's good heart and desire to serve the community. But Overton says he didn't start out on the same career path himself. "Oh no, I was going to play for the Cincinnati Reds, be a professional ball player. That's what I thought when I was 9 years old. But life has a way, you know, things change."
And they may change for Jameson, who also aspires to be a firefighter or a doctor like his dad. He has plenty of time to decide.
Go to faiths@ksee.com to contact Faith Sidlow with questions, comments or story ideas.
Monday, Aug 25 at 8:03 PM Tim wrote ...
Rob is a big hearted great family man who is always upbeat and ready to go in any situation. Great job Rob. Keep on Dreaming Jameson, the sky is the limit. What if all of us lived a humble serving life like Rob?