WHEELING -- His nickname is "Moon Dog," and that's the moniker everyone knows.

Legally, he is 47-year-old Charles Waldrum, a life-long resident of Wheeling who did not graduate from high school and has never held down a regular job. He lives in East Wheeling and has a record as a juvenile fire-setter, but has not been suspected in a single fire investigation over the last three decades. He pays his rent with the monthly Social Security check he has received since his father died more than 20 years ago.

No one, however, knows Moon Dog's personal life. Ohio County citizens have seen what they have seen -- a black man on a one-of-a-kind bicycle wearing a hard hat and an orange vest over battered clothing (although he often sports a tie and sports coat), and a duct tape-repaired pair of boots and seldom-groomed facial hair.

"He looks homeless, but he's not," Wheeling's fire chief Steve Johnston explained. "People may think he's a bad person, but he's not a bad person. He looks the way he looks because that's the way he wants to look.

"His appearance allows people to think that he's living on the streets or that he's not mentally well. It's hard to explain Charles -- he's not a genius who has decided to live this kind of life, but he's also not helpless either. He does what he does because that's what he wants to do, and you see what you see because that's what he wants you to see. His bike tells a lot of his story."

Moon Dog sightings usually take place at fire and accident scenes in all sections of Wheeling. His mode of transportation is a two-wheeler decorated with several flags flown from the rear using long, plastic masts. The cycle serves as the primary prop utilized when Waldrum wishes to transform into his Moon Dog cartoon character.

"I believe he wants to be seen when he's out in the public," Johnston said. "Why else would he lead Wheeling's Christmas parade, and then trail it. The folks at the parade saw him twice because he likes the attention, and he's done the same in other cities.

"He's a complex guy," said Johnston, a 30-year veteran of the city's fire department. "He's been around just as long as I have been, so I have known him, so to speak, for a while. I know he likes to be around people, but he wants nothing to do with holding much of a conversation with anyone."

On Sept. 14, Johnston's profile proved true when Moon Dog peddled his way to the front doors of the Capitol Music Hall. The character dismounted, and Charles Waldrum walked into the facility's lobby while Clear Channel-Wheeling was staging a day long Storm-Aid Katrina Relief Radiothon to benefit the recovery efforts of the American Red Cross. The fund raising event collected a total of $13,352, an amount that included $500 donations from U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio.

Without verbal communication, Waldrum laid down a sealed envelope and departed the historic theater without helping himself to any of the offered free food or beverages. "M-O-O-N-D-O-G" was scribed on the front of the envelope and three $1 bills were found inside.

"None of that surprises me," Johnston said. "He's a shy guy, but at the same time I'm not surprised he showed up to donate what he could. My impression is that he is very civic-minded, and he probably figured that the people who lost everything needed that three bucks more than he did.

"I believe Charles Waldrum made the donation, not 'Moon Dog.' There is a difference between the person and the character, but I don't think he cares if people recognize him as anymore than the guy on the bike with all the flags. That's what makes that $3 donation priceless in a way.

Steve Novotney is the host of "The Drive Home," on News Radio 1170 WWVA in Wheeling.