BUENA PARK : Town Cheering Up Ailing Texas Boy

City officials recognize that 12-year-old Brian Smith of Texas, who needs a lung transplant, is going through a tough time.

So while Brian is staying with relatives in Buena Park, the city wants to make his visit special and plans to show him the town.

Linda J. Pappas Diaz, assistant to the city manager, said that tourist and entertainment businesses have donated tickets to their attractions to Brian and his family.

“While he’s in our community, we wanted to share something positive,” Pappas Diaz said.

Brian has cystic fibrosis and is undergoing tests at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to determine if he is a candidate for a lung transplant. His mother, Alicia Smith, who is here with him from Texas, hopes to donate a portion of one of her lungs to him.

Today at 2 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, Mayor Arthur C. Brown will shower Brian with gifts from the local entertainment businesses.

Brian will also get a ride in a fire truck and a police car and a Police Department tour.

“I just don’t think it’s right for kids to have to suffer--and that anything you can do to make their suffering less or their life better is something you should do,” Brown said.

Brown said Brian deserves the gifts “for what he’s gone through in his life already.”

Jerri Covington-Morgan, Brian’s aunt, who lives in Buena Park, said that he and his mother are overwhelmed by the community’s outpouring of support.

Since arriving here about two weeks ago, Brian has spent most of his time at the hospital, Covington-Morgan said, and looks forward to having some fun.

Covington-Morgan, who used to live in a small Texas town, said that Buena Park’s generosity reminded her of her hometown because of “the way people have pulled together.”

“It feels warm. It feels like people have embraced him,” she said.

Covington-Morgan said that waiting for the doctors’ decision hasn’t been easy.

“I just can’t help but believe he’s going to pass the test” and have the lung transplant, she said.

“But if he has to go back to Texas without it, the people in Buena Park and Orange County have made it a special trip--they’ve made him feel special and loved, and that right there is priceless,” she said.

A trust fund for Brian has been set up at the Buena Park branch of Bank of America, P.O. Box 5398, Buena Park, Calif. 90622. The fund is under the name of Jerri Covington for Brian Smith.

Covington-Morgan also said she is planning a benefit at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 at Cowboy Boogie in Anaheim and is seeking entertainers to perform.

She can be reached at (714) 670-9414.