Airport Lost and Found Items Auctioned
Posted on August 10, 2007
Filed Under Lost and Found News | Leave a Comment
So what happens to all the lost and found items at an airport? All the luggage, iPods and video games? Does it fall into some mysterious, invisible black hole, along with all the world’s lost socks?
Well, at the Miami International Airport, all those lost and found items go up for auction.
On Saturday, July 28, Miami International auctioned off all its lost and found items: suitcases, cell phones, iPods, golf clubs, watches, cameras, video games, guitars, camcorders, iMacs, headphones, laptops–even a washing machine. That’s right, a washing machine! What someone was doing with a washing machine at an international airport is a complete mystery. Let’s just hope it has absolutely nothing to do with hatching an eccentric terrorist plot. Just try fitting that into the overhead compartment on a plane!
The auction featured more than 800 items from the lost and found department. Anything that was left at a checkpoint or on flights and hasn’t been claimed within 60 days is fair game. And so is anything else that gets turned in to the lost and found. The only item that’s exempt is lost luggage from baggage claim. But that still leaves tons of luggage to bid on.
Luggage at the lost and found auction is not opened, and auctiongoers are not allowed to look inside the luggage for a preview before bidding commences. Winning bidders may end up with a suitcase full of dirty undies or $10,000–it’s a total game of chance. And yes, one lucky lost and found bidder did indeed find $10,000 in a suitcase! That happened about five years ago.
Miami International has been holding the lost and found auction for about 10 years now. Doors open at 8:30 a.m., and bidding begins at 9:30 a.m. It’s held at an airport building at 5600 Northwest 36th Street. The price to attend the lost and found auction is $3. That, along with proceeds from winning bids, is yet another way for an international airport to fatten its bottom line. But don’t count on that profit giving the airport the bright idea to lower parking fees!
www.nbc6.net
Lost Dog Leads to Lawsuit
Posted on August 9, 2007
Filed Under Dogs | Leave a Comment
Chip McGee of Murfreesboro, Tennessee lost his red Siberian husky, Ginger, in December. She dug under the fence, escaped and became a lost dog.
But not for long. Chip and his wife Karen searched for their lost dog and filed a report with the local sheriff’s department. Just 10 days later, a neighbor relayed that another neighbor allegedly caught the lost dog. And the neighbor who caught Ginger even paid to have her spayed and to have a microchip implanted, then gave her to a shelter! Ginger was adopted by a couple from Chicago, who want to keep her.
But Chip and his wife Karen miss their lost dog. And so does Cody, another husky they own. Chip and Karen have had Ginger and Cody since they were only seven weeks old. Cody has been howling for Ginger.
Ginger is bred, and she’s a member of the American Kennel Club. The lost dog had just weaned a litter of pups before she escaped. She’s very active and craves attention.
Detective Mark Di Nardo charged suspect Emily Spencer with felony theft of the lost dog. Chip and Karen learned through court proceedings that she had Ginger spayed and implanted with a microchip.
Detective Di Nardo traced the lost dog through the microchip to a couple in Palos Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. They also found out that Ginger was adopted two other times before the Palos Park couple, and that her teeth were filed down. This does not make Chip and Karen very happy; Chip has been physically ill over the whole situation.
Detective Di Nardo contacted the Palos Park police department to try to reclaim the lost dog, but to no avail. The Palos Park police have contacted the couple who adopted Ginger, but they don’t want to give her up. They claim that they have legal standing because they legitimately bought her. And the police can’t take the dog, which is classified as property, without a court order. Palos police consulted that state attorney’s office, which declined prosecution in criminal court and advised handling the case in civil court.
So Chip and Karen will have to get a court order to get their lost dog back. Which they plan on doing after Emily Spencer’s next court date in August. Tony Maples, the attorney who represents Emily, says she has cooperated fully by informing Detective Di Nardo about everything that took place with Ginger. He says that she was merely trying to act in Ginger’s best interest. That’ll make you think twice about what to do when you find a lost dog!
As for Ginger, she must be a pretty special lost dog to have so many people wanting to care for her!
www.murfreesboropost.com
Lost Dog Tag Leads to Search for Serviceman
Posted on August 8, 2007
Filed Under Lost and Found News | Leave a Comment
A lost dog tag from World War II was found at the bottom of a public park pond in Ipswich in the UK. And it led to a transatlantic search for what turned out to be an American serviceman.
The lost dog tag belonged to Edward H. Cunningham of Westville in Franklin County, New York state. Cunningham was an Irish-American born into a farming family. He was a truck driver and general laborer who enlisted in the service at age 30 in 1941. He served in England during WWII.
The lost dog tag was found at the bottom of a pond at Christchurch park during a refurbishment project. Then researchers and historians on both sides of the Atlantic tried to find the owner of the lost dog tag.
They made an appeal to find the lost dog tag’s owner in the Malone Telegram newspaper in Franklin County, New York. Edward’s nephew, Jack Cunningham of Massachusetts, responded to the appeal and provided some information about his deceased uncle.
He told searchers that his uncle was one of the first local men to get drafted in the war. He served in the Army Air Corps and was stationed near London while he was in England. But no one can figure out whether Edward ever indeed came to Ipswich himself, or whether his lost dog tag just somehow ended up there. Jack reported that his uncle never visited Ipswich after the war.
Jack also had some other stories to share with the lost dog tag researchers. He relayed that his uncle had a lot of good friends, liked a good time, and was married “to the nicest woman who ever lived.” And he was devastated when she suddenly dropped dead one New Year’s Eve when they were preparing to go out and celebrate.
Edward passed away due to a heart attack on January 22 in 1974, just two weeks before his 63rd birthday. He was being cared for at the Soldiers Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Edward’s name is listed on the war memorial in Westville. But still no one knows how Edward’s lost dog tag got to the bottom of the pond. But at least they got to the bottom of who Edward was!
keep looking »