First Time EVER, Retraction of An IWA

Hey folks,


That's correct. For the first time ever, I will be retracting and rescinding the Idiot of the Week Award, and apologizing to the winner. On the 23rd of July, I posted the winner as Mr. Neil Lehto. you know, the one that gave the $100.00 reward to the homelessman for finding reportedly, $21,000 in bonds? Well, Mr Lehto came on the comment section, of the article, and gave his side of the story. After hearing his story, I DO retract, rescind, and apologize. Here is what he posted,


Neil J. Lehto said...

"My late father, Ernest E. Lehto, was a parcel post supervisor who worked the night shift at the Main Post Office on Jefferson along the Detroit River. He was a quiet, caring man, who was born in a Finnish UP farming town in 1925 and spoke no English until he came to the city in 1930. Nonetheless, he graduated at the top of his high school class, tried to enlist and failed, moved back to the UP, tried again and succeeded. He fought behind General Patton in the battles across France and into Germany that ended World War II, working as a scout and chaplain's assistant.

Only in the few years before his death on May 23, 2004, did he tell me some enthralling stories of exploits and miracles he thought occurred while he fought with the greatest generation overseas. Ernie went to work for Dodge Main, applied and entered the postal service. He despaired over the riots of 1976 and was ever troubled by the problems of racial division and the impact of poverty on the community he loved.

He told a great story about going through the cupboards of an abandoned farmhouse in southern France when his platoon sergeant appeared at the back door and asked if the cellar had been searched and secured. "Not yet," Dad replied. The sergeant stepped downstairs cautiously. A few moments later, up the stairs marched 11 unarmed German soldiers followed by the sergeant. "I was looking for bottles of wine," Dad explained.

On Saturday, July 22, 2006, The Detroit News front page reported another story in which my father played a key role. Three weeks ago a homeless man, 59-year-old Charles Moore, searching for returnable bottles in a dumpster at the downtown Fort Street Presbyterian Church found a light jacket, which emptied out 31 saving bonds. He turned them into a 24-hour homeless shelter and the staff sought out the owner.

It was Ernie.

Friday I went to pick them up. The Detroit News. This story went across country and across the world to more than 330 newspapers and TV stations -- Iraq, London, Alabama, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida and more. The headline writers distorted what really happened in a way which I need to explain. Here is the whole story, some very important details of which were left-out by the six newspaper, radio and television interviewers I spoke to over the next several days and never made it to the news wire services.

Following his death, we bundled up many plastic bags of his old clothes and went through his papers, finding many saving bonds, stuffed here and there. My mother was flabbergasted. That others may have eluded us is just the beginning. The old clothes were picked by the Salvation Army. Mom administered and closed his estate about a year ago.

When a shelter worker called my mother on Thursday or Friday, July 6 or 7, if I recall correctly, she told a vague story. Mom referred her to me. I got few details -- no names, location of the shelter or even who had possession of the savings bonds she said totaled at $9,000, which would belong entirely to my mother, an 82-year-old widow and a retired teacher. That description of my mother may well fit the stereotype but is not the whole picture. She also went to law school and knew exactly what her rights and responsibilities were.

My mother said that I could offer a reward of $100 upon their return. Mom thought it might be a scam and warned me not to visit the shelter without a police escort. Also, what if my Dad had already reported them stolen, lost and cashed them in? The shelter worker could neither accept nor refuse my mother's offer but said she would call me back when they checked with the homeless man who found them and an agency supervisor. When nobody called back as promised, my mother assumed the man never returned and on Thursday, July 20, she filed by mail all of the necessary paperwork to have any of Ernie's uncashed savings bonds re-issued by the U.S. Bureau of Public Debt. Savings Bonds aren't transferable and their ownership is determined by the names on the bonds, not by who physically holds them.

The bonds that Mr. Moore found may, for example, have already been replaced following a report by Ernie years ago owner that they were missing. Their home was broken into and this important detail, which I told The Detroit News reporter, is missing from what she wrote. In that case, the bonds Mr. Moore found would be worthless and belong to the U.S. Government, which is very careful not to pay for the same bonds twice. Even if they were stolen or lost and Ernie never filed a claim, they still belong to my mother as POD beneficiary. If anyone finds savings bonds that belong to someone else, they should be sent to the U.S. Government, which would hold them pending a claim from the owner. My mother did so on Thursday, July 20.

Meanwhile, the homeless shelter, which apparently had possession of the bonds, contacted a reporter at The Detroit News, who called me the next day, early Friday morning, July 21. I suggested that the reporter call my mother. The shelter called me some 30 to 60 minutes later and said it was arranging a meeting for 3:30 at which I could personally thank Mr. Moore and deliver my mother's reward. I was a newspaper reporter for six years or so and I knew this was a set-up for a great human interest story by a well-deserving non-profit agency, the Neighborhood Services Organization ("NSO"), doing a very hard job. From what I saw when I was there, they are doing it as well as can be expected. I respect and understand their decision to do what they did. They wanted their piece of the story. I also knew that the newspaper already had its piece, too. Where was it going to end?

Knowing as I did what was going to happen under the circumstances -- a likely front page newspaper story featuring an honest homeless man returning $9,000 in saving bonds was certain to generate a big positive reaction among readers -- I went to the meeting knowing that Mr. Moore and the shelter would be much rewarded by the community's reaction to his honesty. Little did I know.

If I had not gone the story might have dropped off the front page but featured instead an honest homeless man, my apparently ungrateful 82-year old mother and her possible recovery of $9,000 in savings bonds because I told The Detroit New reporter that my mother had already filed a claim for any missing savings bonds. That I considered unacceptable because it would leave her exposed to further calls from the newspapers, radio and television stations that, instead, I alone received. Did I do the right thing? Some friends and family think not because of the stress it has caused me and them, too. I disagree because here is what I knew would happen and did. Rewards swell to $4,000 for Homeless Man.

After talking to the agency supervisor, I called by mother and told her that I wanted to go meet the homeless man who found the bonds and express her appreciation personally. She agreed and I called the agency back. Arrangements were made and I drove down and met the supervisor at the NSO office on Bagley and followed him one and half-mile north to the shelter. This 24-hour shelter is in one Detroit's most devastated areas, between Cass and Third south of Wayne State University. It would be a frightening trip for anyone. I lived and grew up in suburban Pleasant Ridge but attended Wayne State University and the Detroit College of Law in the 1960s and 70s when their surrounding neighborhoods were deteriorating. When I arrived, people lingered on the curbs as the supervisor drove his car in ahead of me and parked in a broken-glass strewn parking lot. Wrecked furniture, tattered lawn chairs, blankets, towels, bottles, cans, paper and stray possessions spread across the vacant lots to the north, south, east and west.

People were streaming in and out through the metal detector screening machine set up at the entry way but not Mr. Moore. I was expecting him there by what I was told. If they made any effort, I don't know but, having visited earlier in the day, The Detroit News got his photograph and talked with him. This part of the set-up conjured-up by the NSO and the newspaper is particularly upsetting to me because they never told me before I saw his picture on the front page of the next day's newspaper. I asked the reporter why and she answered, "Well, you know, that's what we do."

I delivered the token reward of five $20 bills and picked up 31 bonds issued from 1980 to 1986 with a face value of $8,900 with the two newspaper reporters/photographers gathered around. If the bonds were found in a dumpster as he reported, it was probably hours or days away from being hauled to a landfill to be buried. The reporter told me that she had calculated their current value with interest at $21,000. The coincidence of his finding and his returning them is a truly remarkable story but what the reporter wrote was personally devastating -- West Bloomfield lawyer Neil J. Lehto is $21,000 richer by the honesty of a homeless man who would get from him no more than a $100 reward.

Not only is that completely untrue -- all 31 of the savings bonds designate my mother as the sole POD beneficiary and they may be worthless -- but it's the worst kind sensational journalism serving up stereotype and formula writing to readers. Regardless, I don't disagree that $100 was a mere token. However, offering any bigger amount did not make any sense at the time. Without quibbling, I do hope for my mother that they are worth $21,000 but nobody yet knows and Mr. Moore's actions are as admirable as he is needy.That part of the story is yet to be finished. Suggestions in the press and letter columns that my mother or I or my brothers, should have paid 10 percent or more for the return of possibly worthless bonds is absurd. What my mother will do later awaits verification that these saving bonds have any value and the protection of her privacy.

There is also a deeply instructive civics lesson in this because what the headline writers and some readers saw as a windfall received without adequate gratitude by way of an honest homeless man, was for my mother, at least, and many of my parent's generation, nothing more than an entitlement recovered by the demands of moral, social and legal justice. Moreover, for her and many of them, $100 was not a token amount under these circumstances.

Furthermore, the plight of homeless men and women and the struggling agencies that serve some of their needs highlighted by this story is a community responsibility.People criticizing the $100 reward offered to a homeless man for returning $21,000 in bonds need to remember that doing the right thing should come without any payback. It's nice people have raised more money. But where were they before the money was turned in? There are lots of homeless in need. Let's rally to help before, not after the fact. I did my part by showing up and unwittingly giving this story its special sizzle.

My reward? The Detroit News is running letters from readers under the headline Homeless Man Gets Cheated on Finder's Fee. Accusing me in print of cheating Mr. Moore is mean and defamatory. And what's this misleading reference to a finder's fee? I know there are websites and so-called finders that search for lost or missing stocks, commercial and municipal bonds and some will charge a fee to check for savings bonds, too. However, the Bureau of Public Debt makes doing so easy and free for anybody! In fact, my mother had already filed the paperwork before I even heard back from the homeless shelter that it had Ernie's bonds.

An unreported part of this human interest story is about me and my father because the last wedding I went to for a daughter, Amanda, was when Ernie died the night before at 2 o'clock in the morning. I was there when he finally succumbed to a massive stroke. The next wedding I went to was Saturday night, July 22, to celebrate the marriage of my youngest brother's step-daughter, Jamie. I think Ernie is determined to make an unmistakable and powerful mark on his sons and grandchildren. Certainly, the timing of these events is exquisitely poignant.

That's the true story. If the shelter agency had responded days earlier, if any reasonable effort had been made for me to meet Mr. Moore -- he comes there every morning for breakfast, they said later -- it could also have been different. Another story in there is about a social service system that looks awful shabby in its sorting and re-distribution of donated clothing. I don’t think that a homeless man looking for returnable bottles was also trying on old jackets that hot summer day but, instead, going through pockets looking for spare change. It seems obvious that this particular bag was never inspected before being discarded more than two years later.

To the 100 or so readers of the The Detroit News and other media from across the country -- who left me a series of anonymous telephone messages all night Saturday and throughout the day, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday or sent another 100 rude and vulgar or more e-mail messages asking why I was such a cheap bastard, etc., I ask what is the big difference between this story and Homeless Man Finds $68,000 Savings Bonds? Do you suppose the elderly woman there might not have had a son who happened to practice law she asked to deliver her $100 reward into a trap set-up by the local press?

I also respond with what Ernie, who had a wry sense of humor, would have said to me if I could have asked him:

"Do what your mother tells you to do!"

Thank you Mr. Lehto for taking time to give your side of the story. Best wishes to you and your Mom. I do hope they turn out to be real.
Peter