Sunday, July 23, 2006

IWA July 23, 2006,

Hey folks,

It’s Sunday, time for the Idiot of the Week Award. This week you may agree or disagree. You may understand why this recipient deserves it, you may not. I truly feel that this is one of the things that are wrong about America.

Charles Moore, 59, is a homeless man. He is the type you see walking on the street. Sitting on the corner. Asking for your loose change. The kind of person that is invisible to so many people that just pass by.

The kind of person that, for reasons unknown to us all, has either removed himself, or been removed from society. Some see him as a lazy, alcoholic, drug addicted, disease infected, waste of life, others as a hardship case in need of rescuing, and yet others see him as fortunate. Why fortunate? Because they no longer live in the system. They are above the system. Time no longer matters. No schedules to keep. No bosses to please. No responsibilities. The only thing they MUST do is eat. Truth is, some of these, out of the kindness of others, make more money panhandling than you do working 9-5 in a job you do not like.

This is not always the case, but there truly is no way of knowing each individual’s situation. But here is a true story of Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore just going about his day, searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin, when he finds a bag of cloths. That is not all he found. Also in the cloths, Mr. Moore found 31 U.S. savings bonds worth nearly $21,000.

What did he do? He took the bonds to a 24 hour walk in homeless shelter, where a staffer tracked down the family of the man whose name was on the bonds. They belonged to Ernest Lehto. Now there is a mystery as to how the bonds and bag ended up in that bin, since the family gave the cloths away in 2004. But there they were non-the-less. Mr. Moore told The Detroit News,

"They belong to him. I did the right thing."

And he did. So what did Mr. Lehto’s Son, Neil Lehto do when he arrived to pick up the bonds? He said,

"What a good Samaritan."

Then he gave Mr. Moore $100.00, and left.

$100.00? Thanks to Mr. Moore, who is homeless, YOU Mr. Lehto, got your Father’s $21,000.00 worth of bonds. But I know, since Mr. Moore is homeless, $100.00 must be a lot of money to him. Right. Yeah, toss him a hundred and move on with your life, Mr. Moore is not worth your time.

Congratulations Mr. Lehto, you are the Idiot of the week. I wonder what your Father would have done, had he been alive.
Peter
Posted by at

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's the Article -

Man Finds $21K in Bonds, Gets $100 Reward
Jul 22 12:38 PM US/Eastern

DETROIT - Associated Press

A homeless man searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin found 31 U.S. savings bonds worth nearly $21,000 in a bag of clothes.

Charles Moore, 59, took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer tracked down the family of the man whose name was on the bonds.

"They belong to him," Moore told The Detroit News. "I did the right thing."

Ernest Lehto's family had given away many of his clothes shortly after his death in 2004.

How the bonds ended up in the trash bin is a mystery, but Lehto's family left Moore a $100 reward.

"What a good Samaritan," said Neil Lehto, who picked up the bonds Friday that had belonged to his late father.

_________________________

Comment -

Please spread the word to everyone as to what a cheap bastard he is. He's a well established lawyer, who probably only tips his waitresses and servers only .004 percent, but his happy to collect 30% on his trial fees. Please spread the email and the anger at this guy.

The money should have been donated to the shelter or 20% to the homeless man.

Spread it to all the sites you can. Add it to comments following any new related article.

NEIL J. LEHTO
Attorney and Counselor at Law
4035 IVERNESS LANE
WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICHIGAN 48323-1714

____________

TELEPHONE AND FACSIMILE (248) 851-4276
E-MAIL nlehto@municable.com

1:00 PM
Anonymous said...

He's not under any obligation to give anything to anyone. Waiters, etc are paid a wage. A tip is not mandatory, nor should it be expected.
Yes, he should have given the man more than 100 bucks, but he didn't have to give him that.
The idiots are people who assume that charity is a requirement. He has the right to keep HIS money.
As to posting his information, well, you are scummier than he is.

3:07 PM
Anonymous said...

"A tip is not mandatory" What?? You should be ashamed for that comment. You are some cheap piece of work. You must be the kind that goes to a restaurant, never gives a thank you and of course you don't leave a tip. Shame on you.

5:05 PM
Anonymous said...

He did the opposite of whats expected.
He did the right thing.

7:03 PM
Anonymous said...

I don't know who the heck assumes that a tip shouldn't be expected. Yeah servers get paid a wage..MINIMUM WAGE! They never get raises to wait on ingrates, their raise is their tips! Any how, this Neil Lehto guy SHOULD have given Mr. Moore more than a measley 100 bucks! He had already thrown away the 21,000.00 dollars so it wasn't his anymore, and so by getting this money returned to him, he kinda won a lottery on someone elses ticket! Mr. Moore could have been one who follows the old saying "finders keepers, loosers weepers' but he didn't and for his good heart, all he did was help out the ungrateful. Even though, props to Mr. Moore because unlike most, he did the right thing!

12:17 PM
Anonymous said...

I don't know who the heck assumes that a tip shouldn't be expected. Yeah servers get paid a wage..MINIMUM WAGE! They never get raises to wait on ingrates, their raise is their tips! Any how, this Neil Lehto guy SHOULD have given Mr. Moore more than a measley 100 bucks! He had already thrown away the 21,000.00 dollars so it wasn't his anymore, and so by getting this money returned to him, he kinda won a lottery on someone elses ticket! Mr. Moore could have been one who follows the old saying "finders keepers, loosers weepers' but he didn't and for his good heart, all he did was help out the ungrateful. Even though, props to Mr. Moore because unlike most, he did the right thing!

12:18 PM
Anonymous said...

I would like to send this honest guy some money myself. How do I go about doing that

12:46 PM
Peter said...

Hey folks,


Welcome to the OPN.

That really is the point. Although a tip is notmandatory,if someone found $21,000 that belonged to me, I think I would be taking care of that person. The $100.00 “Jester” was just done right insulting to the man, and a show of dismissal of a “bum” not worthy of Neil Lehto’s time.

It truly is sad. There is right, wrong, and what is expected, they do not always match up. This is why he won the IWA.
Peter

6:44 AM
Anonymous 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!”

1:37 PM
Peter said...

Hey Mr. Lehto,

First Welcome to the OPN. Thank you for coming aboard and giving your side of the story. I know that not many people read the comment section on bloggs, so I will post your response on the main site as a follow up "New Daily Article"

Also, of course I cannot speak for all the other media outlets out there, but I can and DO speak for the OPN. After hearing your side, I do truly believe that I owe you an apology. I will also be rescinding the IWA from you. I do not know if you are an OPNer or not, but the IWA is a pretty popular Sunday article. I cannot imagine what you have been through after your story broke. All I can do is say that based on the information that I received, as well as what was being reported, made you sound MORE than worthy of receiving the “Idiot of the Week Award.” After hearing your side, I apologize to you Sir.

For your Mother, I hope they are still good. I also hope that if they turn out to be, and she does decide to give Mr. Moore more of a reward, or do anything extra for him, the press will be there as fast as they were originally. If you want, please feel free to let me know, I will post what she decides.

Thank you again for telling your side of the story. Please feel free to jump in anytime.
Peter

1:35 AM

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