A good deed

TFM doesn't just do Florida, silly and golf news and Knucklehead awards. Here's some news from the Sun-Sentinel. Cheers for Ken and Dolores Dawes and their act of honesty. They will be rewarded one day.

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William Beyer and his wife, Kathleen, had to use a credit card while shopping last week after they lost an envelope containing $600 between Vero Beach and Fort Pierce.

"We wrote it off as it was gone for good," William Beyer said.

The credit card is what ultimately helped a Good Samaritan track them down at their Fort Pierce home and return the money to them Thursday.

The Beyers took the money out of the bank March 17 to use while shopping that day and during a weekend trip to Atlanta. They were at a business in the 1200 block of U.S. 1 when they noticed the blank envelope that held the money was missing.

"We figured it must have fallen off of my wife's lap when she got out of the car," William Beyer said. "There wasn't any identification on it or anything, so we thought if it fell out in the parking lot it would have been long gone."

A few hours later, Dolores Dawes and her husband, Ken, were shopping at the same store when they noticed the white envelope on the ground. After picking it up, Dolores Dawes said it appeared there was something inside of it.

"It was full of bills. I didn't go looking all inside of it, but I did see a $100 bill or two," she said. "It made sense to me to try and find the rightful owner."

At that point, the amateur detective work began.

She talked to the clerk inside the business and discovered a woman had just come in to see if anyone had turned in an envelope containing money. Although Kathleen Beyer had already left without leaving her name, address or telephone number, the lack of information didn't stop the Vero Beach residents from digging deeper.

The clerk was able to find the receipt from Kathleen Beyer's purchase, which listed her name because she used a credit card during the transaction.

The Dawes later searched in the phone book for people in Vero Beach with the last name of Beyer. They called all of the local numbers, but a Kathleen didn't live at any of them.

They expanded their search to Brevard and St. Lucie counties.

"My daughter lives in Fort Pierce and found her name in her phone book," Dolores Dawes said.

After a vigorous interrogation about how much money was in the envelope, what bills were enclosed, the envelope's color and what bank's label was on the outside, the Dawes were satisfied that the Beyers were the rightful owners.

The Beyers said the Dawes went "well beyond" what someone would normally do. They even offered them a $100 reward and dinner for their efforts. However, Dolores Dawes wouldn't accept the money and said dinner might be a possibility.