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The twists and turns of finding the owner of a wallet
• A man’s wallet, with $194 in cash in it, was found in Haywood County, N.C., on Dec. 8. The man still hasn’t been contacted by authorities – despite repeated efforts -- to confirm he lives at the address shown on a driver’s license.
By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer
This shouldn’t have been a Christmas story, but because of the failure of law enforcement officers in Haywood County to make a trip to a man’s house in Canton, the story is still current.
This writer, his wife and another couple went to Asheville on Dec. 7 to visit The Biltmore House and take part in that evening’s candlelight tour. We spent the night in Asheville.
The next morning, Dec. 8, we were delayed in leaving Asheville for Gatlinburg, Tenn., because frigid temperatures combined with about four inches of snow had left icy highway conditions.
We traveled I-40 west, and I lagged behind the vehicles in the right lane because our windshield-washing unit had frozen. Salty highway spray was being thickly sprinkled on our windshield.
Finally, I had to pull off I-40 at the Fines Creek exit, about 15 miles west of Waynesville, and also 15 miles from the Tennessee line.
I used a bottle of drinking water to clean the windshield.
Wallet found
My wife, Doris, and Lacy Wilson and his wife Judy were in the van. Lacy and Doris got out and both noticed a wallet lying on the icy sludge just behind where I stopped our van.
Lacy opened it, saw a driver’s license, noticed two credit cards, and also noticed the cash -- $194.
The driver’s license was current and noted the wallet’s owner lived in Canton.
We backtracked to Waynesville and stopped at a Shell convenience store located between a McDonald’s and a Sagebrush Steak House.
I went inside and asked for a telephone directory. The man’s name was not listed. I asked for the number of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office.
One man in the store furnished it immediately – he knew it by heart.
I reported to the sheriff’s dispatcher what we had found, where we were and asked for a deputy to come by and get the wallet so it could be returned to its owner.
Deputy didn’t appear
The dispatcher said she’d send a deputy immediately. After 30 to 40 minutes, I called the sheriff’s office again. No deputy had appeared.
The dispatcher apologized. She sent a Canton policeman to a Shell convenience store beside another Sagebrush Steak House, not the one in Waynesville.
A deputy would be on his way within minutes. The local man in the store came out after about 10 more minutes and announced, “He’s on his way.
“My wife has been listening to the scanner and heard him say he’s about three miles from here.”
I informed my wife, Lacy and Judy that our wait was probably about to end. Fifteen more minutes passed, and still no deputy.
Disgusted, we got into our van and continued our trip.
When we returned to Whiteville, I took the wallet to Michael Glenn of the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office and asked him if he could find the owner of the wallet for me.
Glenn said he’d call the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office and get a deputy to go to the man’s house, confirm he lived there, and he’d mail the wallet, complete with evidence tape surrounding the cash and credit cards.
No response
Time passed. Glenn still had the package on Dec. 18, because he couldn’t get a call from Haywood County confirming the man’s address.
By Dec. 21, this writer decided enough was enough.
He took the package and called the The Mountaineer newspaper in Waynesville, the paper covering Haywood County.
“Do you have a reporter I can talk to?” I asked the woman who answered.
“Just a minute and I’ll see if anybody is upstairs,” she said with a kind voice.
“Hello, this is Beth. Can I help you?” a young female said.
I went through the story, and Beth said she’d be glad to help get the wallet to its owner.
She asked that I send her an email with the information I had just related to her. I asked for her address and she gave me her name.
I asked for her to spell her last name. P-l-e-m-i-ng.
“Do you have any kin in Columbia, S.C.?” I asked.
“That’s where I’m from!” she exclaimed.
“Do you know Sarah Ashlin High?”
“Yes, she married my brother!”
“Well, she’s my niece.”
“I was wondering if you said your last name was High. Are you Walter’s brother?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to see Walter Monday (Christmas). I’ll tell him about this. This is really wild.”
“Did you go to the wedding (in July of this year)?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, I saw you.”
We both exclaimed what a small world it is. Beth also noted she’s the crime reporter for The Mountaineer, the same position I hold at The News Reporter.
Beth promised to make a trip to Canton to find the owner of the wallet. She also promised to let me know if she found him, so I can mail it to him.
“Merry Christmas, Beth.”
“Same to you.”