A C-Note
of conscience

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Rural Marion resident Mark Collett got a lift of spirits — and a reminder that people are basically good — when a note and a $100 bill appeared in his mailbox April 1.

Despite the fact that the money arrived on April Fool’s Day, it was no joke, Collett said.

During a Jan. 8 and 9 snowstorm that dumped 14 inches on Marion, a driver on US-50 hit a mailbox in front of Collett’s residence.

The mailbox was mounted on a hedge post. When the car hit the post, the post was sheared in two.

“I got home from work, and the guy that lives across the street from me said he’d seen someone had run over the mailbox,” Collett said.

Tracks through the snow showed the path the car took, going off the edge of the road, down into the ditch, back up over a culvert, and over the mailbox.

Collett didn’t bother to report the broken mailbox. He simply put up a new one.

His letter carrier found the money and note and took it up to his house because she didn’t think she should leave it there.

“I’m surprised, actually,” Collett said. “It kind of restored my faith. There’s a lot of bad stuff in the world.”