'Most honest man' returns $50,000 found in used safe
BEND, Ore. (AP) - A thank-you note to a Central Oregon locksmith was addressed to "the most honest man in Bend" after he returned $50,000 he found in a safe's secret compartment.
Bryan Donnell retrieved a customer's 1,000-pound safe last week. He's used to finding jewels and some cash, but nothing like the stacks of $100 bills wrapped in rubber bands.
The safe's former owner, 57-year-old Dale Parkinson, tells The Bulletin of Bend, Ore., that he and his wife pulled the money from their life savings in 2007, fearing a potential financial collapse.
They also bought a safe, and snuck $50,000 into a secret compartment.
Then, apparently, they forgot about it.
Parkinson decided to put the money back in the bank this year and sold the safe to Donnell.
Donnell refused a cash reward, but accepted a bottle of Scotch.
Bryan Donnell retrieved a customer's 1,000-pound safe last week. He's used to finding jewels and some cash, but nothing like the stacks of $100 bills wrapped in rubber bands.
The safe's former owner, 57-year-old Dale Parkinson, tells The Bulletin of Bend, Ore., that he and his wife pulled the money from their life savings in 2007, fearing a potential financial collapse.
They also bought a safe, and snuck $50,000 into a secret compartment.
Then, apparently, they forgot about it.
Parkinson decided to put the money back in the bank this year and sold the safe to Donnell.
Donnell refused a cash reward, but accepted a bottle of Scotch.
I hope it was a *really* good bottle of scotch.
Here's a tip from an old cavalryman's Stetson to Mr. Donnell, gentleman locksmith.
Hey,I would be honest too.I would return.............................................................the safe...............No I couldnt.Living with that the rest of your life wouldnt be worth it.......
It's nice to read a story like this that highlights honesty, integrity, and caring.
Wow, this story is awesome. Maybe a few good people left in this world.
The most interesting part of the story is not that he returned the money; but that he refused a big reward.
Note to world:
Â
If there IS an economic collapse or a Weimar-style inflation, currency will be good for  fire-starting but not much else. Gold coins  will be fairly useless for everyday transactions, ("I would like to purchase that soda with my 1 oz. Krugerrand, do you have $1,600  small denomination gold coins in change?")
Â
Cigarettes. Cigarettes are easily transported, have their own fairly inelastic demand and are hard to counterfeit. A pack will likely get you a nice dinner or perhaps a "friend" for an hour or so.
Â
Funny I never see that on that Doomsday Preppers show. A couple of palettes of Marlboro and you'll be the richest man in Bedford Falls.
 @Getov Mylon A box of 9 millimeter will be even more tradable than cigarettes
 @Gaikokujin  @Getov Mylon And until you have to trade it, the box of 9 millimeter will help protect the cigarette stockpile (and your food, your family and everything else necessary to survival).Â
There are differences in today's world. In Weimar, it was actual printing, but now it is all electronic credit based finance. IF there is a financial meltdown, access to credit will evaporate very quickly (ie, "card denied" flashing across America, not because the cardholder has a credit problem, but because the bank has one.) At this point, actual physical money WILL have value as a medium of exchange, just like real physical cigarettes (the key being the limits on manufacturing them) were a defense against high speed devaluation by printing in the past.  Basically anything that requires resources other than paper and ink (or bits in a computer) to produce will serve as "money" if the money of the realm (credit in todays market) is destroyed. cash will lose value as the bailouts restart the credit machine once again, so its not a long-term protection against the theft by inflation.
Â
The threat of bank A refusing to accept transactions from bank B is very real, since it happened to Bear Stearns, Lehman Brother, Washington Mutual, MF Global, etc... Cash does not suffer from this.
Â
This comment has been deleted
 @Getback2work What would the name Parkinson, have to do with forgetting something? Parkinson's affects motor skills.
Seems like there are a bunch of folks with REAL "old fashioned values" in central Oregon. Refreshing.
It doesnât make any sense to pull your money and then keep it in currency if you believe that there is going to be a financial collapse. They should have purchased gold and silver, at least they would have gotten something out of it; as it stands they lost value.
 @Justaguy In '07 silver spot was $12-13, its 29.96 tonight. I dont think 3,846 ounces of silver would have gone unnoticed as easy as 50k cash money either. Coulda doubled it. Sure coulda lost it all too.
 @Justaguy I think they were more concerned about a banking system collapse, not a currency collapse.
I wish I could just forget that I have that much money in my safe.Â
Â
The things I would do if I had that extra money, just laying around.Â
Â
Â
Who forgets they put $50,000 in a safe at their home? Glad they got it back but doesn't sound like they really missed it.
Must be nice to be able to forget, and not miss $50,000. that you stashed away. Most I ever recovered was a $20 dollar bill in the washing machine.
 @GorgeTraveler And that was laundered money.