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Did you drop a bundle of cash at the airport?

Thank the Merton man who found it, turned it in

By TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Oct. 16, 2008

Finding an envelope stuffed with cash didn't make Keith Waltersdorf praise the heavens.

The Boston Store executive spied an envelope on the floor near the Midwest Airlines check-in counter at Mitchell International Airport about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. When he checked the contents, he found a wad of bills that would have financed a nice vacation.

"I thought the people right next to me had dropped it," Waltersdorf said, alluding to two women in the check-in line. But both shook their heads when he asked if they had dropped anything.

Looking to catch his flight to Ohio, the 61-year-old from Merton turned the money over to the gate attendant and hoped for the best.

Returning to Mitchell on Thursday, he checked with a sheriff's deputy, who reported the money had been stored in an evidence locker.

"I thought Midwest would get that money to somebody that very day," Waltersdorf said. "It's a shame.

"I gotta know that somebody's really fretting it. That's what makes me feel bad. With today's economy, that's a lot of money."

Waltersdorf, who grew up in St. Francis, learned the value of earned money delivering The Milwaukee Journal, then took in the lessons from teachers at the old Don Bosco High School and Marquette University. He's worked for Boston Store for 32 years.

He didn't hesitate to search for the out-of-luck traveler when he came upon the cash, but he doesn't consider himself any more upright than the next Milwaukee native.

"It's refreshing," Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said after his staff confirmed Waltersdorf's story. "This lets us know there are still people in this community who will do the right thing."

(snip)