Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STAFFORD LENGTH: Medium
O'Quinn stepped up to the treasurer's office Monday to pay his personal property tax bill with currency and $125 in rolled coins. He said he signed over his $859 Social Security check to symbolize that Stafford was taking all he had.
``I told [the clerk] I could not pay the rest of it. I told her when I got my next [Social Security] check I'd be back to pay,'' O'Quinn said.
But a stranger standing behind him in line apparently overheard the conversation and stepped forward. She asked the clerk for O'Quinn's balance and promptly wrote a check for $129.
``I had never seen her before,'' he said. ``I couldn't believe it.''
O'Quinn said he asked the woman not to pay the bill, but she insisted, saying she wanted to do a good deed.
``I couldn't talk to her, I was in tears,'' he said. ``I never wanted to hug someone so much.''
O'Quinn is a frequent critic of Stafford County government and a member of the Stafford County Citizens Alliance, a taxpayers' group. He and other members of the group went to the treasurer's office Monday, the deadline for paying personal property and real estate taxes, to stage the protest.
The stranger who wrote the check was Wanda Harris, said Elizabeth Dailey, Stafford treasurer. Harris has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment.
O'Quinn, 73, lives on Social Security benefits and a retirement check from his days as a pipefitter.
He said he could have borrowed the money from his son to make up the $129 deficit.
``It wouldn't have been a problem.''
O'Quinn said he plans to find Harris and repay her. In the meantime, he said he's trying to do as she instructed.
``She told me to do someone else a good turn.''
by CNB