THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290755
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
After making an early morning delivery of produce to Stonebridge Restaurant around 6:15 a.m. Dec. 16, John Gasser got into his van to make his next stop.
In the middle of Stonebridge Landing, near Raintree Road, Gasser spotted a vinyl bank bag.
``I needed one for my business, so I backed up to grab it,'' said Gasser, 54, owner of Produce Plus.
Gasser leaned out of the truck and to his surprise, the zippered bag wasn't empty.
``It was right in the middle of the road,'' he said. ``And evidently, it had been there awhile because it was soaking wet.''
Gasser put the bag against the engine cover of his van to try and dry it out. He then rummaged through it in an effort to determine ownership. Inside, he found a deposit ticket bearing the name of a local florist.
``There were some bills spaced in among the papers,'' he said. ``And then there was one envelope that was sealed that I could see had a fair amount of money in it. It looked like big bills, like 20s, and I didn't touch that.''
He didn't count the money, Gasser said, because ``it didn't mean anything to me. It was somebody else's.''
Gasser stopped only because he needed a bank bag, he admitted, ``but then when I realized there was money in it, I realized it wasn't going to be my bag!''
When Gasser called the florist after it had opened about two hours later, the person he spoke with wasn't even aware that their deposit was missing.
``And I was a little confused, wondering, `Am I turning this over to the right people?' But I figured I'd go over there to make sure,'' he said.
When Gasser arrived at the florist around 10 a.m., he approached a young woman who seemed to be upset.
``She had been crying a little bit because her mascara was running, and she said something to a guy about having to go back out and take another look,'' Gasser recalled.
Gasser handed her the bag and asked, ``Are you missing this?''
``She was kind of surprised,'' said Gasser, who was given a poinsettia as a token of appreciation.
The owner of the florist, who asked that the name of the business not be used, plans to send an additional gift to Gasser, though she wouldn't reveal what it was. Nor did she want to divulge the exact amount of money in the bag. She did, however, want to express her gratitude to Gasser.
``I know there's a lot of good people out there, but he truly must have known what that meant to us,'' she said. ``This gentleman certainly did us a favor.''
The employee who lost the bag, which somehow fell out of his truck on his way home from work, will not lose his job over the incident, the owner added.
``He's been with the company a long time, and he wouldn't lose his job over losing a deposit,'' she said.
``It's not something you want to do, but I'm sure it wasn't done on purpose.''
Gasser, who has lived in the area for about two years, used to own an inn in Maine, where he would often find and return valuables to their owners.
``I just figure maybe I might lose a deposit some day and somebody will return it to me,'' he said. by CNB