Text 11203, 86 rader
Skriven 2005-04-08 12:57:28 av Alan Hess
Ärende: yes, $2 bills are legal tender!
=======================================
We do have some dummies among us.  And for the cops to cuff the guy, and haul
him away...
**********

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43685

Thursday, April 7, 2005
YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Man arrested, cuffed after using $2 bills
Best Buy customer on being jailed: 'At this point, I'm a mass murderer'
Posted: April 7, 2005
5:12 p.m. Eastern

+ 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to
jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and
called police.

According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was
shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville,
Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret
Service was called to weigh in on the case.

Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches
high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a
pole ? and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother,
Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for
the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the
store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest,
Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.

As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a hearty
supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students who take
his tours for meal money.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest
thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to
save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking,
'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier at
Best Buy Feb. 20.

"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't
want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice.
You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money ? like she's
doing me a favor."

Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees
began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee
noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called.
One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these
bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm sitting
there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden,
he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to
do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my
kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing
this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg
irons while the Secret Service was called.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills
legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can
smear."

Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told
the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

--- Msged/2 6.0.1
 * Origin: The Nerve Center BBS - telnet via tncbbs.no-ip.com (1:261/1000)