Man rewarded for found money saga

[pojo]

This has been a huge story in my neck of the woods... due to the fact the Neumeyer family has gone through a lot since Jan 2006.... This was a wonderful end to a challenging year.

Voight rewarded as rightful owners claim money

By Duke Behnke
News-Record staff writer

NEENAH — The saga of the abandoned desk and the unclaimed money has come to an end.

And everyone involved seems satisfied with the result.

In the end, the city employee who found $1,900 in a scrap heap and turned it over to police was rewarded for his honesty.

David Voight, a street and sanitation worker, will be given $400 by relatives of the late Marc Neumeyer, to whom the money belonged. He also will receive $250 from the city.

"I am just happy that the rightful owners got it back," Voight said as he was finishing his shift on Nov. 15. "That's what I wanted from the beginning."

Voight found the money attached to an abandoned desk in July while scavenging through the city's metal drop-off site on Tullar Road. He handed it over to police as required by state law, and police were unable to verify the owner within 90 days.

That triggered a debate over whether the $1,900 should become the property of the city or Voight.

City Atty. James Godlewski said the money, by law, would belong to the city if Voight found the cash within the scope of his duties as a street and sanitation worker. He said if Voight found the money as a private citizen, however, the money would belong to him.

The situation was complicated because Voight found the money after work, supporting his claim that he was a private citizen. He was allowed to search through the scrap heap as a condition of his employment, however. An ordinance prohibits the removal of items for everyone but street and sanitation workers.

The Finance and Personnel Committee was unable to decide the issue, which received coverage from national media.

The matter was scheduled to come before the Common Council last Wednesday before the Neumeyer family established its rightful ownership to the money.

Neumeyer, 56, of Neenah was one of two Winnebago County Highway Department workers who were killed March 7 when they were struck by a vehicle on U.S. 41 south of Breezewood Lane.

Gary Neumeyer, Marc's brother and the executor of his estate, said his family had discarded two of his brother's desks at the drop-off site. When he learned of the found money in August, he contacted Neenah police but was unable to provide a detailed description of the desk in question.

A story in The Post-Crescent on Nov. 13, which was picked up by other media, revealed that the money had been found in envelopes attached to the underside of the metal desk by magnets.

Gary Neumeyer said it was typical of his brother to use magnets in that manner.

He again called police and brought in copies of checks with his brother's handwriting to compare it with handwriting found with the money.

Not only did the handwriting match, the account numbers on the checks matched the account numbers found with the money.

Neumeyer said the family would give Voight $400 as a reward for bringing the money to police.

"Without him, the estate would have been out that money," he said.

Neumeyer said the incident has provided some relief for his family, which has been beset by tragedy. Gary Neumeyer's son, Andrew, was seriously wounded in Iraq five weeks before Marc was killed.

"It's amazing," he said. "In Marc's regard, it was like the last thing he could do for us. I am sure he is looking down from upstairs and just kind of chuckling about this experience."

Police Chief Ray Appel said although police had account numbers with the money, they were unable to trace them to any bank or credit union until Gary Neumeyer came forward with additional information.

City of Neenah officials said the national media reported the story incorrectly, which led to a torrent of criticism nationally and internationally.

"The national media erroneously reported that the city wouldn't give the money to Mr. Voight," City Atty. James Godlewski said. "In fact, no decision had been made."

By mid-morning on Nov. 13, The Post-Crescent story was the subject of multiple radio talk shows, including one in Milwaukee. The story was picked up by The Associated Press and by Yahoo! News, among others.

Reports on the Internet and national radio and TV shows said the city claimed the money as its own. That ignited a firestorm of antigovernment sentiment.

Mayor George Scherck said he received more than 300 e-mails and telephone calls. Most of the correspondence came from out of state, and nearly all of it bore the same theme: that government was trying to rip off the little guy. Overwhelmingly, the public sided with Voight.

"I appreciate all of the backing that I got from the Valley and the countryside," Voight said.

The support went well beyond the countryside. It extended to Canada, Germany and England.

Godlewski said Neenah officials also received comments from Illinois, Tennessee, California and Texas.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 20435/1042