Americana: Follow the Bouncing Check

From Missouri came a request that the sheriff in Austin, Minn., arrest Ramona Van Oster and hold her for extradition on a charge of passing a bad check. She was promptly jailed. Her alleged crime: writing a $3.39 check on a closed bank account, which is a felony in Missouri. She made the check good and the charges were dropped. The sheriff then angrily announced that he would send Missouri a bill for $460, which was the cost of keeping her in jail five days and paying for her court-appointed lawyer. Said he: “This is one of the reasons we have some pretty difficult problems in law enforcement. It’s a very shabby way of conducting business.” The sheriffs name? Wayne Goodnature.