This week I had cause to visit my nearest largest small town on public transport (town parking is expensive, so I had opted for a bus) ....
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| Britain's Has A Tradition Of Street Fools ... |
... It was my first visit in over a year.
Covid-19 has curtailed these sorts of trips for the past 12 months, and I have stayed local as per government requests, but as we are 're-opening' I thought I would venture out again. Its a small coastal tourist town, which is rather shabby and run down, although there are pockets of large wealth, but its not fared well during the lockdown.
The number of people about the centre was small compared with a year ago, which meant that the alcoholics, beggars and junkies stood out rather more than might ordinarily have been the case ('the poor are always with us,' even in a pandemic it seems)... but my attention was particularly drawn to two beggar/alcoholics, whose attention was focused on a cash ATM machine.
One was capering about drunkenly, gurning wildly and waving at his friend, while the other was frantically pressing all the buttons on the ATM, and complaining confusedly that it wasn't giving him any money! I was the only person who showed the slightest interest in this display, and I guess these two were well known to those who regularly shopped in that area of the town.
This display of a stupid and idiotic attempt to get money, doomed to failure, reminded me of a news story from January 2020 in Mississippi USA, when two men were arrested and charged with counterfeiting and conspiracy, after attempting to get money falsely from the state lottery headquarters.
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| In Jail .... Not A Lucky Lottery For Them. |
Odis Latham and Russell Sparks had hit upon the cunning wheeze of picking up a losing scratchcard ticket, and gluing on the numbers of that weeks winning ticket. Thus armed, they had turned up at the state lottery headquarters to get their winnings. As this was hardly a clever attempt, the Sherlock's at the headquarters called the police, and as the ticket was signed and presented for payment, police had to arrest them for attempted counterfeiting and conspiracy
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| Lottery Ticket Fraud Attempts Are Quite Common ..... |
Both men pleaded not guilty, and were held at the Rankin County Jail, with Mr Latham being given a $51,000 bail bond amount and Mr Sparks placed on a $20,000 bail bond ... its likely that neither of them could meet these amounts. It was unclear whether they been appointed state attorneys, and as usual no one has reported on any resolution ... but as this was only in January 2020, they may well still be in prison awaiting a trial.
Covid-19 has caused large back logs in courts worldwide, and cutback on many other forms of human endeavour, but stupidity has apparently been unhindered by its ravages, and is just as rampant as ever.
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