Badge returned to deputy after 30 years

[Lee Borgersen]

Badge returned to deputy after 30 years
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 07/27/2007 03:45:39 PM PDT

SAUGATUCK, Mich.?More than 30 years after falling into Lake Michigan, a badge belonging to a former sheriff's deputy is back with its rightful owner thanks to a tourist who found it along the shoreline.

Max Elenbaas, now 61 and retired, was fishing from a boat in the mid-1970s when he bent over and accidentally dropped the badge into the water.

"You lose something in Lake Michigan a mile and a half, two miles out, it's not going to come back to you?there's no way," Elenbaas said.

The tourist found it on a beach about two weeks ago and turned it in to the sheriff's office. Deputies went to Elenbaas' home to return it.

The badge is rusty and the case's clear plastic window for the ID card has turned blue, but "it's in very good shape," Elenbaas said.

"They drove up, he handed it to me and even when I had it in my hand, I looked at it and says, 'Yeah, I can't believe this,'" he said.

[holdemtwice]

 WOW  WHAT A TRIP !!  after all that time . thanx for sharing !!!

  HT

[GirlGuide]

What an awesome story, thanks for sharing!!!   ::  GG