Honest

woman returns money By Ace R. Porter A 19-year-old Locust Valley woman rode her bike 10 miles through a Christmas Eve snowstorm to return $300,000 she found on a Lincoln street earlier in the day. Yoga instructor Laura Lynn Hardy handed over the thick manila envelope to its owner, Fred Fenster of Fenster Ford, the areas largest car dealership, and Xavier Mooney, president of Lincoln Federal Savings, at the bank late Friday afternoon, Dec. 24. Hardy had found the envelope in front of Mooneys bank after eating a Christmas Eve lunch with her ailing grandfather. In a hurry, Hardy stopped and put the envelope in her backpack without opening it, then continued biking to her farmhouse 10 miles west of Lincoln. At home, Hardy opened the envelope and found it stuffed with cash and checks made out to Fenster Ford. She called Mooney and retraced the 10-mile route back to the bank. By then, a storm that eventually dropped six inches of snow was underway. Mooney and Fenster praised Hardys integrity and posed for photos with her before she biked back to Locust Valley for the second time that day. Shes a great little girl, Fenster said, the kind of girl we in Lincoln should be proud of. Hardy said the effort to return the money was its own reward. Its enough just to do the right thing, she said.