November 16, 2004
Eager Beavers
Saw this AP news clip and thought everyone would get a kick out of it.
GREENSBURG, La. (AP) -- These eager beavers had a whole new slant on money laundering.
A bag of bills stolen from a casino was snapped up by beavers who wove thousands of dollars in soggy currency into the sticks and brush of their dam on a creek in eastern Louisiana.
"They hadn't torn the bills up. They were still whole," said Maj. Michael Martin of the East Feliciana Parish sheriff's office.
The money was part of $70,000 to $75,000 taken last week from the Lucky Dollar.
Officers searched the creek during the weekend, finding one money bag right away and spotting a second downstream against the beaver dam.
The third bag of cash couldn't be found, Martin said, so deputies started breaking down the beaver dam to drain the pond it was holding. That was when they saw the dam's expensive decoration. They eventually found the missing bag, which the beavers hadn't completely emptied.
"The casino people were elated" to get the money back, even if some of it was wet, Harrell said.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted by Daniel at November 16, 2004 10:34 AM~rich said:
Those are some big brown beavers.
I must say that I'm impressed by the resiliancy of our currency.
Here are some facts I found at www.treas.gov (US Treasury site)
The paper that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) uses to produce our currency is "distinctive." A paper manufacturer produces it according to BEP specifications. It is composed of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. The paper also contains red and blue fibers of various lengths that are evenly distributed throughout the paper.
All denominations of paper currency notes printed since 1929 are the same size, measuring approximately 2.61 inches (6.63 centimeters) by 6.14 inches (15.60 centimeters). Each note is 0.0043 inches thick, and a stack of currency notes one mile high would contain over 14.5 million notes. If all of the currency notes printed were laid end to end, they would stretch around the earth's equator approximately 24 times.
Each currency note, regardless of its denomination, weighs about one gram. There are 454 grams in one U.S. pound, so there should be 454 notes in a pound.
I'd be interested to know how much it costs to produce a bill...anyone know?