Sewer Samaritans: Workers return lost jewelry

A pair of sewer workers in Kuna, Idaho, are trying to find the owner of a diamond ring they discovered while performing maintenance, United Press International (UPI) reports. The Good Samaritan impulse seems to be common among sewer guys. In February, sanitation crews in San Rafael, Calif., returned a woman’s gold necklace after she accidentally flushed it down the toilet.

In Kuna, city wastewater operators Carey Knight and Travis Fleming first thought the ring they plucked out of the sewer last week was fake — until a good cleaning revealed the diamond. There’s no telling how long the ring had been there. Fleming remembers a woman reporting a lost ring a few years back, but he doesn’t have her contact information now.

The men dutifully turned the ring over to Kuna Mayor Greg Nelson’s office the day after they found it. “[It’s nice to know] that we have honest and caring employees that actually are trying to get the ring back to its owner,” Nelson told KBOI-TV, Boise.

That’s what happened with Ann Aulakh. Her Italian gold Byzantine chain was a sentimental favorite for the San Rafael woman, a gift from her husband on their first Christmas together.

But Aulakh accidentally flushed the necklace down the toilet in the middle of the night. A neighbor left a message about the missing necklace with the San Rafael sanitation district. Still, Aulakh figured the necklace was gone for good.

 But three months later, sanitation workers found the necklace while cleaning a pipeline. A maintenance worker cleaned the necklace and even dropped it off at Aulakh’s home. “I would have hugged him if he hadn’t been wearing his work clothes,” she said.

Two tales of Sewer Samaritans. But a question lingers: Would you want to wear jewelry that had been in the sewer?