Story Archive

Lantern Waste Revisited

In the middle of the snowy woods was something that did not seem to belong there: an ATM. It was a bit more than half a mile from the road — and from a dirt road at that, in North Deer Isle, Maine. An even smaller dirt road ran by it. “It was set up like a hunter might need quick cash for a cup of coffee in the middle of the woods,” said Hancock County Sheriff’s Detective Steve McFarland. The machine was intact — no one had broken into it to extract cash — but even when supplied with electricity, it did not operate. McFarland suspects it was taken out of service and abandoned. He wants its owner to collect it from him “and dispose of it more appropriately.” (AC/Bangor Daily News) ...$500 may be fine for littering, but an empty ATM isn’t.