Man pays library $171, 47-year late fee

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syscom3

Pacific Historian
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Jun 4, 2005
Orange County, CA
From the lighter side of the news.....

HANCOCK, Mich. - Robert Nuranen handed the local librarian a book he'd checked out for a ninth-grade assignment — along with a check for 47 years' worth of late fees.

Nuranen said his mother misplaced the copy of "Prince of Egypt" while cleaning the house. The family came across it every so often, only to set it aside again. He found it last week while looking through a box in the attic.

"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. "Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."

The book, with its last due date stamped June 2, 1960, was part of the young Nuranen's fascination with Egypt. He went on to visit that country and 54 others, and all 50 states, he said, but he never did finish the book.

Nuranen now lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches seventh-grade social studies and language arts.

The library had long ago lost any record of the book, librarian Sue Zubiena said.

"I'm going to use it as an example," she said. "It's never too late to return your books.

Man pays library $171, 47-year late fee - Yahoo! News
 
$147 isn't that much for 47 years! I payed around 800Kč when I kept books for more then two months extra a few years back. I had like 10 of them. 800Kč is exactly $21,50. now imagine how much would I pay if I'd keep it for 47 years!!!

That is...
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$12,126!!!!
 
so few Americans use libraries they're obviously in no rush to get the books back

Ummmm........ my city is getting a brand new library this spring.

A few years back, my neighboring city (Tustin) had a mjor renovation and expansion of their library.

Back in the 80's and 90's when I lived in the South Bay area, Redondo Beach and Rolling Hills both had brand new libraries built. Torrance had a HUGE expansion of their library.

My college I attend just completed a huge brand spanking new library. Opened last summer.

Once again Lancaster opens his mouth before putting his brain in gear.
 
:lol:

But trust me, my job is to work with Americans and some of them are so dumb!!! Once one girl asked me if we have also eggs with both glair and yelk in it - she wanted to have an omolet in a café. (!!!)

If we have water pipeline, flushing toilets or TV's and such like are quite often questions...

I wouldn't say Americans are uneducated, by they know only the US but nothing else...

"We have blacks in the US. Do you have blacks, too?"
- George W. bush to Brasilian president
 
I wouldn't say Americans are uneducated, by they know only the US but nothing else...

I work with many people who are quite smart in one thing or another.

I've also met plenty of Europeans that thought they were smart but hardly were.

I know US and Asian history. Do you?
 
:!: Sure, don't take me wrong, I'm the last one to generalise! Generalising - especially among the national theme might very quickly slip to stereotypes. And from stereotypes, there is only a very short step to hatred and wars. :!:

I am an amateur historian, so I think I know quite something about history.

I am just sometimes really amazed about Americans' "self-centrism". It is not that they would do it actively. They are grown up in this kinda attitude - that America is the "belly of the world" (a Czech saying) and everything out of there is kinda less important. By the way, Borat proved that fantastically.

I don't say EVERY AMERICAN IS LIKE THAT! I know and meet people who know much more then I do, of course.

And sys, you know Asian history because your wife's from that region, am I right?
 
sys knowing one area of history doesn't give you the right to act all superior to others, by virtue of the fact we're here to learn we're smarter than your average American, there're things you know that few others here will know, but there're things i know that other's don't the same is true for absolutely everyone here, heck even matt's an electrical engineer :lol: don't play the education game with us.............
 
sys knowing one area of history doesn't give you the right to act all superior to others, by virtue of the fact we're here to learn we're smarter than your average American, there're things you know that few others here will know, but there're things i know that other's don't the same is true for absolutely everyone here, heck even matt's an electrical engineer :lol: don't play the education game with us.............

You seem to have this strange impression that Americans are uneducated.
 
a view supported by many americans on the site, of course i'm not saying there aren't uneducated Brits, i was simply objecting to you getting on your heigh "I've got a degree" horse..........
 
Well, I can kinda support Lanc's statement. It is a very different style of those US and European (Czech) educational systems. Once you have very good Universities but really poor Grammar Schools, we have very strict and demanding schools and especially High School are very though to go through. You have to learn simply everything - Math,. Physics, Chemistry, Languages, History, Geography, Psychology, Biology...

I see it at the place where I work. It is an American University focused on Czech and Central European Studies - most of the folks who come here from the States (the study lenght is 6 Months) know simply nothing about Europe, even mentioning the Czech Republic...
 

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