A Reward In Itself

In light of Jasper Schuringa's heroism on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas day, I thought this story was somehow relevant...

Yesterday's Asbury Park Press talks about how much reward money offered is actually collected when a "civilian" bags a bad guy:

Crime doesn't pay, and in New Jersey, tipsters often don't collect.

Officials say many of the good Samaritans who turn in thieves, rapists and killers often turned down the reward money.

In Union County, many tipsters didn't accept the money when tips on unsolved crimes paid out between $100-$500. But Union County Crimestopper chairman Ronald Posyton says that when the reward was raised to $1,000, nearly everyone took the money.

Now $1K is nice money, and Union is a fairly lower-middle class to poor city, so that $1K means a lot. So go ahead, take it. But it's not necessarily the norm:

In Morris County, where rewards are up to $1,000, nine of 10 times they go unclaimed.

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura says although rewards there are up to $5,000 for a murder and $10,000 for tips on the killing of a police officer, less than 20 percent of callers take the cash.

Fontoura says tipsters are usually just interested in doing the right thing.

But Americans always are; perhaps never embodied better than the heroes of United Flight #93. But there are plenty of day-to-day heroes as well, that help keep their neighborhoods safe and hunt down criminals in their own way, while never thinking about taking any money for doing what is simply right.

It's a little thing that bothers liberals, incidentally. How can they say we need to be protected from our countrymen and cared for by the state from cradle to grave, when all of the available evidence proves we are more than capable of taking care of ourselves?

The same liberals are the ones who always tell us to leave things to "the proper authorities", or to do nothing, and call the police (whatever you do, don't arm yourself - it's dangerous, you may hurt someone!).

In other words...leave it to them. 'Cause they hate being shown up by the likes of Jasper Schuringa (a Dutchman, incidentally), and the average citizen like you and me. Because if the elites are really not that elite after all, why...that whole liberal belief system can come crashing right down....