Public works employees' good deeds pay off Workers comb trash for ill woman's wedding, engagement rings BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer All in the line of duty. That's what Assistant Public Works Supervisor Arthur W. Childs Jr. calls Brick Township employees' efforts to locate three rings that belonged to a gravely ill woman recently, after the rings had been accidentally thrown in the trash. Her husband had taken her rings for her when she was in the hospital and brought them home for safekeeping, Childs said. He put them in a zip-lock bag and left the bag on the counter. His mother-in-law was tidying up the kitchen later on and accidentally threw the bag in the garbage, he said. "It sounds like it's above and beyond the call of duty," Childs said. "But we've done it in the past." The garbage truck, which can hold the contents of up to 350 96- gallon cans, was only two and a half miles from the Ocean County landfill in Manchester Township when Childs was able to contact the driver. He told him to turn around and head for the township's recycling center on Ridge Road. The standard procedure to search for a lost item in the trash is to slowly dump portions of the load onto a concrete pad at the recycling center, Childs said. "We try and get an idea of where the item might be," he said. "This was in a Ziploc bag. He told us what type of bags they were using. It was white, a small ribbed bag, not smooth, with a red tie at the top. That narrowed it down." Sometimes workers can find an item by dumping only a partial load. That didn't happen in this case, Childs said. The woman's husband was even able to remember what was in the garbage bag that previous night, down to the Chinese food the family had ordered, Childs said. The husband, who helped Childs, assistant supervisor Gary Avazier and truck drivers Robert Seipel and Jim Stapleton sift through the trash, was pleased and grateful when the rings were found, he said. "We were just glad he was able to get such an important item back," Childs said. "It's a good feeling. I'm a Christian. God always has his hand in everything." The sooner a resident can notify the Public Works Department about a lost item, the better, Childs said. Drivers can determine what street the truck was on recently and track the load back from there, he said. "He will know what's in the truck," Childs said. "Call public works as soon as possible. Tell them you are sure it's in the truck. We will call the driver and see what the situation is with his load." But once the trash is in the landfill, it's too late. "It's gone," he said.