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Show Bad Checks: They're A Crime, Too Just as more of the "city crimes" have come to our rural areas, so has the need of more precautions to deal with them. But unfortunately, most of us who have lived in rural areas all our lives, are not up-to-date in our thinking that crime really exists here to the extent it is here. Last week's "Hands-Up" program pointed out that not only do we have nearly every kind of crime on record, right here, but two-thirds of these crimes are committed by people who live among us. The criminal element will always be with us, but there are ways which can be implemented by everyone to discourage and sometimes prevent a crime from happening. But what about the slippery type, such as the bad check artist, or those who willfully write bad checks? This, too, is a crime against society and each of us, as the law enforcement agencies and courts must deal with them at taxpayers' expense. Nearly every merchant, has experience with bad checks. And often the too-trusting merchant gets stuck with them often. Just as the slogan in the fight against shop-u' lifting states, the public really pays. ,. Slowing down the rate of bad checks can be accomplished by demanding more identification if there is a question. Persons who are caught in the act of passing bad checks should have complaints sworn against them or they will go right on doing the same thing. Courts should impose heavier fines and demand full restitution for bad check cases. The problem will probably never be solved as long as there are criminals about and bad check artists are criminals. But the public can be protected to some degree by using more caution in their dealings with persons who use checks as a means of payment, and that's just about everyone. |