A buck for your thoughts

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Some dollar bills offer profanity, crude sketches and inside jokes. Others offer the heartfelt, celebrate a marriage or honor a fallen soldier.

Hundreds have added their personalized bills to the walls of O'Malley's Alley since the Irish-themed pub opened in Aggieville eight years ago. This increasing collection of marred currency allows O'Malley's patrons -- locals, soldiers and students -- to leave their mark.

A bill from a soldier from Fort Riley is taped next to a bill marked by a sorority member from Kansas State University. A bill that says "Call me the Breeze" is near a bill that simply says "You Know." Some bills celebrate K-State victories; others degrade the University of Kansas.

"Anything goes," says bar manager Paul Aslin, sitting on a stool where the first marked bills went up.

Several recurring themes appear on the bills. Couples express their love, as in "Diane +Joey 04/01/04."

There are many pop culture references. A few bills offer advice: "People see you as they want to see you -- ignore them."

Birthday congratulations are also popular.

Some bills feature songs, "Hey Jude," or bands, "Slayer" and "God bless the Pembertons."

Many bills celebrate college graduation and apartment locations.

Dollar bills now line every wall of the original O'Malley's Alley at 1210 Moro St. When the bar expanded several years ago, the tradition of putting up dollar bills went with it. About a dozen newly marked bills are added to the wall on a busy weekend. How and why the first bill went up is a mystery, Aslin says.

The total number of bills that adorn O'Malley's walls also remains somewhat of a mystery; nobody has taken the time required to count them. Aslin says occasionally bartenders will try to count them all, but such efforts end in vain.

The bills are stacked as many as 30 high on the wall behind the bars and a number of bills have even been taped to the ceiling. In the new part of the bar, the rows start behind the Tanqueray and gin bottles and go around the bathrooms to the pool table on the other side.

Many patrons ask how they can put up a dollar. Aslin says it's simple. The bartender supplies the black marker and tape and the patron supplies the dollar bill.

Although the majority of bills are of the one U.S. dollar variety, there are several foreign nations, as well as a few fake bills.

The federal government does, by the way, have a rule on the books about defacing United States currency. On its Web site, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing cites Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code, which restricts people from mutilating, cutting, disfiguring, perforating or uniting U.S. money. It's unclear whether marking a dollar bill constitutes a federal crime; local police haven't receiver any complaints or concerns about the bills.

"Everyone is real respectful of the dollar bills," Aslin says. "Occasionally, though, you get someone who'll take one down to pay for a drink." (The bar does not honor such tender.)

Bartender Eric Barton said he's yet to put up his own dollar but he can tell they mean something to the patrons -- be they soldiers, students, alumni or otherwise. "A lot of people come in just to see their bill, especially during football games," he says. "They don't even get a drink."

"Some people will come back and scan the walls," Aslin says. "They say, 'I did this when I was 21' or something. It's their way of leaving their mark. People from all walks of life come in and leave a dollar bill. I think it's pretty cool. It gives us a unique history."