LOST AND FOUND

Robert McCoy, supervisor of the scientific investigation unit for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, displayed a box filled with keys which owners had lost in the city over the years.

If the little things in life bring the greatest joy, it's only fair that little, unexpected events can also spark plenty of aggravation.

Ask anyone who has reached for keys, only to find the pocket empty -- losing even the smallest tools used in everyday life is no fun. Most folks know the feeling.

Those who operate public buildings or areas where large numbers gather recognize this tendency humans have of being unable to keep up with their stuff. Fortunately, most larger gathering places also have departments that handle lost and found reports.

So, what's being left behind?

"There's a whole bunch of people out there that can't get in their houses or cars because they left their keys here," said Chuck Keppler, director of Human Resources at Southeast Missouri Hospital. "I'm surprised at the amount of keys we generally have at any time."

Sunglasses are next on the list of items that are apparently lost by visitors at the hospital, Keppler said.

Occasionally prescription glasses, or a watch, a ring, a single earring or even a pocket knife will surface, he said, noting that most of the items go unclaimed.

"We've had hubcaps turned in, radios and umbrellas," said Rick Fehr, security and communication department director at St. Francis Medical Center. Money has been found on occasion and, Fehr said, "there's always dentures and hearing aids and eyeglasses."

Some calls come from patients, many calls from visitors.

Granted, for some, calling on a friend who is ill and in the hospital could be a stressful situation and contribute to erratic behavior. But Geoff Roth, director of Riverside Regional Library, noted that even libraries accumulate surprising items that have been left behind.

"The thing we find most is what gets left in books," Roth said. He's found pet identification tags and even money stuffed between pages. A library staff member added Cardinal baseball tickets to the list of found items.

However, Roth is unsure of why one particular item was left in a book. "My all-time favorite thing I've ever found in a book was a fried egg," he said, chuckling. "That's the strangest thing in all my years that I've ever run across."

Hotels, on the other hand, are natural places for people to leave things behind. After all, the occupant may have overslept, or an exceptionally exciting vacation day may beckon.

Bathing suits are familiar items in the found records hotels keep. "They leave them on the back of the door," said Mike Barger, executive housekeeper at Victorian Inn in Cape Girardeau. When it comes to exiting occupants, "Nobody ever looks up or looks on the back of the door," Barger said.

All kinds of clothing, pillows, jewelry, shoes and books are a few items often left at hotels by mistake.

Darlene Barnhart, manager of Days Inn in Jackson, once found a camcorder beside a hotel pool. "People leave all kinds of things," she said. "We've got enough shampoo to last no telling how long," she quipped.

But other, less likely items are also left at hotels more often than one might think. False teeth were found twice last month, Barger said. Plus, he noted, "Somebody called once and swore up and down that he left (false teeth) on the table, but we couldn't find them."

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri could help pet owners reunite with their lost pets more often, if the owners would only call. Animals from a big portion of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, no doubt many of them lost, find their way through various channels to the Cape Girardeau center.

"Lots of times, people don't think to call," said Lisa Foster, adoption counselor at the Humane Society. The center takes lost reports and found reports, she explained. "People don't need to wait three or four days to see if the pet comes home," she said. "They need to file a lost report as soon as they lose the animal."

A pygmy goat, a potbelly pig and even a pigeon are among the more unusual animals to have made one list or another.

Occasionally, somebody beats the odds, and a possession that is seemingly lost forever is found.

Just last week Patrolman Rick Schmidt of the Cape Girardeau Police Department saw a woman experience the simple joy of finding lost keys.

Keys reported as found are put in a box with "a jillion" other keys at the department, Schmidt said. The woman, Schmidt recalled, "pulled that box out and her face just lit up when she saw those keys. There they were, right on the top."

In the three years Schmidt has worked at the site, it's the first time he has seen someone retrieve their lost keys from the box.

The department usually has quite a number of license plates and eyeglasses that have apparently been lost, noted Detective Patrolman Robert McCoy. Many of the items are brought to police by people who happen to find them.

"Four or five months ago, we had a tape player for the blind, it was turned in here as found property. It had a state of Missouri stamp on it and we were able to contact Jefferson City, track it down and see who the owner was," McCoy noted. A bow and arrow set and a wallet were among items that remained unclaimed last week. Lost and found reports are coordinated by the scientific investigation unit.

The individual who left a certain garment in a taxi didn't report the loss, at least not to Yellow Cab Co. A dispatcher with the local taxi service said the "weirdest" thing he knew of as having been found in a cab was a brassiere. Instances of left notebooks, books, laundry and even groceries are fairly common, he said.

Jim Govro, general manager of West Park Mall, is accustomed to seeing all kinds of things accidentally left behind. Shoes, pacifiers, wallets, purses, coats, umbrellas, single gloves, all are typical items found by mall personnel.

But there's more. "We've had some people lose their cars and just leave, leave their cars and go home," Govro said. Smaller, but still quite important items, like a retainer and partial plate are among other lost items Govro has come across in the mall environment.

There is lost and found of another nature, too. "We have lost parents all the time, but we never have lost children," the mall general manager said, chuckling. "The kids are waiting in the toy store or the pet store," he hypothesized. "The kids know exactly where to go, the parents just don't know where to look."