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Unusual trade-in: Expensive diamond ring found under seat of car at Danville dealership

August 24, 2007|ROSS JOHNSON

When Butch Crain, an employee at Bob Allen Motor Mall, went to clean out another trade-in, a three-year-old GMC Envoy, earlier this week, he probably expected to find the typical things: loose change, old receipts, maybe day-old french fries.

He never expected to find a diamond ring, which may have been lost for three years.

"I raised up the backseat because that's where the jack is. I was going to look back there," Crain says. "And I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I saw it gleaming. And there it lay."

Crain discovered a diamond ring, apparently owned by the previous owners of the vehicle, Wayne and Marcia Southworth of Nicholasville.

"I never in all my years have seen something like this," Crain says. "It sure is a nice one."

Intergrity

A man with an honest heart, Crain turned in the ring to his supervisor, David Baker, who was equally surprised by the rare find. But what meant more to Baker was the integrity of his co-worker.

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"I was really taken by the honesty of the story," says Baker. "People always are quick to jump on the negative about car dealerships. I often hear 'I got a bad deal from this dealer' and things like that. But we're not all bad."

Once Baker learned about the ring, he made an effort to contact both the plant where the Envoy was made and the previous owners of the car.

However, Baker says, the plant was closed down since the Envoy was manufactured three years ago. On the side, just to satisfy his own curiosity, Baker also contacted a local jeweler to determine the worth of the ring.

"I found out it was worth quite a bit. It's a valuable ring," says Baker.

Since the Southworths were the original owners of the Envoy, the next step in the process was to contact them and give them a chance to claim the ring. They could not be reached today for comment.

Crain believes that honesty is the best policy. A Mitchellsburg native, Crain credits his parents with instilling in him that vital virtue.

"I've always been taught to be honest. It's been drilled into me."

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