Etc.

Hey, I'm just glad I could help

Picture the stereotypical biker. He's probably middle-aged and on the burly side, right? With a black leather vest, gray beard and moustache, and a bandanna on his head. That's pretty much how Monte Kirk looks. But underneath that rugged appearance beats a heart of gold. We know this because of a ride he'd been taking near his home in West Point, Utah. Astride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, he spotted a small black box in the street. So he stopped to pick it up and examine the contents, which turned out to be the engagement ring that young Tyler Jones had intended to offer his girlfriend, Amanda Anderson. Alas, it had blown off the hood of Amanda's car before he remembered he'd left it there. Tyler and his family searched exhaustively for the ring and, in desperation, placed an ad in the lost-and-found section of the Ogden Standard-Examiner. When, after a week, there was no response, he decided to propose marriage anyway and buy Amanda another ring. What the Joneses didn't realize was that Monte Kirk had seen the ad and was trying to phone them, without success. Finally, on the morning Tyler was preparing to pop the question, Kirk made connections. He asked for a detailed description of the ring and, satisfied that it was the one in question, hopped on his motorcycle and delivered it. And then he turned down a $100 reward. The ring, a diamond valued at $3,000, "wasn't rightfully mine," he said. "I had to find the owner. Anyone else would have done the same thing." Oh, by the way, Amanda said "yes."