Good deed earns treats

GREAT FALLS – Samantha Vaughan, of Belt, Mont., was waiting in line at a food booth at the Montana State Fair on Sunday when she saw a woman in front of her kick some trash. She noticed money among the rubbish, and stooped to pick up what she thought was a $10 bill.

“I said, ‘Shouldn’t we return this?’ ” Samantha, 9, said during an interview Wednesday.

Her mother, Kathy Jenkins, looked at the folded bill in Samantha’s hand and quickly recognized that it was, in fact, a $100 bill. The pair did as Samantha suggested and returned the money.

“That was huge,” Kathy Jenkins said of her daughter’s choice to return the money. “That was her first reaction.”

On Wednesday, Samantha was rewarded for doing the right thing by the man who lost the C-note, Jim Cole, owner of Montana Luxury Limo.

Cole treated Samantha and several of her friends to a limo ride to Dairy Queen, where the ice cream was on him.

“That was so fantastic,” Samantha said, high-fiving Cole after eating her Blizzard.

“It was really, really fun.”

Cole said he was transporting people from the game show “Jeopardy!” to and from a fair booth last Sunday. When he had a free moment, he went over to the Sons of Norway food stand to get a Viking – a deep fried meatball on a stick – when the stand opened at 11 a.m.

“I got my Viking and left,” he said.

About 30 minutes later, Samantha picked up the bill, which apparently fell out of Cole’s wallet when he paid for his food.

“It’d be a real temptation at the fair for a little kid,” he said of the found money.

Cole didn’t realize he had lost the $100 until he went to pay for an ice cream cone at about 2 p.m.

In the meantime, Samantha found the money and asked the people working the Sons of Norway booth whether anyone had asked about a missing $100. No one had, but the workers told her she could take the money to the fair administration office.

After turning the money in and providing their names, Kathy and Samantha returned to the food booth, where Samantha was given a free Viking for her good deed.

Hours later, Cole was at the Viking booth asking about his dropped $100 when he was told a young girl had picked it up and turned it in. After claiming his money, Cole tried to get in contact with Samantha to thank her. At about 8 p.m., Kathy and Samantha checked in with the fair office and were put in touch with Cole.

“I was going to offer her $20, and I got to thinking I’ve got this big, white car,” Cole said.

He extended the limo and ice cream offer, which Samantha gladly accepted.

“She’s having one of the best days ever,” Kathy Jenkins said Wednesday.

“Today was worth way more than 100 bucks,” Samantha said after downing her Blizzard. “Today was great.”