Very Lucky Lady

Hi folks, the following was taken from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this morning. I feel it is important to convey to public that there are hard working cab drivers out there. most of us try to live our life the same way that this driver does. Most of us don't try and take our fares on a tour of the city when they are only going a few blocks. Enjoy: Cabbie returns woman’s bag of valuables
Fla. woman spends weekend searching for missing diamonds, watch, electronics
By BEN SMITH, RACHEL TOBIN RAMOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, February 02, 2009
Someone else might have kept the diamond jewelry, the expensive wat ch, the iPod and the digital camera left in Miki Cooper’s lost bag.
But Walter Fernandez, the taxi driver who found Cooper’s bag and its expensive contents on the floor of his minivan, returned it to20her.


LOUIE FAVORITE/lfavorite@ajc.com
Walter Fernandez, a Uruguay native, has lived in Atlanta for 20 years and driven a cab for 10.
Explained the 64-year-old native of Uruguay: “It wasn’t mine.”
Cooper, a resident of Naples, Fla., spent a frantic Saturday evening and Sunday morning trying to find the bag.
Among the bag’s contents, she said, were three diamond rings, two one-carat diamond stud earrings and a Rolex watch. Cooper said the items were worth thousands of dollars.
“When I realized what I did, I was mortified,” Cooper said.
She called cab companies and the Atlanta Bureau of Taxi Services, but they were closed.
Cooper looked in the phone book for the number of the taxi driver named “Walter” who drove her and her pet Shih Tzu, Tatiana, to The Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead. She wasn’t entirely certain of his last name but she called the number and left a message.
On Sunday morning, cab drivers parked outside the hotel told Cooper they knew the minivan driver with the “WALTER” license plate.
=0 A
Cooper called Crown Taxi Cab Co., Fernandez’s employer, but nobody was there. So she drove to the Tucker address attached to the telephone number she thought belonged to Fernandez.
Meanwhile, Fernandez had called the Ritz-Carlton about the bag he’d found. He’s lived in Atlanta 20 years, driven a cab for 10. He said he remembered Cooper, whose passport he discovered in the black bag.
Shortly after that, Fernandez said he received a call from his wife, who told him Cooper was at the front door.
Upon delivering the bag to the hotel, Fernandez said Cooper hugged and kissed him and gave him a $200 reward.
“She was contentissima,” Fernandez said, “Very happy.”