Say it ain't so...Cammarano

The Sidewalker Mailbag has been canceled this Friday due to the stunning swoop and following arrests made in the local area by the F.B.I. on Thursday. Read on...

By looking at my Cash Trail map in the side bar on the right, you don't have to be Christopher Columbus to figure out that Castle Sidewalker is located somewhere in the dark recesses of Hudson County, New Jersey. For my readers from further afield, you may be familiar with this area as it is the "playground" of Tony Soprano, from the HBO series The Sopranos. Right now I wished we lived in the fictitious world of The Sopranos, as that would be more believable than the events that unfolded here early on Thursday morning. Once again the national spotlight shined brightly on Hudson County for all the wrong reasons. The Mayor of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano, was arrested for allegedly receiving payments from a property developer for preferential treatment at the local zoning board. The indictment does actually include the passing of brown envelopes stuffed with cash in the parking lot of a local diner, I kid you not! However I am not going to rush to judgement (that is not the way of the Sidewalker), I'll just wait and let the legal system run it's course. What I do find remarkable about the arrest is that the Mayor had only been in office for 23 days. Unfortunately most Mayors around these parts get arrested at some point during their 4 year term; but 23 days, come on, that has to be some kind of a record! Can anyone out there beat that?

It may turn out to be that I'm not the only one who has been picking up cash in Hoboken! I have come to the conclusion that Hoboken may be the only town in America that can compete with Chicago when it comes to political corruption. If you were to measure corruption per capita, Hoboken really knocks it out of the park; which is rather ironic as it is also known as the "birthplace of baseball".

In other news, I have arrived at a solution for the now infamous Starbucks Gift Card. I shall reveal it's fate on Monday, so be sure to check back in then.

Have a great weekend...


-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Starbucks Redux

If you remember a week or so ago I found a Starbucks gift card at a bus stop in Hoboken. The full story of finding it can be found here. After much publicizing of my find, and after a couple of opportunist attempts to claim the card by interlopers, the true owner has not come forward.

I can now reveal the amount outstanding on the card is $10. This sum of money would give an incredible boost to the Sidewalker Fund, but we are left with a couple of questions. Firstly how am I to monetize this find? Secondly, even if I can monetize it, is it within the spirit of my quest to add it to the total?

So let's look at my options:

1. I can stand outside a Starbucks and offer to buy people coffee for cash. I recall this being done in movie not so long ago, but I can't recollect which one.

2. Reader(s) of the blog could bid for the $10 value of the gift card, you may even get it at a discount!

3. I'm meeting a reporter this week who potentially wants to do an article about my adventures, we just happen to be meeting in a Starbucks. Perhaps I could use the card there, in order to break the ice at the interview.

Any thoughts on how I deal with this would be most welcome. Or are you a purist, and think I should not include the proceeds of this find in the Sidewalker Fund at all? Let me know what you are thinking...


-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Penny Finders Wish List & Other Rarities

Ever since I found that 1957 Wheat Back penny last week I have done some more research into the different types of pennies in circulation. Now that I have got the concept in my head that not all pennies are created equal, I decided to draw up a wish list of those I would like to find in the street. So in no particular order here goes.

1. 1943 Steel Cent. During the Second World War there was a shortage of copper, so the 1943 pennies were made from zinc coated steel. The only US issued coin ever to be made from steel.

2. Indian Head Cent. Struck between 1859 and 1909.

3. All four 2009 Lincoln Cents. These four special edition pennies will have different scenes from Lincoln's life on the reverse.

While I'm on the subject of rarities, a Government bureaucrat in Washington spoke the truth today. If you want to see what it looks like when members of our "free" press, (in this case a financial cable tv channel, bought and paid for by the bankers) try to sandbag said official, then click on this link to the Market Ticker blog run by Karl Denninger and enjoy. If the subject matter does not make you feel queasy, the treatment of the Inspector General for TARP, Mr. Barofsky definitely will! I'm just the man in the street (albeit picking up change), but when Congress signed off on TARP wasn't it $700 Billion, how did we get to $23.7 Trillion (with a T, that is no typo)? I feel like Rip Van Winkle, did I fall asleep and miss something?

Just to stress this blog is apolitical, but the Sidewalker's don't like getting robbed just like the majority of you out there. When I see a wrong, not matter what part of the political spectrum it emanates from, I call it! As a taxpayer, Mr. Barofsky maybe our only hope...


-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.16 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Baltimore Bonanza!

OK, so the post title is a little liberal with the truth, but our trip to Baltimore did yield 51 cents for the Sidewalker Fund. The purpose of the trip was to visit our good friend Captain Tinkerson, and his lovely wife Dr. Tinkerson. We were once again overwhelmed by the generosity of their hosting. However Cap'n Tinkerson comes from a long line of well decorated salty sea dogs, and it was hard to refuse his offer of a days sailing around the Inner Harbor on his barque, the good ship Spiller. The downside of this nautical extravaganza was the lack of coin finding opportunities on the open sea, so this took a real bite out of our predicted total for the trip. The highlight of the sail was when Sidewalker Jr. said, "Daddy there is a big boat behind us". To which I replied, "Don't be ridiculous son, we would...", just as five loud blasts from it's horn indicated we should move aside lest we get holed and sunk by the massive tugboat. I can confirm that Baltimore is still very much a working port!

The two most noticeable finds were the penny found in the demonstration of the steering mechanism on the pier next to the USS Constellation, and a quarter that Cap'n Tinkerson pointed out to us at the National Aquarium. I think he was trying to make up for the sailing debacle. Also Light Street was like a penny arcade, evidence of this can be seen in my Cash Trail Map in the side bar to the right, as I have plotted all the Baltimore finds already.

As we strolled around the inner harbor, I remarked to Cap'n Tinkerson that the local folk down here seem to dress real strange. After a raucous belly laugh befitting of his status as a "man of the sea", the Cap'n explained that Baltimore was hosting an Anime (Japanese cartoon characters) convention, and the fans like to dress up in the spirit of the event. My bad!

The picture above is a Sidewalker original of the transom of the USS Constellation, the restoration work done on this old Man O' War is quite exquisite. I would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the Baltimore Inner Harbor area. Likewise the Aquarium is a must see, and the dolphin show was a big hit with the kids.

So the window to claim my found Starbucks gift card has expired. Later this week we will explore the possibilities of how we are to proceed with this find.


-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.92 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Traveling Circus

As much as I would like to write a multi-paragraph rant today about how, as a taxpayer, I feel I have been fleeced by Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and their record breaking earnings announced yesterday. Unfortunately I just don't have the time right now, as we are setting out on our road trip. And alas, right there, I have become part of the problem, and not part of the solution...

Instead I am just finishing the partition wall made out of our baggage in the back seat of the Sidewalker jalopy. This wall needs to be built so that World War III does not break out in the rear, when Sidewalker Jr. sees Little Miss Sidewalker shove the last piece of his traveling magnetic checkers set in her mouth around Exit 7 on the New Jersey Turnpike.

So without wasting anymore time lets move swiftly on to the ultimate clue in our destination teaser.

Clue #1: The target is a port city on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Clue #2: The target is South of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Clue #3: The target is the final port of call for the USS Constellation


-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.39 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)