Utah man cited for paying disputed bill with 2,500 pennies

reply to post by Bob Sholtz


They probably charged the dude 25 bucks for a paper cup he used to get a drink of water. That is how ridiculous the medical field has gotten. As for fining the guy, another BS "well meaning" law that is twisted and abused. Annoying people is not against the law.

There is a key question which is never asked. Let us turn the story around a bit. You friend owes you 20 dollars, he says no. You get in a fight over it and he goes home and gets 20 dollars in pennies and throws them inside your front door and says "we're even." He's mad he had to pay you and your mad he littered your carpet with pennies. Most people would never call the police. But lets say you decide to call the police because you simply didn't like your friend's attitude. The cops come and FINE your friend 125 dollars for being a jerk. Is that reasonable, why should the cops get 125 dollars for the dispute between the two of you, what did the cops do to earn that money? What if the cops fined YOU, or even BOTH of you and took 250.00 simply because you called them?

Now, let us assume the dentist AND the man are jerks. It is their responsibility to resolve it between themselves and there are a myriad of ways to resolve it. 2500 pennies was the mans way. But this dispute does NOT involve the state on any level, if it did a state person would have been there the entire time.

Question: Why does the STATE deserve to receive any money as a result of the dispute between you and your friend?

Question: Why does the STATE deserve to receive any money as a result of the dispute between this man and his dentist?

Question: Does the STATE deserve to receive money from every single dispute between anybody in which one or more people involved are simply unhappy with what has transpired?

Question: Why is the STATE involved at all?

Question: If the Policy Enforcement Officers determined there is a dispute, why don't they seek to resolve it, why do they simply tax the party THEY feel is wrong and why is it then the responsibility of that person to then PROVE the are not obligated to pay the fine?

Question: Why do so many people feel that a dispute, or bad behavior situation, must END with the STATE getting money?

Question: Why do people accept the standard slaves punishment as a way to curb or mitigate behavior? A slave was beaten when he did wrong and had his wages docked. Folks fully support the state - the slave master, taking away private property when they feel a person is wrong, wrong about anything, because the think it is the perfect way to CORRECT behavior. Why?

Money is money. I accumulate pennies (change from different purchases made) and then after a time I get some free penny wrappers from the bank and roll them. Then I spend.

Obviously this guy was angry and wanted to make a point..even though he paid the outstanding bill.

I do think law enforcement went too far on this one....especially when their are real criminals to be caught.

So he threw a few pennies and wanted them to count the pennies....everyone over-reacted on this one!

I have not read every post in this thread but from what I have read the charge is not so much for paying with pennies but for dumping them on the counter and floor. It seems that is being considered disorderly. I have had similar experiences. I keep my change and roll it when I get enough. I go to the grocery store and use it for food. I had the checker a roll of coins for payment. On several occasions they had it back saying "I don't think I can take rolled coins." When that first happened I just stood there giving them the biggest glare my face could possible muster. I did not take the rolled coins back. I the checker did make me take them back I was going to open one end and dump them on her counter and say, "now there not rolled." The checker did eventually take them. It took all of about 20 to 30 seconds to open one end and do a quick count. I guess it is a good thing they did not make me take them back, if they had I would have probably been arrested also.

I wonder if he will pay his fine in pennies too

i cant believe i read posts by human beings condoning the use of police force against a man because of the fact that workers were upset or mad that pennies were "strewn about the floor"


police, for pennies on the floor