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March 31, 2008

Typos still dog treasurer

The general treasurer’s office was embarrassed last week after the release of its annual list of unclaimed property such as inactive bank accounts.

The cover of the 48-page publication features money falling from the sky toward an outstretched pair of hands accompanied by the big black letters, “Check the following pages of the 2008 Rhode Island Unclaimed Propery List!”

Did you miss the typo? Most dictionaries spell “property” with a T.

“I think everyone was so happy with the design that we overlooked the typo,” Treasurer Frank T. Caprio’s spokesman, Peter Kerwin, told Political Scene.

The treasurer’s office reports that 433,500 copies of the publication were printed at a cost to taxpayers of $48,461.03. The inserts were distributed to The Providence Journal, Woonsocket Call, Pawtucket Times, the Westerly Sun, Newport Daily News, RI Newspaper Group, Providence Phoenix, Portuguese Times, Providence En Espanol and the Federal Hill Gazette.

This was the second consecutive year that the annual publication has raised eyebrows for misspellings on its cover.

Last year, the cover featured the image of a check made out to Treasurer Caprio. But his last name was spelled wrong. And on the line above Caprio’s — or Capiro’s — name, the word “dollars” was spelled “dallars.”

The treasurer’s staff at the time said the misspellings were deliberate. They were meant as a deterrent for would-be check forgers who might try to scan the check image, alter it on a computer, and cash it for payment.

The same couldn’t be said for this year’s error.

“The treasurer has made it clear that as good as the cover looks, having that kind of a mistake is just unacceptable, so we will make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Kerwin said.

Posted by Pam Cotter  at 9:29 AM | Permalink

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