She purchased a new one for her cleaning service after her previous $800 vacuum was taken off of Highland Street Nov. 8. Rodgerson said an elderly lady picked up the vacuum after it fell out of her trunk in broad daylight, before driving away from the scene with it. 

 

The Highlander published the story Nov. 15, noting the vacuum cleaner could be returned to Canoe FM, no questions asked. The same day, the vacuum was returned there. 

 

“I was very pleased and surprised that I got my very much needed vacuum cleaner back,” Rodgerson said. 

 

The vacuum is in working condition and came along with a long-handled duster, which Rodgerson said she had not even realized had also fallen from her trunk. 

 

“It’s a little battered from where it fell on the asphalt,” Rodgerson said. “But it does work.” 

 

Patricia Joan Whitmore said she was the person who took the vacuum cleaner and returned it after reading about it in the newspaper. She said she came upon it abandoned in the middle of the street and removed it, fearing it could cause an accident. Whitmore said she always intended to return the vacuum once she knew whom it belonged to. 

 

“I had no interest in keeping it. I didn’t care for the vacuum itself,” Whitmore said. “I planned on returning it as soon as I found out who owned it.” 

 

Rodgerson said she made efforts to wave down the person who took the vacuum Nov. 8 and cut them off with her own vehicle. But Whitmore said she had not noticed any such efforts when she took the vacuum cleaner. She added she had not heard the radio notices on Canoe FM regarding the missing vacuum. 

 

Whitmore said she never used the vacuum cleaner while she had it and it was in her character to return it.

 

“Because I’m not a thief and I’m not a liar,” Whitmore said. “I tried to be honest.” 

 

Rodgerson was not present at Canoe FM when the vacuum was returned but said she would thank the individual who returned it. 

 

“Thank you for doing the right thing,” Rodgerson said. “Thank you for your honesty.” 

 

The event has helped restore her faith in Haliburton, she said. 

 

“It just made me feel good about living in Haliburton again,” she said. “People doing the right thing in the end.”