Created: 3/10/2007 3:21:41 PM 
PLAINS, GA (AP) -- A retired south-Georgia farmer was surprised when a check from Enterprise, Alabama, landed in a dirt road at his 250 acre farm just hours after powerful tornadoes hit Enterprise.
Seventy-seven-year-old Jack Short can only surmise it was carried on the wind more than 100 miles from Enterprise, hours before a tornado devastated nearby Americus.
He said today -- quote -- "It came from Alabama, I reckon."
Unfortunately it's not exactly a windfall because the check was only for three dollars-88 cents and it was cashed in 1970.
Short, who now rents most of his 250-acre farm to younger farmers, said he spotted the check yesterday afternoon while making a daily inspection of his property and looking over his 25-head of cattle.
He said -- quote -- "The tornado warnings were out and it was cloudy and raining. I saw a piece of paper laying in the road that wasn't there before. I had just heard on T-V that the school was hit in Enterprise."
His discovery came as the South and the Midwest were bombarded by tornadoes and thunderstorms that that killed eight students at the Enterprise high school and also left two people dead in Americus, a town of 17-thousand people about 130 miles south of Atlanta.
Short's farm is located about halfway between Americus and Plains, the hometown of former President Jimmy Carter. Plains escaped serious damage, but trees south of town were toppled by the high winds.
The check from Mr. and Mrs. James W- Riley was dated July 27th, 1970, and appears to be a payment to the Southeast Alabama Gas District. It is remarkably well preserved with only slight smudging, after its air mail delivery to the Short farm.
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