Man loses wedding ring in brush bin; Public Works employees step in



WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- With a toss, a West Allis man thought his wedding ring was gone forever -- but as it turns out, he found something else during his search.

"When we got married. The pastor blessed it. Very upsetting. Very upsetting," Brandon Villars said.

Villars found himself digging through a city of West Allis brush bin. Villars tossed some brush into the bin on March 15th -- and his wedding ring went with it.

"You lose a ring in a bin full of brush and branches and you just think, 'man, this is gone!'" Villars said.

Villars says he conducted a short search, but had to go get his last load of branches.

He returned to find two West Allis Public Works employees trying to find his ring.

"Unbelievable! I never expected anything like that," Villars said.

The Public Works employees who helped are Richard Kaczor and Dale Landergott.

"We dumped it out. It was a slim chance of finding it," Richard Kaczor with West Allis Public Works said.

The three looked through the large load until a little later than quitting time, when they decided to call off the search, clean up and head home.

"We had to take the loader and scoop up all the brush that they had gone through, and on the last, very last scoop, is when we found it!" Dale Landergott with West Allis Public Works said.

Lo and behold -- Villars beloved wedding ring.

"We’ve retrieved many things, but never a wedding ring," Kaczor said.

Villars says he's relieved to have the ring back, and thankful for the kindness of two strangers.

"Absolutely grateful. I didn’t have any words to say. I was like, you know—thanked them as much as I possibly could. I mean, that was just amazing!" Villars said.

Villars says he's been told city employees are not allowed to accept gifts -- but he says he plans to show his gratitude by writing a letter to West Allis' mayor.