No Deadbeat

$40,000 for Uncle

Never owe anybody anything--my mother always told me that." says Bachelor Walter Sala, 70. "When they bury me, I'm even with the world." That includes the U.S. Social Security system.

Sala, a first-generation Polish American who is a retired carnival and sports concessionaire, lives alone in Apollo Beach, Fla., in an $11,000, 60-ft. mobile home that he purchased with cash. He moved there five years ago, when a boil turned gangrenous, a complication of the diabetic condition that disabled him. Since then, Sala has drawn some $26,000 in Social Security and Medicare payments. He was legally entitled to every cent. Yet, to repay that amount and cover an estimated $14,000 in future benefits, he has willed $40,000 from his estate to revert to the financially distressed Social Security system. Says he: "I'm an American, and that's like being born a billionaire." At the Social Security Administration's Tampa office, District Manager Elizabeth Lowe advised him of a 1972 law authorizing bequests to the system by citizens. Says Lowe: "It's a joy to hear from a man like this."

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