Humor in Official Documents

I followed a link from ibrattleboro.com to a Vermont State Auditor's report on financial inconsistencies at the Windham County Sheriff's Department. It is available at http://www.state.vt.us/sao/reviews/WCSD_FINAL.pdf. So far my favorite bit is part that was also posted on ibrattleboro, but I feel compelled to repeat it here:

"On May 17, 2005, Sheriff Prue charged $29.93 at Borders Books in Keene, NH. Sheriff Prue wrote that the charge was for “supplies for the drug/alcohol program.” Auditor requested a copy of the receipt which shows the charge was for Catholicism for Dummies, a pocketsized book of Psalms and a Bookmark. "

Oh lordy!

I also liked this one:

"Sheriff Prue was reimbursed $625.53 for uniform expenses for which she provided receipts. In addition, Sheriff Prue claimed $2,058.52 of credit and debit card transactions as a “clothing allowance.” Some of the clothing did not appear to be related to her duties as a police officer. Rather, they appeared to be civilian clothing. Audit work determined some of the items purchased included an athletic supporter, petite chinos and lace hipster underwear inconsistent with the gender, size and nature of the Sheriff’s uniform requirements."

This report is written with a delicious dryness sometimes and makes me wonder if the accounting office might have gotten a very slight kick out of enumerating the many and sometimes bizarre alleged improprieties of the WCSD.