CALUMET, Mich. (AP) – Police in this Upper Peninsula town had forgotten about the $1 parking ticket written on Sept. 1, 1976. But the woman who had found it on her windshield hadn’t.

The ticket, a $20 bill and a note arrived at police headquarters last month in a plain white envelope with no return address.

The note read: “I always had good intentions of paying it. I put it aside and every once in a while I would come across it and said “someday I’m going to pay it.’ Now I think it’s time.”

The fine for an unpaid meter violation increased to $5 after 72 hours, said Police Chief David Outinen, but it hadn’t increased beyond that.

The woman apparently hopes her payment closes the matter. “Please don’t try and track me down. I am a respectable lady,” she wrote.

AP-ES-05-11-08 0333EDT