ATTLEBORO, Mass. – A 74-year-old blind woman was shocked when her daughter found a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she paid an overdue water bill.

The amount? 1 cent.

Eileen Wilbur told The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the letter sent her blood pressure soaring and pointed out that stamps cost 42 cents.

City Collector Debora Marcoccio said the letter was among 2,000 sent out. A computer automatically prints letters for accounts with an overdue balance, and they are not reviewed by staff before being mailed, she said.

The letter warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill is not paid by Dec. 10. The charge was from the previous fiscal year, which ran from July 2007 to July 2008.

“My question is, how come it wasn’t paid when the (original) bills went out?” Marcoccio said.

Wilbur’s daughter, Rose Brederson, who discovered the bill in her mother’s mail, called the situation “ridiculous.” But she said her mother, who has lived in the home since 1959, would likely end up paying the penny.

Woman denies 73rd arrest’s charges for wallet theft

NEW YORK – A New York City woman with a criminal record stretching back nearly four decades says she didn’t steal the wallet that led to her 73rd arrest.

Police say 76-year-old Katherine Kelly was in a Manhattan supermarket last month when she snatched a wallet that officers had left in a shopping cart as bait and stuffed it in her bra.

Kelly used a cane to hobble into Supreme Court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

Prosecutors believe it was Kelly who showed up in court, but they say the woman has used at least 36 aliases since December 1971, when she was arrested as Charlotte Martinelli and was charged with forgery.

They say she’s been convicted at least 16 times in her criminal career.