The personal checks he has been busily writing to cover past expenses and eliminate what he called "any appearance of impropriety" amount so far to around $7,500.

If they can foresee conflicts, maybe it's time to start spending so the last check written bounces or, alternatively, stick the greedy ingrates with the estate tax.

Bankers say the new fees are a belated correction of decades of undercharges, particularly for checking accounts, where each check written costs 68 cents on average.

On Saturday, a residual check for the 18th rerun of a "Seinfeld" episode I wrote nine years ago.

The old man sat down, wrote a check.

But looking at every telephone call we've made, every check we've ever written, scratching for dirt, intimidating witnesses, doing everything possible to try to make some accusation against my husband.

"His records are meticulous, checks written, deposits, ledgers with every expense, and this money seems to have no source."

By contrast, big checks were written in the late 1990's to finance consumer sites before they had much, if any, traction, while V.C.'s spouted phrases like "if you snooze you lose."

In 1978, when, he said, a $2,300 check written in North Carolina was not covered and in September, when he was arrested on a cahrge of possessing a small amount of marijuana.

It turned out the company's owner, Ayhan Parlak, had written Arslan a check (cheque) for 20,000 Lira before the attack.