Hey remember this guy???

[FN FAL]

He is the one that won the big lottery settlement and was going to buy a helicopter (aviation reference), and was going to donate a large chunk of his newfound loot to three local churches.

I play lotto on wed and Saturday, with one dollar on Megabucks, Power Ball, and Super Cash (fixed at 250,000). It is nice to dream about what kind of jet I would buy with one of the big jackpots. Which fly-in community I would base it in...? Etc, etc. Nevertheless, I honestly believe that when someone wins a huge amount of money it really throws his or her life into chaos. This person was already a millionaire when he won, and it still is goofing up his life.

I would not mind winning enough to buy a corporate sized house on Lake Gaston in Virginia, replete with indoor shooting range and indoor pool, and a boathouse big enough to keep a Caravan on floats in it and a party barge of a pontoon boat. Maybe enough cash left over to own lakefront property in northern Wisconsin, with enough of a spread out back to be able to shoot belt feds when the friends come over for a pig roast and machine gun shoot.

There would be some new shooting toys, a couple of hummers, and of course, I would financially plan an operating budget. Do not want to have to look in the change jar to fill the tanks of the Caravan the day before payday.

I would also fund aid programs, to help my fellow man, to be determined later.

I would probably look into buying a province, county or town in Mexico, with the agreement that it would become the world’s newest country. I would install my self as EL Presidente for life and maintain dual citizenship. Then when some small town petty crap like this happened to me, I would declare diplomatic immunity, and then get Johnny Cochrane and G. Gordon Liddy on the horn.

Anyway, I wonder how well this person took to learning how to fly a helicopter after winning his lotto....

W. Va. Lottery Winner in Trouble Again

NITRO, W.Va. (AP) -- The man who won the largest single lottery jackpot in U.S. history is in trouble again.

Jack Whittaker, who hit the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas 2002, was charged Sunday with drunk driving - just weeks after being charged with trying to assault a bar manager.

Whittaker said he was on his way Sunday afternoon to Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming when he pulled off of Interstate 64 because of the treacherous weather.

"I'm nowhere near intoxicated," Whittaker told a local television station as police escorted him into court.

But West Virginia State Police Trooper B.R Morris said in a criminal complaint that Whittaker registered a .190 blood alcohol level and failed three field sobriety tests.

Whittaker was released on $150 bond. He faces up to six months in jail and a $500 fine if convicted.

Whittaker was charged Jan. 6 with trying to hit and threatening to kill Todd Parsons, the manager of a St. Albans' bar, after reportedly being banned from the establishment.

"It's been a rough few weeks," Whittaker told the television station, WSAZ-TV.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved