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A Sad but True Texas Lottery Winner Story ....
http://www.lottoreport.com/TXWinnerSuicide.htm | Nov 24, 2004

Posted on 11/27/2004 4:07:31 AM PST by DirtyHarryY2K

A Sad but True Texas Lottery Winner Story

Originally Posted: Nov 24, 2004 Revised:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Less than two years after Billie Bob Harrell Jr. took the $31 million lottery jackpot, he took his own life Harrell, a former Pentecostal preacher, was a Home Depot stocker when he hit the jackpot.

Billie Bob's (Mis) Fortune
BY STEVE MCVICKER
Houston Press
From the Week of Thursday, February 10, 2000

Many have the same dream: finding the six magical numbers that unlock the treasure known as the Texas Lottery. Then life would be good. Problems would vanish. There are even the collective fantasies of what to buy and with whom to share this new, instant wealth.

Billie Bob Harrell Jr. shared those common visions by common souls seeking the salvation of sudden fortune.

And in June 1997, he found it.

He sat in his easy chair one evening and looked at his Quick Pick and then at the Sunday newspaper. Harrell studied the sequence of numbers again and began to realize the wildest of notions. He and wife Barbara Jean held the only winning ticket to a Lotto Texas jackpot of $31 million.

Harrell, a deeply religious man, knew he had a godsend from heaven. After being laid off from a couple of jobs in the past few years, Billie Bob had been reduced to stocking the electrical-supply shelves of a Home Depot in northeast Harris County. He was having a damn hard time providing for himself and Barbara Jean, much less for their three teenage children.

Every Wednesday and Saturday those kids were on his mind when he'd scrape together a few spare dollars to purchase a couple or so lottery tickets. Sometimes he'd use the sequence of his children's birth dates to choose his numbers. Other times he'd let the state's computer do his choosing for him. That random selection finally paid off, transforming Harrell into a millionaire overnight on a warm evening in June.

The hard times were history when he arrived in Austin about a month later, with an entourage that included his family, his minister and his attorneys, to collect the first of 25 annual checks for $1.24 million.

Life had been tough, he said at the formal lottery ceremony, but he had persevered through the worst of it.

"I wasn't going to give up," said Harrell, then 47. "Everyone kept telling me it would get better. I didn't realize it would get this much better."

In fact, it was great. At least for a while. Harrell purchased a ranch. He bought a half-dozen homes for himself and other family members. He, his wife and all the kids got new automobiles. He made large contributions to his church. If members of the congregation needed help, Billie Bob was there with cash.

Then suddenly Harrell discovered that his life was unraveling almost as quickly as it had come together. He relished the role of being an easy touch. But everyone, it seemed -- family, friends, fellow worshipers and strangers -- was putting the touch on him. His spending and his lending spiraled out of control. In February those tensions splintered his already strained marriage.

And on May 22, 1999, 20 months after hitting lottery pay dirt, Harrell locked himself inside an upstairs bedroom of his fashionable Kingwood home and stood at the point of no return. Investigators say he stripped away his clothes, pressed a shotgun barrel against his chest and fired.

Billie Bob Harrell was gone forever. So was the fortune, and even the family that had rejoiced with him when the shower of riches had first rained upon them. A schism has widened between the children and grandparents, who cannot even agree on whether Billie Bob took his own life. And an intrafamily war looms over the remnants of the fortune, which may not even be enough to pay estate taxes.

Perhaps the only thing not in dispute about his life and death is the jarring impact of money: It may not have caused his problems, but it certainly didn't solve them.

Shortly before his death, Harrell confided to a financial adviser: "Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: justdamn; lottery; suicide
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To: exhaustguy
I see no pleasure in spending another man's money.


"Speak for yourself, exhaustguy."

141 posted on 11/27/2004 10:27:14 AM PST by Polybius
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To: exhaustguy

THOSE same people dont give a damn ,they just move on to the next sucker.


142 posted on 11/27/2004 10:29:57 AM PST by douglas1 (was there children kidnaped I wont sign up with the times to find out)
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To: Eaker
What is yer bellyache now??

I guess I'm a little snively, what with the looming holidays & all . . .

I apologize; it was a spiteful, uncalled for post. I'll refrain from any further contentious posts on the subject.

143 posted on 11/27/2004 10:36:09 AM PST by BraveMan
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To: BraveMan
It is a shame that this guy didn't have any true friends who would point out that he was slowly killing himself.

Killing oneself is just the final act in a long play and sometimes those it hurts the most are the only actors who could have stopped it. I have seen it and it is hard to have sympathy for those those who watched and did nothing.

I apologize for my smart aleck post. I should know better than post while I am house painting!!!!

144 posted on 11/27/2004 11:13:58 AM PST by Eaker ("He's the kind of guy who would fight a rattlesnake and give the snake a two-bite head start.")
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

Secondhand Lions is one of the best movies I have ever seen. :o)


145 posted on 11/27/2004 11:15:05 AM PST by BigCinBigD
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To: rdcorso

For me that would be reasonable. I stay here now because of the weather – good people can be found most anywhere if a person looks, and I could always follow the weather.


146 posted on 11/27/2004 11:40:22 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: lepton
Giving money to people isn't always helping.

Some of the people I know that would have a hand out would not be helped with money. They’d probably OD or drink themselves to death.

147 posted on 11/27/2004 11:42:13 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: B4Ranch
To earn 150K on a million dollar investment would mean a return of 15%, which is a pretty steep return unless one is willing to take a great deal of risk.
In times of low interest rates, a more reasonable rate of return would be in the 4-6% range.
148 posted on 11/27/2004 11:43:53 AM PST by quadrant
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To: quadrant

A return in the 4-6% range means your net worth has dropped 2.5 to 4.5 in the past six months because the dollar has fallen 8.5% in the 6 months.

I averaged out at 23.045% return last month over a five year term. I do not make risky investments with more than 50k at a time and they are always very short term because I don't like having to keep my eye on the darn things.

I suggest getting a new financial advisor. Perhaps a couple of them.


149 posted on 11/27/2004 12:19:00 PM PST by B4Ranch ((The lack of alcohol in my coffee forces me to see reality!))
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

Mr. Melbell maintains that a person has JUST AS MUCH of a chance of FINDING a winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk as one does of buying a winning ticket.

So instead of buying tickets, we just watch where we step.


150 posted on 11/27/2004 12:28:14 PM PST by melbell (groovy)
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

IIRC, CBS's "48 Hours" (or some similar news-magazine) detailed a group of
hard-scrabble folks in Texas that had run a pool and finally hit the jackpot in
the lottery.

Some of them prospered, some coped and others seemed to be ruined by their new riches.

As I've always told my folks, if I ever get desparate enough to play the lottery,
and win, they should not worry if they don't hear from me for a month or so.
They should just wait until I call them from my small country estate in Tuscany;
otherwise I'll be incommunicado.


151 posted on 11/27/2004 12:35:44 PM PST by VOA
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To: SamAdams76
"interesting phenomenon"....... as a former deputy I found that women would shoot themselves in the chest and men would shoot themselves in the head....something about how good they'd look in the coffin.

Hmmmmmmmm ......< tinfoil >

152 posted on 11/27/2004 12:36:57 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: BunnySlippers
Well, it would depend on WHY he was constantly being laid off. Quite often people who get laid off repeatedly do have something to cause them for getting laid off ... like talking back to the boss, coming in late everyday, not being able to take orders, etcetera.

I've been in management for many years and have been involved in layoffs. I can honestly say that my company has never, ever, laid off a good worker. Whenever we have to do RIF's (reduction in force), we use it as an opportunity to rid ourselves of deadwood and other "high-maintenance" employees.

Now maybe there are companies out there that layoff their best people. But I've never worked in such a company.

153 posted on 11/27/2004 3:33:40 PM PST by SamAdams76 (Red Sox Win The World Series...And Bush Wins Re-election Too!)
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To: Knute
The lottery is nothing but a tax on those who cannot comprehend Probability and Statistics

At least it is voluntary.

154 posted on 11/27/2004 3:38:20 PM PST by lonestar (Me, too!--Weinie)
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

Thanks for the link proving that Karen S. Gersten exists and confirms the story.


155 posted on 11/27/2004 4:25:49 PM PST by Truth666 (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Proof+that+at+least+one+of+two%22)
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To: tscislaw

Thanks. Interesting that Karen Garsten's only public appearance recorded by Google is to take place 6 days after reviving this story


156 posted on 11/27/2004 4:32:52 PM PST by Truth666 (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Proof+that+at+least+one+of+two%22)
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To: lepton

thanks. please see also the two previous posts


157 posted on 11/27/2004 4:34:49 PM PST by Truth666 (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Proof+that+at+least+one+of+two%22)
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To: Truth666; DirtyHarryY2K; tscislaw; lepton
I start explaining why the WHOLE story doesn't sound true.
The existance of a Billie Bob Harrell Jr. that wond $31 is confirmed by THREE sources
There are three elements to give credibility to this story :
- weekly The Houston Press, article from February 10, 2000
- Karen S. Gersten, mentioned in that article
- Texas Lottery
158 posted on 11/27/2004 4:46:24 PM PST by Truth666 (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Proof+that+at+least+one+of+two%22)
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To: SamAdams76

> During the course of my life, other family members have said to others how greedy and selfish we were because we didn't spot them that $5,000 "loan" or help them get out of that credit card trouble. But my wife and I are wise enough to know that they are actually the greedy and selfish ones. It's a shame that this man never gained the same wisdom.

Ain't right quite just yet, but when we get there heaven help the poor dumb SOB that tries that crap with me. Blood relative or not.


159 posted on 11/27/2004 6:05:20 PM PST by Rate_Determining_Step (US Military - Draining the Swamp of Terrorism since 2001!)
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To: VOA
No one would bother me if my numbers hit... all the folks I know already know I'm selfish and greedy to the nth degree; however, I do donate to the the R.C. church, Texas A&M Univ., the Republican party, and various charities - and will continue to do so.

Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88

p.s. Here's to looking forward to a possible Holiday Bowl bid and a little fun in the San Diego sun.

160 posted on 11/27/2004 6:39:41 PM PST by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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