Posted on 06/27/2005 7:54:07 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Wal-Mart billionaire John Walton dies in plane crash
55 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - John Walton, a billionaire heir of retail giant Wal-Mart, died when the small home-made plane he was flying crashed in a national park in Wyoming, authorities said.
Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 pm local time (1820 GMT) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
"Walton, the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft, died on impact and was later pronounced dead at the scene by Teton County Coroner, Bob Campbell," the statement said.
A park spokeswoman said Walton, 58, was an experienced pilot who was flying a home-made aircraft with an aluminum frame and wings wrapped in fabric similar to heavy-duty sail cloth.
"This was an experimental, very lightweight aircraft," the spokeswoman, Joan Anzelmo, told AFP. It weighed between 400 and 500 pounds (180 to 225 kilograms), she said.
The Park Service's statement described it as an "ultralight aircraft with a small, gas-powered engine."
Weather conditions were good at the time of the crash, Anzelmo said.
Walton, the second son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, was the world's 11th richest person with a net worth exceeding 18 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
He had been a member of Wal-Mart's board of directors since 1992 and lived in Jackson, Wyoming, a town known as a resort for wealthy Americans.
In a statement, Wal-Mart expressed sorrow over his death and described Walton as a Vietnam War hero and philanthropist.
"As a board member of the Walton Family Foundation, Walton played a leading role in guiding the Foundations contributions to elementary and high school education, including scholarship programs to provide parents with greater choice in education," it said.
Walton served as a medic in the US Army Green Berets during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Silver Star "for saving the lives of several members of his unit while under intense enemy fire," the company said.
He worked as a crop duster in the 1970s and as a boat builder in 1980s and 1990s.
Walton formed the holding company True North, which includes businesses ranging from advanced composites to boat building to venture capital investments, Wal-Mart said.
He is survived by his wife Christy and their son, Luke; his mother Helen; and his siblings Rob, Jim and Alice.
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.5 million people around the world, with more than 3,600 stores in the United States and another 1,500 abroad, including China, South Korea, Germany, Brazil and Britain.
This is sad. But why should we care about this? What did he ever do for the conservative cause?
Walmart does cause some businesses to go under. BUT they do also benefit other businesses, particularly some local suppliers. One thing that does get overlooked is that a big box company like Walmart brings in other things like restaurants (besides fast-food, my town has one), other big box stores (the Home Depot and Lowe's are locating in my town because of Walmart), and various other entities. The commercial part of town will be more than doubled once the Walmart is built in a year or so.
My wife had a small clothing store in a sort of outlet mall that was located in an old hardware store. Once they did, Walmart suddenly became interesting in acquiring in it (though they had taken no interest in it before when it had been vacant a long time). All of a sudden there were new regulations being put in the way. A big wall had to be completely torn down and rebuilt because it was over 3 inches too far. They had to have so many "benches" yes benches per square foot in the building and so on and so on. Walmart soon sued to acquire the building. It opened and my wife's business did pretty decent for a few months, but Walmart kept up the pressure in court. Finally, they got their way and got their building to supposedly build their supercenter (it is just down from the Walmart store). But a year later or so, they still have not done anything with it.
It was interesting that several people who had opposed the construcion of Walmart here were actually caught shopping in another Walmart.
I wonder what John Kerry's reaction is - after all the guy was worth much more than John Heinz.
Well, apart from the Silver Star, he was not able to get a Purple Heart per month!?!
There are lots of good people who die who might not have "done somthing for the conservative cause." Doing so, doesn't necessarily make one's death more noble over some other people. However, doing such, probably demonstrates that one probably did well in life and worked to benefit others for good. THAT is noble if done in the right vein.
If indeed he was a decorated vet, he did plenty for the conservative cause in my book. (now don't bring up John McCain, okay!!!!!! That's for another day in another thread.).
You are a funny person, my FRiend.
I am truly sorry about the demise of your wife's business. That had to be rough, in very many ways. I also do not doubt that Walmart coming into the area played a significant part in said demise. I really hate hearing about situations like that, because my experiences with WM have all been the opposite - the small, specialized businesses have thrived because of WM coming to the area. I have actually learned about some small businesses I would never have known of because the Walmart people directed me to them when they didn't have what I was looking for.
Oh good grief, don't do that - neither your wife or my husband could handle it :)
#1 - Basic human decency.
#2 - His position in society makes this tragic story especially newsworthy.
The last time I saw Sam, he was driving an SUV.
It could be a movie like Freaky Friday, just without the y and not in reference to you.
Oh dang - we're still in agreement........
Why shouldn't we care?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It comes from talking to six and seven-year-olds all day.
I am truly sorry about the demise of your wife's business. That had to be rough, in very many ways. I also do not doubt that Walmart coming into the area played a significant part in said demise. I really hate hearing about situations like that, because my experiences with WM have all been the opposite - the small, specialized businesses have thrived because of WM coming to the area. I have actually learned about some small businesses I would never have known of because the Walmart people directed me to them when they didn't have what I was looking for.
It will be interesting to see what happens. I like the mom and pop shops with good customer service and am extremely loyal to those who I really get to know. Yes, like I said, they do bring in other businesses. Hopefully, some of them (besides the hardware places) will be something besides service ones which we have plenty of.
he's a human being
I'm still smoking from the flames I got from trying to bring some decorum to that thread.
Will it make you feel good to know that a DUer already beat you to that sentiment?
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