Posted on 04/08/2007 10:34:54 PM PDT by blackbeardsghost
Whittaker bought and decorated an elaborate home for Bragg and her mother that included a perfect recreation of the bottle from the 1960's TV sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie." He also gave Brandi about $2,000 a week and bought her four new cars. Whittaker said while Bragg was only 17 years old at the time, she was very responsible with her money.
"To a young kid cars mean a lot," Whittaker said. "She had four cars and I'm very proud that she had four cars."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That’s not how it works in the FL lotto system. Must be a powerball thing.
True, but his very first decision should have been to donate 10% of his winnings to the Lord and charity (31.5 million). Maybe he will still do that when he wakes up. Amen.
This guy and one of his old companies beat our company out of about 20,000.00 in the 1980’s. He got what he deserves. He is no Boy Scout!
“And what do riches profit a man, except that he may lay eyes on them - Ecclesiastes”
Here’s one for you:
“The Lord maketh rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.”
A sad story and sadly he still doesn't get it. He was engaged in a life of sin before winning the lottery and it only got worse after he won the lotto. For real freedom he needs to repent and turn to God.
People who buy Powerball tickets have already proven that they cannot handle money. So, it stands to reason,,,,
Not here in Oklahoma. A recent big winner (>$100k) followed the advice in farlander's post just before yours (lawyers, blind trusts, etc.). Really cheesed off the media...some have pushed for a change in the law. I think they should keep it as is so the winners have the choice of the level of publicity desired.
His beloved granddaughter got on drugs; disappeared and was found dead some weeks later wrapped in a plastic sheet - murder, overdose?
Mrs VS
What amazes me in this thread are the number of replies that show the posters read only the first fews lines of the story and then assumed the rest.
Not necessarily - there are many trailer parks that are rental units...
Everybody else’s fault except his own. Phooey!
Sounds to me like this guy didn’t keep his wits about him and tried to be Santa Claus, and it bit him in the rear. I’ve bought about five lottery tickets in my lifetime of nearly a half-century, so there’s no likelihood of me ever being in this guy’s shoes, there’s more likelihood of me being named the czar of Russia in a revived Romanov Dynasty. But if lightning should ever strike, I have a game plan that I would not deviate from. First off, I’d put enough of it in some type of annuity, etc., to where I’d get $50k, $60K off of it annually without touching the principal just as an insurance policy. I’d pay for a house so that nobody can throw me out of it. I’d put some aside for the kids’ education, and that’s ALL they would get handed to them and that would be cut off if they tank in school. The only toy I’d buy would be a Martin D-45 guitar and my wife being able to quit work would be enough of a toy for her. FYI, I would not quit working, I’d go crazy if I did, I’m one of those folks who’ll croak in six weeks if I ever retire. The rest of it would go up and would be dipped into on a case-by-case basis, and I damn sure wouldn’t try to save the world and be Santa Claus and make everybody love me and take care of leeching relatives, that’s an invitation for these kinds of troubles.
"Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.
"Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another - their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun."
-- Francisco d'Anconia, "Atlas Shrugged", Ayn Rand
I don’t think this man’s experience is atypical. Yes, he might have made some better decisions. But throwing millions of dollars at somebody is not necessarily going to make them happy.
Word to the wise... If you win the lottery, find some way to keep the information out of the public domain. I have heard of people selling their winning tickets for fifty cents on the dollar just so they can maintain their anonymity. That sounds like a pretty good approach to me.
And once you have figured out how to keep your name out of the paper, let the people dear to you know that this information is to be kept within the family. Tell them that if word gets out, you are going to move the family away and leave everything they know behind, and mean it. There are vultures circling everywhere whose only mission is to pick lottery winners apart. It will be hard enough to maintain your sanity without their “help”.
Yes it does. The state lotteries have to maintain the happy-ever-after fiction in order to sell the tickets. They need to publicize the winners so they can draw in more suckers.
A local fellow won a state lottery a few years ago. He was arrested three times in the next six months for selling drugs. He claimed stress of the new money made him do it. heh.
Did you read the article?
“Whittaker had the very best of intentions: He truly wanted to share his good fortune and help people.
“I wanted to build churches,” he said. “I wanted to get people food that didn’t have food. I wanted to provide clothing for children that needed clothing.”
Within months, Whittaker was making good on his promise. He handed over $15 million for the construction of two churches alone.”
He gave away many more millions (over $50 million) as the years went by.
From the article it appears that he is no saint, but if people are going to judge him then at least read the article first.
“money is not the root of evil”
No, but the “want” of money is.
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