ALCOA CITY WORKERS WIN BIG! Six players pool dollars to win $200,000 Powerball Prize!
NASHVILLE - A telephone call at midnight usually means it’s time to head to work for six employees of the City of Alcoa’s Public Works department. This time, however, the calls back and forth to each other were about something other than wastewater and power lines: They had won $200,000 playing the Tennessee Lottery’s Powerball game!
“I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” said Paul Walker, 55, of Maryville. His restlessness came after friend James Trusty called to report that one of the group’s Powerball ticket numbers matched all five white balls correctly from Wednesday night’s drawing.
“My wife and I watched the drawing on television and she screamed, ‘We won! We won!’” said Trusty.
Trusty and Walker, along with Danny Ogle, Grady Simerly, Avery Hughes and Larry Lequire, each paid $5 to purchase tickets before the drawing, which is something all six don’t typically do as a group. “It was a spur of the moment thing,” said Ogle. “This is big for us!” The group claimed their prize Thursday afternoon at the Lottery’s headquarters in Nashville.
Walker, who had made plans to retire in three weeks (even before the big win), plans to put his portion in savings, which was an idea shared by most of the group. They hope to be back on Monday, however, to claim the jackpot for Saturday night’s Powerball drawing, which is $205 million.
“After that we all might consider retirement!” said Trusty.
The Tennessee Lottery began selling its first tickets on January 20, 2004. As of September 30, 2006, the Lottery has raised more than $699.1 million to fund specific education programs, including college scholarships, pre-kindergarten and after-school programs. For more information, please visit www.tnlottery.com. For information about Lottery-funded scholarships, visit www.collegepaystn.com.
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