Odds and ends, 9/13/07

Why don't we get more of these stories out of West Virginia?

LIMA, Ohio (AP) -- Inmates at the Allen County Jail are scrubbing floors and showers after complaining about sanitary conditions at the facility.

Sheriff Dan Beck says he eliminated phone and television privileges for two days in two cell blocks and made inmates start cleaning. Some of the inmates had signed a petition complaining of leaky roofs and toilets, poor air quality and mold in the jail.

The petition claimed the conditions could lead to health problems.

Beck says the only leak occurred in a different area of the jail after a rainstorm and was being fixed. He says from now on inmates will be required to clean the housing blocks, which hold misdemeanor offenders.

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I really like the lead on this AP story.

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER
Associated Press Writer

MOUNT HOPE, W.Va. (AP) — In the 4 1/2 years since Jack Whittaker won a record $314.9 million Powerball jackpot, he has lost more than he ever intended to gamble.

The jackpot that was the stuff of dreams turned into a nightmare: His wife left him and his drug-addicted granddaughter — his protege and heir — died. He endured constant requests for money.

Almost five years later, Whittaker is left with things money can’t cure: His daughter’s cancer, a long list of indiscretions documented in newspapers and court records, and an inability to trust others.

“I don’t have any friends,” he said in lengthy interview with The Associated Press. “Every friend that I’ve had, practically, has wanted to borrow money or something and of course, once they borrow money from you, you can’t be friends anymore.”

Whittaker was a self-made millionaire long before he became a lottery winner, having built a pipeline business worth $17 million. Then he hit the Powerball in December 2002. It was then the largest-single jackpot ever.

Sometimes what look like blessings are really curses, and vice versa. I've had what I thought were some bad turns of luck or fortune, but a few years later I saw how they worked out better than what I had hoped for originally.

I think it was a preacher I once heard -- or maybe it came out of my own head; it was so long ago, I don't remember -- said you have to know the difference between an open door and a trap door.

Whittaker isn't the first lottery winner from these parts to find that sudden wealth can be destructive. He's just the most extreme case.

Remember that line from the movie "Jurassic Park," where Ian Malcolm is talking to John Hammond about the enormous danger in the genetic power he has uncovered?

"...you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun."

Let me say that I come by my middle class money troubles honestly. I worked hard for every money problem I have. I had some help, but in the end my troubles are my own, and I have to figure out how to solve them. I'm just glad I'm not bearing the cross that Whittaker does.

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Something's been bothering me these past few days.

Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper is planning a series of public meetings to get public input on whether someone -- the state or whoever -- should shut down video lottery parlors in his county. Now that voters have approved full-scale casino gambling at Crosslanes, Carper wants all gambling done there. That would eliminate the plague of video poker parlors in his county, he says.

Part of me cheers Carper, considering I know of few people who say they like having so many video lottery places. But part of me -- the cynical part -- wonders if he's trying to help out his friends at the dog track at the expense of people who own video lottery licenses.

As I understand it, the video lottery licenses run through 2011, so it may be a bit early to build up an organized resistance.

The thing that really bugs me about this, however, is what happens if we outlaw video poker -- again. Doesn't revenue from video poker pay for PROMISE scholarships? Isn't some of it used to pay down workers' comp liabilities? And doesn't some go to pay off the bonds that were used to build Pullman Square, Appalachian Power Park and other public works?

If we get rid of video lottery, even if it's just in Kanawha County, what happens to that money? Are Kanawha County kids shut out of PROMISE scholarships? Who repays the bonds on Appalachian Power Park?

If nothing else, Carper has given us four years to decide the answers to these questions. I won't pass judgment on what I assume his motives are, but the questions are the right ones. This state has become too addicted to gambling. The good people of Kanawha County are about to become even more dependent than the rest of us. If people don't want video lottery parlors in their neighborhoods, are they willing to pay the price of going cold turkey from their state's gambling addiction?

We have four years to find out.