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View Full Version : Half a Million stolen from Powerball Winner (HA!)

buttonjockey308
08-07-2003, 02:33 AM
A while back, yours truly was verbally buggered for poking some what I believed to be well deserved fun at Jack Whittaker, the multi-multi-million dollar lottery winner from some long forgotten corner of West Virginia. Well, as it turns out, this chap isn't quite the upstanding citizen that my detractors made him out to be. Citing THIS STORY (http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-theft06.html) from the Chicago Sun-Times, it seems that The Cat with the Hat thought it wise to keep better than half a million dollars IN HIS CAR.

Where was the patron saint of Jumping Branch WVa (I called it pig knuckle junction at first, but I digress) you ask? Church? A home for sick and wayward children? Nope. The Pink Pony Strip Club in Cross Lanes West Virginia. It's ironic to me that the subject of so much praise and deifying is out boozin' and whorin' like the rest of us.

Even my cynical mind is forced to admit that he does indeed give back to the community, in just enough of an amount to be an effective tax shelter. I mean his millions are his millions, and I'd probably do the same bloody thing, but in doing so, I wouldn't hide behind the mantle of some fraudulent Christian Stewardship whilst knocking back 5 dollar beers and slipping hundreds into the g strings of local strippers (complete and utter speculation on my part, by the by).

Then in the story, he says he was drugged. I'd bet the folks from what ever coal mine he's from believe that is the ONLY way that Mr. Whittaker would EVER go to such an establishment.

NONSENSE! I was right about him then, and I'm right about him now. He's no better and no different from the rest of us "sinners" it just seems that he's ashamed about it, now that he nearly lost half a million bucks. What a schmuck.
Snooooopy
08-07-2003, 02:58 AM
Why leave the cash and the checks? I don't understand that.
Enderw24
08-07-2003, 03:04 AM
I don't think anyone said he was God.
I also don't really give a shit about whether he was at a strip club. It's not illegal to do that, you know.
I'm sorry that you're jealous about how rich he is. Guess what? He's pretty damn rich. That's not illegal either.
Ferret Herder
08-07-2003, 05:42 AM
Sorry to ruin your schadenfreude, but as pointed out in this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202605), he recovered the money (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/08/06/millionaire.theft.ap/index.html) because the thief thought behind the dumpster was a good hiding place to stow the stolen goods until they could be recovered.
Ferret Herder
08-07-2003, 05:48 AM
Oh phooey, I'm posting too early without caffeine again. Missed the bit in the article that mentioned that - in the previous thread, there was an article that didn't cover that fact.

Anyway, from the article you quoted:
Jack Whittaker said he hopes the incident will not affect the Jack Whittaker Foundation, which he established to help charities operated by the Church of God and other causes. He also said he wanted to remind the media and the public that he is a private citizen.
"I'm simply a businessman who has seen his share of failures and successes," Whittaker said. "My personal life is my own and I make no excuses for my actions."
and
''It's a known fact that Mr. Whittaker does carry a lot of money around with him, because he does frequent not only that club, but several other establishments ... and he does gamble,'' said Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker.
So at this point, I'm trying to see where you got out of the article any justification for your speculation that he's "hiding behind" his Christian-based charity.
Creative_Munster
08-07-2003, 06:42 AM
He can be a faithful churchgoer, believe in Jesus Christ, help others in need and still have "vices". I don't see any inherent hypocrisy there. If he had at some point pointed fingers at those who frequent strip clubs and those who gamble, then I would say he is a hypocrite.
I don't know what the man thinks. It could be that he doesn't necessarily want to be someone who watches strippers and gambles. People have compulsions. If sometimes they act on these compulsions, I don't think it necessarily makes them evil people or hypocrites.
E-Sabbath
08-07-2003, 08:05 AM
... Look, let's think logically about this. The man had half a mil in loose cash and he was at a strip club. This is a horrible human tragedy.

Won't _someone_ think of the strippers?
lieu
08-07-2003, 10:03 AM
Okey dokie.
catsix
08-07-2003, 10:34 AM
Last night it was pointed out that yes, this is half a million dollars, but relative to what Jack Whittaker's got, it isn't all that much.

He's got 170 million and lost 545,000. If you had 1700 in the bank, this would be the same as having $54.50 stolen from your car.

Although he is a really stupid fuck for leaving it in there, and who leaves their SUV running while they dash into the strip bar for a quick peek?
UncleBeer
08-07-2003, 11:25 AM
Maybe he was just getting some takeout?
World Eater
08-07-2003, 12:03 PM
It boggles my mind that anyone would leave half a million in a suitcase on the frontseat of an unattended running car.

Man I wish I could be that stupid.
Trion
08-07-2003, 12:15 PM
Originally posted by World Eater
It boggles my mind that anyone would leave half a million in a suitcase on the frontseat of an unattended running car.

Man I wish I could be that stupid.

I wish you could be that stupid too. ;)
FordPrefect
08-07-2003, 01:00 PM
Originally posted by catsix
He's got 170 million and lost 545,000. If you had 1700 in the bank, this would be the same as having $54.50 stolen from your car?

I think you mean $5.45
World Eater
08-07-2003, 01:42 PM
Originally posted by FordPrefect
I think you mean $5.45

<Ralph Kramden>A mere bag of shells</RK>

:p
catsix
08-07-2003, 06:11 PM
My bad. I quoted what Scott Paulsen said and never checked his math.

You're right, it is $5.45
Keith Berry
08-07-2003, 07:31 PM
Talk about resentment and jealousy. Who gives a fuck if the man goes to strip clubs or not? He's not President or the Pope. Just a dude who won some big bucks, and fair fucking game to him for spending it anyway he pleases.
Fenris
08-07-2003, 07:53 PM
Just to check, buttonjockey300, the reason you posted thread was to remove any lingering hint of a doubt about the fact that you're an asshole, right?

Congratulations. It worked.
asterion
08-07-2003, 08:23 PM
"Remember, kids, strip joint parking lots are not as safe as they appear."

Letterman, last night.
verbenabeast
08-07-2003, 08:28 PM
Won't _someone_ think of the strippers?


that's MY job.... and I do it well.
SnoopyFan
08-07-2003, 08:32 PM
Then in the story, he says he was drugged. I'd bet the folks from what ever coal mine he's from

He's a businessman, asshole. And news flash: he was a millionaire BEFORE he won the lottery.
Waverly
08-08-2003, 07:26 AM
Originally posted by buttonjockey308
It's ironic to me that the subject of so much praise and deifying is out boozin' and whorin' like the rest of us. I must have missed the part where he went whorin’. If you admit that he's just like the rest of us, what is the problem? Can you produce a quote from him stating that he isn't just an ordinary person?

For the record: looking at boobs and being a decent person aren't mutually exclusive.
FairyChatMom
08-08-2003, 07:42 AM
Apparently, he was drugged. (http://wire.jacksonville.com/pstories/us/20030807/1366515.shtml)
Waverly
08-08-2003, 07:54 AM
Jeez. Money, strippers, booze, more money... and now free drugs. Does this guys luck never end?
elf6c
08-08-2003, 09:23 AM
Jeese, that would make a great Visa commercial.

"Now you don't need to carry 500K in cash- just use your Visa card at West Virginia's finest strip joints and Liquor Stores, just put your lap dances and overpriced booze on your card, because Visa- its everywhere you want to be!"

:p
Finagle
08-08-2003, 10:19 AM
Moralizing aside, the implication of this episode is that from now on, Jack is going to have to ride around in a Brink's armored car if he wants to find it intact when he gets back. Every hood and car thief in West Virginia now knows that he's in the habit of keeping a metric buttload of money in his car and the motor running.

Sort of like throwing chum to a school of sharks, I think.
NurseCarmen
08-08-2003, 10:24 AM
Originally posted by FairyChatMom
Apparently, he was drugged. (http://wire.jacksonville.com/pstories/us/20030807/1366515.shtml) Stupid criminals in action.
Early Out
08-08-2003, 10:34 AM
Ignoring, for the moment, the other aspects of this story (the religious guy/sleazy guy debate, for example), I just have to say that anyone who's stupid enough to carry that much money around in cash is too stupid to be allowed to have that much money.
buttonjockey308
08-08-2003, 05:34 PM
Wow. I've never, until now, been called an asshole twice in the same thread, it's a record I'm sure to break.

Fenris, I didn't know there was a lingering doubt that I was an asshole. Glad to clear that up.

SnoopyFan. I know all of that. It doesn't make the JOKE not funny. Christ on a cracker, you're from W.Va. they have a LOT of coal mines there, do they not? It's a JOKE lady, sheesh.

I was raked over the coals for making fun of this guy, and vehemently told he was the best thing since sliced bread by people who claimed to know him. My memory failing me on verbatim quotations, I seem to remember him being called 'righteous' and a 'man of God' keeping in mind that it's his donations, not his day to day life that help people, hell, he himself says his focus is on his family, leaving me to wonder how those two things reconcile one another.

Bear in mind, I'm not condemning him for going to a strip club, I like strip clubs (though admittedly, I've never been in one in WVa) I'm for them generally, and the more people who attend, the better I like it, but in his case, since he's chosen to be the guy who everyone looks up to for help, and chooses to quote the Bible on his website, and firmly states how much of a family man he is, he's automatically held to a higher standard. If poining out that fact makes me an asshole, then so be it, but it doesn't make me wrong.

Keith, I dont resent him, nor am I jealous. He's both hard working and lucky, but the veil of righteousness he and his foundation exist under are false. Period. He chooses to donate to church, fine. He chooses to help kids, that's great. He claims to be focusing on his family and feels jaunty enough to quote the bible while patronizing strip clubs, that is where I take issue.

I didn't put him on the pedestal, I don't plan to try and take him down, I'm just pointing out the inconsistent nature of humanity. Which, I guess, makes me an asshole.