Pa. man claims Powerball winnings

March 02, 1998|By DON AINES

Pa. man claims Powerball winnings

ST. THOMAS, Pa. - A retired federal employee showed his faith in the U.S. Postal Service when he sent his $100,004 Powerball ticket to Charleston, W.Va., via registered mail.

Rick Estep, 48, said he thought about taking the ticket down personally, but "I didn't feel like driving 300 miles."

"If it was the $55 million prize, I guarantee there would have been a caravan with me," he said.

Estep, who retired four years ago after 25 years in the federal government, matched all the numbers except the Powerball in the West Virginia lottery drawing Wednesday.

The Powerball number - 19 - was on the second line of his ticket. "I tried to move that number up there, but it just wouldn't budge," he said.

There was another winner on the same ticket, hence the $4 at the end of the $100,000.

Every time he goes down to see the woman he is dating in Hedgesville, W.Va., Estep said he stops at the Quick Stop convenience store on W.Va. 9 and buys a ticket. Now that he's a winner, he said he doesn't plan to spend it all in one place.

"I thought about buying a Corvette. I had one once and sold it," the former management analyst with Depot Systems Command at Letterkenny Army Depot said. Instead, he plans to invest most of it so he can pursue his great passion - chasing a small white ball across a big green lawn.

"When somebody calls to say 'Let's go golfing,' I go golfing," he said.

Now he plans to "relax and play golf all the time," he said.

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