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West Virginia Town Waits For Winner to Step Forward

Aired December 26, 2002 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN, it is the day after Christmas, but someone is awakening to a bounty that not even Santa could deliver. A single lottery ticket sold in West Virginia is worth $315 million. The winning numbers in the Christmas night Powerball drawing: 5, 14, 16, 29 and 53 with the Powerball number, number 7.
Reporter Doug -- oh boy, Doug. I don't even want to try to pronounce your last name. I'm going to let you do that. Of CNN affiliate WSAZ is in Hurricane, West Virginia -- how are you doing, Doug?

DOUG KORSTANJE, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: It is Doug Korstanje.

WHITFIELD: You said that nicely. I would have destroyed that.

KORSTANJE: I was hoping you'd be announcing my name as the Powerball winner, but I have already checked my ticket. It is not the winning ticket. But the winner is from here in Putnam County where this small, family-owned convenience store is located where they sold the one ticket for $314 million. It was sold right from this machine right here.

Now just about an hour ago, the director of the West Virginia Lottery made an announcement saying that someone had come forward, an attorney, to say that he represented someone with the winning ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MUSGRAVE, WEST VIRGINIA LOTTERY: ... called just a few moments ago from lottery headquarters saying that an attorney had contacted the lottery, did not give a name, said that he thought he represented the folks who had the winning ticket, and that they would contact us sometime later. So we don't know exactly when they will contact us, but we did receive that contact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KORSTANJE: It's been a crazy scene here this morning. I tell you what, this store is owned by the Trogden (ph) family, and joining me now is Amy Trogden (ph), the daughter of the owner. Tell me your reaction that the ticket was sold here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just really, really excited. I am glad it happened here. I mean, it's just great. We had a wonderful time today. It is really exciting, but nervous, and it's just a fun time.

KORSTANJE: Now, the store is going to get $100,000. How is your family going to use that money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm sure we'll pay off some bills, and I have a wedding coming up, so we have got a few different options. I'm not really for sure. We haven't planned out anything yet, but I'm sure we'll start soon as we can.

KORSTANJE: OK. And the lottery is saying that the winner came from right here in the community. Do you have any idea who it might be?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. Hopefully it's a regular customer. I'm sure it is if it is right here in the community, because we have a lot of regular lottery customers, but I'm just really excited that somebody here -- you couldn't ask for a better hometown winner. It's great. I'm glad.

KORSTANJE: OK. Well, thank you very much for joining us. So it is a waiting game right now. Tell you what, you cannot get a cell phone call out of this area this morning as people just call around saying, do you have the winning ticket, the winning ticket was sold right here in the community. People are so excited here that one of the biggest jackpots in U.S. lottery history was sold right here.

WHITFIELD: And, Doug, how much of a buzz is there that this winning ticket may be to a single owner or perhaps a group? I know you mentioned an attorney stepped forward.

KORSTANJE: Right. An attorney saying that he represented someone with the ticket, but we have no idea if it's a single individual, a family, or if it's a group of individuals that bought tickets together.

So right now we're still waiting to see, but they have confirmed that it is from the community right here where the store is located. It's off the interstate a few miles, so it's not something where somebody traveling through the area would have stopped and bought the ticket. It is probably somebody that lives close by. So we are still waiting to see just who that person is.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're all waiting with you. Thanks a lot, Doug. Good to see you from WSAZ in Hurricane, West Virginia.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 26, 2002 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN, it is the day after Christmas, but someone is awakening to a bounty that not even Santa could deliver. A single lottery ticket sold in West Virginia is worth $315 million. The winning numbers in the Christmas night Powerball drawing: 5, 14, 16, 29 and 53 with the Powerball number, number 7.
Reporter Doug -- oh boy, Doug. I don't even want to try to pronounce your last name. I'm going to let you do that. Of CNN affiliate WSAZ is in Hurricane, West Virginia -- how are you doing, Doug?

DOUG KORSTANJE, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: It is Doug Korstanje.

WHITFIELD: You said that nicely. I would have destroyed that.

KORSTANJE: I was hoping you'd be announcing my name as the Powerball winner, but I have already checked my ticket. It is not the winning ticket. But the winner is from here in Putnam County where this small, family-owned convenience store is located where they sold the one ticket for $314 million. It was sold right from this machine right here.

Now just about an hour ago, the director of the West Virginia Lottery made an announcement saying that someone had come forward, an attorney, to say that he represented someone with the winning ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MUSGRAVE, WEST VIRGINIA LOTTERY: ... called just a few moments ago from lottery headquarters saying that an attorney had contacted the lottery, did not give a name, said that he thought he represented the folks who had the winning ticket, and that they would contact us sometime later. So we don't know exactly when they will contact us, but we did receive that contact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KORSTANJE: It's been a crazy scene here this morning. I tell you what, this store is owned by the Trogden (ph) family, and joining me now is Amy Trogden (ph), the daughter of the owner. Tell me your reaction that the ticket was sold here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just really, really excited. I am glad it happened here. I mean, it's just great. We had a wonderful time today. It is really exciting, but nervous, and it's just a fun time.

KORSTANJE: Now, the store is going to get $100,000. How is your family going to use that money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm sure we'll pay off some bills, and I have a wedding coming up, so we have got a few different options. I'm not really for sure. We haven't planned out anything yet, but I'm sure we'll start soon as we can.

KORSTANJE: OK. And the lottery is saying that the winner came from right here in the community. Do you have any idea who it might be?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. Hopefully it's a regular customer. I'm sure it is if it is right here in the community, because we have a lot of regular lottery customers, but I'm just really excited that somebody here -- you couldn't ask for a better hometown winner. It's great. I'm glad.

KORSTANJE: OK. Well, thank you very much for joining us. So it is a waiting game right now. Tell you what, you cannot get a cell phone call out of this area this morning as people just call around saying, do you have the winning ticket, the winning ticket was sold right here in the community. People are so excited here that one of the biggest jackpots in U.S. lottery history was sold right here.

WHITFIELD: And, Doug, how much of a buzz is there that this winning ticket may be to a single owner or perhaps a group? I know you mentioned an attorney stepped forward.

KORSTANJE: Right. An attorney saying that he represented someone with the ticket, but we have no idea if it's a single individual, a family, or if it's a group of individuals that bought tickets together.

So right now we're still waiting to see, but they have confirmed that it is from the community right here where the store is located. It's off the interstate a few miles, so it's not something where somebody traveling through the area would have stopped and bought the ticket. It is probably somebody that lives close by. So we are still waiting to see just who that person is.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're all waiting with you. Thanks a lot, Doug. Good to see you from WSAZ in Hurricane, West Virginia.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com