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Posted on Sat, Jan. 03, 2004 |
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Powerball win goes
to N.C. couple
Norman Shue was
visiting Clover on business when he bought ticket worth $110.75
million
By LAUREN
LEACH
Staff
Writer
Norman Shue just found out how little his
co-workers know. When the Concord, N.C., man told them he was buying
Powerball tickets for the New Year’s Eve $221.5 million jackpot,
they told him he was throwing his money away. Hardly. Friday, Shue
and his wife, DeAnna, showed up at the Midlands Claims Center on
Lady Street with a winning ticket worth $110.75 million. The second
winning ticket was sold in Pennsylvania. That winner has not come
forward. “Unreal, unbelievable,” was DeAnna Shue’s reply when asked
how it felt to be one of Powerball’s newest millionaires. If they
choose the one-time cash option, they will receive more than $60.1
million before taxes. With the annuitized payments, they would
receive $110.75 million over 29 years. The Powerball lottery is
played in 24 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. In 2003, Powerball had 16 jackpot winners and more than 52
million other winners. Standing in front of a cluster of TV cameras,
the Shues were obviously still in a daze Friday afternoon. The
couple, married for almost seven years, said they haven’t decided
what they are going to do about their jobs — he’s a construction
project manager for Builders First Source and she’s a computer
programmer who does contract work for Duke Energy. They have no
children. DeAnna Shue has South Carolina ties. Originally from
Charleston, she attended Clemson University. Her 33-year-old husband
is from Concord, a Charlotte suburb with a population of about
60,000, where they plan to continue living. It was business that
brought Norman Shue to Clover Wednesday where he stopped by the Shop
and Save. He bought 20 tickets, letting the computer pick his
numbers. On New Year’s Day, the couple was taking down Christmas
decorations when he decided to check the Powerball Web site.
Learning that winning tickets had been sold in Pennsylvania and
South Carolina, Norman Shue didn’t know what to think. “When I saw
that, I said I’m scared to look at the tickets now.” The first
ticket was the winner, said the new millionaire, who told his wife
simply, “I won.” “Half of me didn’t believe him but the other half
knew he was telling the truth because he couldn’t joke about it. I
couldn’t believe it,” said DeAnna Shue, who said she is “almost 30.”
Once reality sank in, the Shues spent 20 minutes trying to call the
lottery claims office, which was closed for the holiday. Then they
made sure to keep the winning ticket away from their two cats before
going to lunch at the Steak and Shake. They even talked to their
relatives but managed to keep from spilling the beans. “It was
hard,” DeAnna Shue said. The Shues are the second North Carolina
couple to win South Carolina’s Powerball. The first winners, Anthony
and Monica Wilson of Charlotte, won South Carolina’s first Powerball
jackpot in May — $88.7 million. They chose the lump sum payment of
$48.8 million, before taxes. North Carolina doesn’t have a lottery.
The Wilsons, who quit their jobs after the win, couldn’t be reached
for comment Friday. But another Powerball winner, Regina Mandabach
of Washington, Ind., knows what she would tell the Shues. “No. 1,
congratulations, and I feel for you,” said Mandabach, a single
mother of an 11-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy. The 29-year-old
recalled having to leave home for a few days just to “get some peace
and quiet” after she won the Powerball jackpot in October.
Mandabach, who chose the $49.7 million before taxes cash option, is
on a leave of absence from her job as a customer service
representative at a insurance company. She has invested a lot of the
money and does plan to move to a bigger home soon. Her only major
purchase has been a 2004 Jeep Liberty. Remembering all the people
who tried to tell her what they would do if they were in her place,
Mandabach has some advice for the Shues. “Take it one day at a time
and do what’s right for you.” Reach Leach at (803) 771-8549 or
leleach@thestate.com. |
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