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Powerball Winner Found Days After Death
AP ^ | 11/26/05

Posted on 11/26/2005 10:24:25 PM PST by LibWhacker

NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) -- A woman who won a $65.4 million Powerball jackpot with her husband five years ago was found dead at her home overlooking the Ohio River, where she had apparently been for days before anyone found her, police said.

Virginia Metcalf Merida's son discovered her body Wednesday. Police were awaiting autopsy and toxicology results before announcing a cause of death.

When the woman and her husband, Mack Wayne Metcalf, won the jackpot, they told lottery officials they were going their separate ways to fulfill their dreams. Merida planned to quit her job making corrugated boxes and buy a home. Metcalf, a forklift operator, wanted to start fresh in Australia. He never did.

Metcalf died in 2003 at age 45 while living in a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate built in Corbin, Ky. His death followed multiple run-ins with the law, including a child-support dispute from a previous marriage and a drunken driving charge filed before he hit the jackpot.

Neighbors said Merida stayed out of public view until last December, when a body was found in her 5,000-square foot, custom-built geodesic dome house. Campbell County Deputy Coroner Al Garnick confirmed that the man died of a drug overdose. Official records of the case were unavailable because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Merida used part of her winnings to buy a second home, but when she tried to evict the resident, the renter sued. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

Carol Terrell Lawson, who is still renting the home, said that she never met Merida in person and only learned of the death after reporters began calling her.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dead; death; found; lottery; merida; metcalf; powerball; virginiamerida; winner
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To: ccmay

"but in a few months you will return to your baseline."

Reminds me of what I was told many years ago.
If you redistribute all of the wealth in the world, it will take only a short time for it to return as it was.


21 posted on 11/27/2005 2:39:43 AM PST by AlexW (Reporting from Bratislava)
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To: ccmay

Excellent points! I had never thought about it in just that light, but it sure seems to hold true when I do a cursory examination of the lives of people in my circle of acquaintances.


22 posted on 11/27/2005 3:26:55 AM PST by jwpjr
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To: martin_fierro
Ha!

What about Bruce Wayne?

23 posted on 11/27/2005 3:34:09 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: LibWhacker; BigFinn

The stories of big lottery winners is a fascinating topic. The tragedies that afflict the vast majority of these people is mortifying.

Seems that so much money just amplifies the problems already existing in their lives. They just buy a bigger hammer for life to smash them with.


24 posted on 11/27/2005 3:35:40 AM PST by ovrtaxt (The FAIRTAX. A powerplay for We The People.)
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To: ovrtaxt

This must be why some, including myself, call the lottery.... the "stupid tax"


25 posted on 11/27/2005 5:27:40 AM PST by Jeffrey_D.
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To: Jeffrey_D.

Ah, yes, the stupid tax.

A tax on people who don't know math!


26 posted on 11/27/2005 11:17:52 AM PST by ovrtaxt (The FAIRTAX. A powerplay for We The People.)
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To: martin_fierro; Charles Henrickson

A Wayne in gain falls vainly from their fame...


27 posted on 11/27/2005 11:26:04 AM PST by mikrofon (Plainly)
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To: Go Gordon

LOL That is the way I read it too, she's dead but still looking at the river. Badly written in several places. She stayed out of sight UNTIL a man was found dead in her home? Was that what she was waiting for so then she could come out? Or I guess the police dragged her out to question her about it? Oh well, I don't really care.


28 posted on 11/27/2005 11:36:51 AM PST by Ditter
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To: jazzlite
Why does the government not spread the lottery money around to more people when the pot grows that big? Why not give 6 people 10 million, rather than to give one person 60 million?

Because the higher the prize, the more publicity and greater the frenzy of buying.

If the lotteries were harmless fun, then a ticket would cost a dollar and the most someone might win would be fifty or a hundred bucks.

And there would be lots of winners.

But this business of giving millions to just anyone, even child molesters, is insane.

Government should be in the business of encouraging people to work for their money, and not in the business of giving fortunes away for free.

Lest the work ethic be eroded, as it has been.

29 posted on 11/29/2005 3:46:09 PM PST by Age of Reason
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To: LibWhacker

This is why I always say that if I win the lottery, I'll keep on working....until the first time somebody really pi$$es me off....


30 posted on 11/29/2005 3:48:12 PM PST by Cyber Liberty (© 2005, Ravin' Lunatic since 4/98)
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To: ovrtaxt; A. Pole
Seems that so much money just amplifies the problems already existing in their lives. They just buy a bigger hammer for life to smash them with.

Exactly correct.

Those that haven't earned the money, will not have learned the proper value and use of money.

Such wisdom comes from struggle and hard work.

Just like giving technology to third world countries that haven't developed it from scratch, as did the West.

Those Third World countries the West gives technology to, too often wind up using that technology to act out their medieval fantasies upon the world.

31 posted on 11/29/2005 3:52:52 PM PST by Age of Reason
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To: LibWhacker
Merida stayed out of public view until last December, when a body was found in her 5,000-square foot, custom-built geodesic dome house.

Apu: You see, whether igloo, hut, or lean-to or a geodesic dome, there's no structure I have been to, which I'd rather call my home.

32 posted on 11/29/2005 3:54:57 PM PST by Skywalk (Transdimensional Jihad!)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
It's a running feature in the syndicated column, "News of the Weird." Every month or so, they list all the thieves, murderers, rapists, etc., who have the middle name Wayne. It's strange how many there are.

Really? Do you have a link for that? My middle name is Wayne.

Am I cursed?
33 posted on 11/29/2005 4:01:42 PM PST by birbear (Admit it. you clicked on the "I have already previewed" button without actually previewing the post.)
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To: Age of Reason

That's not completely true. One can understand the value of money through working (but not making a lot of money,) taking a longer view of financial prospects and desires and subordinating the excess of consumerist impulsiveness to longer-term goals.

Meaning: If I won the lottery, even though I don't have a large income, I would be set for life and would be living responsibly and morally after I did so.

Don't forget, there are also those who've been irresponsible with wealth and status after EARNING it.

It's all what the person brings to the table beforehand and how much the desire for money was a function of a design on security vs. a hunger for status.


34 posted on 11/29/2005 4:03:56 PM PST by Skywalk (Transdimensional Jihad!)
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To: ovrtaxt

"Seems that so much money just amplifies the problems already existing in their lives"

As the old axiom states: "money only makes of you more of what you already are"


35 posted on 11/29/2005 4:12:57 PM PST by Amish with an attitude (An armed society is a polite society)
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To: birbear

Here's where you can read the last few months' columns:

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/index.html

I guess it's every couple of months they do the "Classic Middle Name" update.

No, you're not cursed. I hope. We used to bug our boss about it as his middle name was Wayne--but a more straight-laced, law-abiding, prim-and-proper guy you'll never meet.


36 posted on 11/29/2005 6:51:22 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day (Win the war. Confirm the judges. Cut the taxes. Control the spending. Secure the border.)
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To: birbear

Here's a partial list of the Waynes:

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/wayne.html


37 posted on 11/29/2005 6:52:08 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day (Win the war. Confirm the judges. Cut the taxes. Control the spending. Secure the border.)
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To: BigFinn
I would like to start off by telling you my name is Amanda Metcalf. I am Mack Metcalf’s only daughter. This is my first time reading all the articles on the internet about my dad and first off I want to say how sick I am at my stomache to read this crap that people are writting about him. Don't you people have any thing better to do than to talk about the dead. for one, my dad id not die alone he had me and many close friends. He was a great man who loved ridding four wheelers and shooting guns had a beautiful smile that I miss every day of my life. I just had my first child, a little girl and It breaks my heart to know that she will never know her grampa, and I only hope when she grows up she will never find the garbage and the filth that people have wrote about him. People that don't even know him at all. The pain that man felt every day of his life and it only got worse when he won the lottery. Imagine how that feels for a moment. Imagine people taking advantage of you everyday, using you. Never knowing your true friends or who you could trust. My father made mistakes in his life just like everyone else and only God himself will judge him for them. Everyone focuses on the bad and never the good. You read how he was a drunk and such a bad person, but you never get to read the good. You never read that he gave money to strangers. How he loved playing jokes on his friends. How he would invite anyone into his home to stay and eat. I only had my dad in my life for a short time and as I sit here it brings back memories of us together. I miss him very much and love him with all of my heart. When I look into my daughters eyes I see the same blue eyes that I looked into as a little girl when I looked up at my dad. I like to think God left a piece of my dad in my daughter. Gosh, she acts just like him sometimes. Anyways, I just wanted to let the world and everyone know what a great, wonderful and loving man my father really was.
38 posted on 10/17/2008 11:06:37 PM PDT by mandatony
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