Oklahoma Trucker Powerball Winner

[Smokeeater]

Here you go boys and girls :

Muldrow couple win $105 millionBy Julie Bisbee
Staff Writer
After 2 million miles, the tractor-trailer rig that's provided a living for Don and Joyce Harvey of Muldrow finally gave out this week.
A new truck is on the way, though, thanks to a $105.8 million Powerball ticket.





The couple found out Thursday night they'd won Wednesday night's drawing when Joyce Harvey saw the numbers on the Internet.

She didn't believe her eyes, so she made her husband double-check.

"We were just in absolute disbelief,” Joyce Harvey said Friday afternoon, as the couple sat looking bewildered before cameras and reporters.

The couple will take home a lump sum of $33.3 million after 29 percent taxes are taken out. Federal tax on the money is 25 percent, and the state gets 4 percent, or about $2 million, according to lottery officials.

The ticket is the second Powerball jackpot winner bought in Oklahoma since the state started participating in the program in January 2006.

So far, the Harveys are the largest winners. But even with money in the bank, they say their lives aren't going to change much.

Don Harvey, originally from Cadott, Wis., said he'll continue driving a truck.

"That's just what I do. Trucking is my life and has been for years,” he said. "I can't fish every day, and I don't play golf.”

"He'll quit when I pry his cold, dead hands from the wheel,” Joyce Harvey said.

The Harveys said they plan to use the money to buy a new rig, pay debts and help their family.

They've always been tight with money, and they say that's not going to change.

"We're pretty satisfied with our life,” Don Harvey said.

However, being debt-free will be nice, Joyce Harvey said.

The Harveys have been partners in trucking as well as matrimony for 20 years. Don, 64, is the driver, and Joyce, 50, is the dispatcher.

They put 2 million miles on the 1989 Freightliner before it broke down Wednesday, and they spent a good portion of those miles buying Powerball tickets.

Now with a few million in the bank, Don Harvey is eyeing a more expensive truck, but it won't be brand new.

It's not worth it to buy a brand new truck and waste money on depreciation, he said.

"I'm thinking maybe a Mack or a Volvo,” he said.

Long before Oklahoma had a lottery, the Harveys were players, sometimes driving as far as Missouri to pick their lucky numbers.

For years they had been playing with the same set of numbers, picking up tickets as they drove across the country.

After the numbers came up wrong on a ticket, Joyce Harvey decided to start using that sequence.

The numbers 9-11-13-24-43, with 18 as the Powerball number came through.

"We used to call it our dream ticket,” Joyce Harvey said.

"We buy a ticket and dream about what we'd do with the money. Then you would see somebody else win, and you'd start all over again.”

This time the Harveys can start all over again with a few more zeros behind their name, and they've still got luck left.

The Harveys said they'll keep playing the lottery and probably continue to buy their tickets in the same place.

They bought the winning ticket at a Shell station on Interstate 40 in Roland, near the Arkansas state line.

The couple made an appearance at the store Friday morning on their way to claim their prize in Oklahoma City.

"I asked the girl if they had some excitement the day before,” Joyce Harvey said.

"She said somebody had won the Powerball and hadn't claimed it. She said, ‘If they don't claim it, I'll claim it myself.' I laughed and told her that was a great idea.”

[silvan]

Wow, that's obscene. I like trucking and stuff, but let me win the Lotto, and see how fast my ass retires permanently.

Maybe I'll buy an International CXT or MXT for giggles, or maybe I'll even go out trucking once in a blue moon for the merry hell of it, but my days of working 5 days a week, 70 hours a week are OVER.

C'mon Lotto, spit out the numbers! C'mon!

(Oh yeah, I don' t buy lottery tickets, because 1 in 10,700,234,591,923,196,992,192,291,192 odds aren't much to get excited about. Right. So I'm working my ass off like a sucker, and trying to save up for retirement, and actually getting there a little bit at a time.)

[Jumbo]

What I found odd is he is a multimillionaire and his big purchase is going to be a Mack.

[Ridge Runner]

The closest I came to winning was when a co-worker won the 300 something million, in the "mega millions". Their was 2 winning tickets and he took the lump sum. After taxes and everything his check was 80 something million. He works ( did work :P ) days as a spotter at one of our plants and I was filling in for his regular dispatcher that day. He saw the morning paper at work and took a look at the winning numbers and they matched his ticket. He got a couple of his buddy's to double check it. They in turn got on the CB and by 8 am my day was pure he!! with all the phone calls from TV stations, raido, all company employees ( someone sent a mass e-mail to everyone in our company ). Believe it or not, but we HAD to send him home that day. He was so in shock that he was still there and the department head said to SEND him home. It didn't last long; The next day he called in RICH

He is the kind of guy you like to see something like this happen to. He is in his 50's, his mother lives with him and he has taken care of her for several years, divorced with grown kids. He LOVED fishing. He bought a nice home here, a new bass boat, is hepling his kids and family, and his best friend ( long time fishing buddy ) retired early :wink: .

[Mackman]

What I found odd is he is a multimillionaire and his big purchase is going to be a Mack.

What so bad about that he knows what a good though truck is.

[Jumbo]

I never have been a Mack fan. I never have seen or drove one that had ANY power to even get out of it's own way. In 1994 the guy I was working for bought 2 brand new Macks and having seniority I was asked if I wanted one. These had 454 engines and air ride suspension. After one day I went back to my 1990 Autocar with a 430 Detroit and spring suspension. It was uncomfortable to drive and see out of.

[Oakdancer]

And he's going to keep driving a truck?

Idiot.

Huh. Just let ME win it! Here's how that phone call's gonna go:

*ring*

"Dispatch."

"Hey, y'all need to send down here to this BMW dealership and pick up yer damn truck. Should be easy to find; it'll be the one with th' four-ways going and a brick hanging from the air horn wire.."

"WHA..?!?"

"Oh, yeah, something else: the engine's idling and the keys are locked inside, and it's sorta jammed halfway into the entrance with the trailer blocking the street, so you might wanna hurry."

*click*

[Creek Jackson]

I play powerball every drawing and I don't even have to buy a ticket.

I read that the odds of;

You finding the winning ticket,,,,,or
Someone buying the winning ticket for you,,,,,,,,,,or
Someone giviing you their winning ticket,,,,,,,.

Is the same as you buying the winning ticket yourself.

So why waste the money? :wink: