A year later, $315 million lottery winner wishes he'd been quieter

By: North County Times - | Wednesday, December 24, 2003 10:06 PM PST ∞

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. (AP) -- The letters never stop. Requests, pleas, hard-luck stories, tales to break your heart: thousands of them, enough to fill hip-high filing cabinets that line three conference-room walls in Andrew "Jack" Whittaker's new office.

They come by the dozens, day after day, though it has been a year since Whittaker won the richest undivided lottery jackpot in U.S. history -- $314.9 million, payable in an after-tax lump sum of $113 million -- in a Christmas Day drawing.

"I can't even read them," the 56-year-old Whittaker said. "I wouldn't have any money left if I did."

The visitors keep coming, too. Two to four a day -- from as far away as Washington and Idaho -- bringing tales of woe to the Scott Depot house Whittaker still owns, ringing the bell still answered by his wife, Jewell.

Tell the world you have $113 million, and that you're willing to give part of it away, and the world will beat a path to your door.

"If I had to do it all over, I'd be more secluded about it," said Whittaker, a sewer and water contractor who built a multimillion-dollar business well before he won the jackpot. "I'd do the same things, but I'd be a little more quiet."

After winning the Powerball jackpot, Whittaker brought his wife, daughter and granddaughter to a news conference, then did a round of national interviews in which he said he would donate a tenth of his winnings to his church and start a foundation to help poor West Virginians.

In many ways Whittaker is the same unpretentious, no-nonsense, cowboy-hat-wearing guy he was before he hit the jackpot. But his natural openness is tempered by a certain wariness. Security guards now watch his home and office, and last week an assistant videotaped and audiotaped an interview in which he said he regretted the toll fame has taken on his family.

Whittaker said he and his daughter, Ginger, were used to dealing with the public and so have not been traumatized by the attention. ("I'm not bashful; I can tell people where to go but fast.")

But his wife and his granddaughter, Brandi, are another story.

"There should be a book to tell you how to handle it when people get thrown into the limelight," he said. "My wife swears she's going to write it. People aggravate her to death asking for money."

Brandi has lost almost all of her friends, Whittaker said.

"They want her for her money and not for her good personality," he said. "She's the most bitter 16-year-old I know. She doesn't communicate with almost anybody but me. I'm working on it, though."

Lottery winners often struggle to handle newfound wealth and fame, and many become tied up in lawsuits or estranged from family and friends. One study claimed that instant millionaires have about the same level of happiness as recent accident victims.

For his part, Whittaker has brought some unwanted attention upon himself.

During a late-night July foray to a West Virginia strip club, Whittaker opened a briefcase filled with $545,000 in cash and cashier's checks in front of a club employee. Whittaker was soon drugged, and the briefcase was stolen, police said.

The money was recovered, and two club employees were arrested. But the incident put a spotlight on Whittaker's habits, which police said included frequent strip-club visits and high-stakes gambling at a dog track and casino.

Whittaker declined to talk about the incident or other parts of his life he deemed private. He said he does not go to the track much these days since he dislikes the attention. "I could have a ski mask on and they'd still recognize me," he said.

Unlike other lottery winners, Whittaker was used to handling big money before he hit the jackpot.

He said he has spent about $45 million in the past year, much of it buying dozens of properties for industrial development in West Virginia and Ohio. "I haven't bought nothing that's not worth more than what I paid for it," he said.

His contracting company has expanded from $15 million in annual contracts to $35 million, and its work force has gone from around 115 employees to 370 at peak construction season, he said.

About $14 million has been spent on charity work, almost half of it through the Jack Whittaker Foundation, he said. The three-employee foundation helps West Virginians find jobs, buy food or get an education.

Whittaker said the foundation has probably helped about 900 families, many of whom were checked out by private investigators first.

He has also donated more than $7 million to three Church of God pastors in West Virginia and California.

One goal he has not achieved: spending more time with his family. The man who used to work 14-hour days is busier than ever.

"I was hoping I could start taking naps in the afternoon," Whittaker said, "but that hasn't happened yet."

Canis horribilis: Princess Anne's terrier kills Queen Elizabeth II's corgi

LONDON (AP) -- There will be a face -- and four paws -- missing from beneath the queen's table this Christmas.

As the royal family gathered Wednesday to celebrate the holidays, Queen Elizabeth II was mourning the death of one of her beloved corgis, mauled by a terrier with a violent past owned by her daughter Princess Anne.

Buckingham Palace would not comment on the widely reported attack, which has cast a pall over the family's holiday celebrations. An unidentified "royal insider" told The Sun newspaper that the queen was devastated by the dog's death.

British newspapers said Pharos the corgi was hurt in an altercation with Dotty the bull terrier at the royal family's Sandringham estate on Monday. The 77-year-old queen, recovering from recent knee surgery, hobbled to the scene to find Pharos badly injured, with one leg broken in three places.

The corgi was treated by royal vets but had to be put down, reports said.

Dotty was in the news -- and her royal owner in court -- last year after she attacked two children in a park. But Colette Case, a prominent London pet behavior consultant, said the latest tragic incident "could have happened in any household.

"Corgis are very feisty dogs and are known for getting themselves into scrapes and scraps," she said.

The queen is a noted corgi fancier, and has owned more than 30 of the petite Welsh cattle dogs, starting with Susan, who was given to her on her 18th birthday in 1944.

She has also introduced a new breed of dog known as a "dorgi" -- the unlikely result of one of her corgis mating with a dachshund named Pipkin belonging to her sister Princess Margaret.

Her affection for the breed is well known. Photographs of Buckingham Palace published in the Daily Mirror tabloid last month, taken by a reporter posing as a royal footman, showed a Tupperware container of dog biscuits on the queen's breakfast table.

The dogs often sneak into official palace functions, including a reception for President Bush last month. Newspaper reports said the queen hangs out Christmas stockings packed with doggie treats for her canine companions.

The death of Pharos leaves the queen with eight corgis and dorgis.

Dotty has been in the dog house before. In April 2002 she bit two children, aged 7 and 12, as they walked in Windsor Great Park near Windsor Castle.

Princess Anne was fined $880 -- the first time in the modern age that a senior member of the British royal family had been convicted of a criminal offense.

After a canine psychologist described Dotty as "an utterly placid, playful dog," the judge spared the terrier's life but ordered that the animal undergo training and be kept on a leash in public places.

Case said Dotty was not necessarily to blame for the latest incident.

"We don't even know what happened. It could have been self defense," she said. "The corgis have had to see behavior consultants in the past for biting members of the household staff, so they are not exactly the easiest of dogs to manage either.

"I think this was a very badly managed situation that was allowed to get out of control. Just bad handling," Case said. "(Princess Anne) has had an incident with this dog in the past, so she knew that this dog required even greater management and care."

Apartment building fire caused by Christmas lights leaves 40 homeless in Georgia

ROSWELL, Ga. (AP) -- A fire caused by malfunctioning Christmas lights swept through an apartment building, destroying 16 apartments and leaving 40 people homeless.

Rain late Tuesday helped keep the fire from spreading to other buildings in the sprawling apartment complex, firefighters said.

No one was injured, but members of one family jumped from second-story windows to escape the fire and all escaped unharmed.

"I've lost everything," Fernando Escobar told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He had helped his two sons, wife and dog out the window to safety, but they lost all their possessions.

Firefighters had to rescue four other residents, Fire Capt. Paul Piccirilli said.

Red Cross volunteers handed out clothing and helped residents find other places to stay for the holidays.

Flooding in Bolivia kills at least 19, 40 missing

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Flooding in central Bolivia has killed at least 19 people and left 40 missing, most of them passengers on a bus that was swept away by a swollen river, authorities said Wednesday.

After days of heavy rains, the Chapare River collapsed a bridge and carried away the bus some 400 miles southeast of La Paz on Tuesday morning, police said.

By Wednesday afternoon, rescue crews had recovered 19 bodies and were searching for 40 other people. Six survivors were rescued.

Deputy Defense Minister Jorge Badani said most of the victims were on the bus. Two soldiers in an army truck were also killed.

President Carlos Mesa declared a state of emergency after overflying the area near the town of Villa Tuniru.

"The loss of human life is high, but it will be a while before we know exactly how many people died," Mesa said.

Officials said reconstruction of the bridge will cost at least $1 million. Its loss will hamper the transportation of export goods from several regions in landlocked Bolivia to ports in Chile and Peru, they said.

Minor quake in Santa Barbara County rattles Central Coast

LOMPOC, Calif. (AP) -- A magnitude-3.7 earthquake rattled the central California coast early Wednesday, striking about 70 miles southeast of the deadly temblor that killed two people earlier in the week.

There were no immediate reports of injury or damage following Wednesday's minor quake, said Mary Terrones, a community service officer with the Lompoc Police Department.

The quake hit at 9:23 a.m. and was centered 10 miles northwest of Lompoc, according to a report from the California Institute of Technology and U.S. Geological Survey. Lompoc is 125 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The quake was too far from Monday's magnitude-6.5 temblor to be considered an aftershock, Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton said.

However, the new quake may have been triggered by the seismic activity that has shaken the Cambria area, 70 miles to the northwest, since Monday, Hutton added.

Seismologists warn aftershocks could continue to shake the area for weeks to come.

Man pleads no contest to murder in stabbing death of disabled son

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) -- A man accused of stabbing his developmentally disabled son and leaving him to die on the Kansas Turnpike pleaded no contest Wednesday to second-degree murder.

Raymond Boothe, who had been charged with first-degree murder in the August 2002 death of his son, Levi, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30. He faces at least 12 years in prison, authorities said.

Boothe, of Cameron, Mo., was driving through Kansas with Levi and his other three children when he stopped along the turnpike, took the 11-year-old boy into the ditch and stabbed him repeatedly with needle-nose pliers.

Boothe, described by relatives as having a history of problems with drugs, alcohol and mental illness, thought the boy was evil, prosecutors said.

Hours later, Boothe crashed his car in Lawrence. He and the other children survived. The reason for his trip into Kansas wasn't clear, although a sister said Boothe told her he was going to Oklahoma.

An autopsy found Levi died of multiple blunt trauma injuries, possibly from being struck by vehicles.

Parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey sue Fox News Network

DENVER (AP) -- The parents of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey filed a $12 million federal defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network over a story they say cast suspicion on them.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Atlanta, John and Patsy Ramsey took issue with a report that aired last year for the six-year anniversary of JonBenet's death. In it, a Denver-based employee stated there has "never been any evidence to link an intruder to her brutal murder."

John and Patsy Ramsey have maintained their innocence and said an intruder killed JonBenet, who was found strangled and beaten Dec. 26, 1996, in the basement of their Boulder home. The Ramseys now live in Atlanta.

Prosecutors and a federal judge have said evidence in the case was more consistent with the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet. The parents were never charged.

Fox spokesman Robert Zimmerman in New York said he could not comment on the lawsuit because the company had not yet been served.

Judge rules Limbaugh medical records to remain sealed for now

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A judge resealed Rush Limbaugh's medical records Wednesday, giving the conservative radio commentator's attorneys time to appeal his earlier decision allowing prosecutors to examine the files for evidence Limbaugh illegally purchased painkillers.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff ordered the records remain sealed for 15 days while Limbaugh's attorneys pursue their appeal. Winikoff had ruled Tuesday that prosecutors could examine the records, but could not make them public.

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on the ruling and would not say if prosecutors had begun looking at the records.

Limbaugh told listeners to his afternoon radio show that "the state attorney already has had his investigators pouring through" the files. "I'm not surprised. My case is being treated differently than anyone else's is in this matter," he said.

Investigators obtained the records last month after discovering that Limbaugh received more than 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. Limbaugh's former maid told investigators she had been supplying him prescription painkillers for years.

Limbaugh's attorneys had argued that the seizure of the records from doctors in Florida and California violated their client's privacy and that the investigation was politically motivated. Attorney Roy Black has said the records would only prove Limbaugh suffered from a serious medical condition and was prescribed painkillers.

Limbaugh recently admitted his addiction, saying it stemmed from severe back pain. He took a five-week leave from his afternoon radio show to enter a rehabilitation program.

Academy Award-winning animator and costume designer dies

CARMEL, Calif. (AP) -- Wah Ming Chang, an Academy Award-winning animator and a Carmel Valley artist, died Monday. He was 86.

Chang worked as an artist for more than seven decades. He worked on three Walt Disney films and as a Hollywood costume designer and sculptor.

Born in Honolulu to two artists, Chang moved to San Francisco with his family in the early 1920s. In San Francisco, they managed the Ho Ho Tea Room, a hangout for bohemian artists. Artists and journalist Blanding Sloan, a regular customer, took an interest in the 6-year-old Chang after he discovered him sketching portraits on the back of his mother's menus.

Chang met his wife, Glenella Taylor, while working with Sloan in Dallas on "The Calvacade of Texas," a show celebrating the Texas Centennial, in 1936. When a 21-year-old Chang started working for Anaheim-based Disney in 1939, he was the youngest member of Disney's Effects and Model Department.

Chang developed polio and lost the use of his legs shortly after starting at Disney but managed to recover after a 21-day hospitalization. He married Taylor in Texas in 1941 -- California law at the time did not allow marriage between a Chinese and a Caucasian.

Some of his more notable works include a stop-motion animation production of "The Three Bears." Chang created wooden models of Pinocchio and Bambi so that Disney animators could study body movements. He also contributed to "Bozo the Clown," "Tom Thumb," "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao."

Chang designed costumes for the film "The King and I" starring Yul Brenner, created masks for "The Planet of the Apes" and made Elizabeth Taylor's headdress in "Cleopatra." He sculpted a series of heads to animate the first Pillsbury Doughboy and made creatures for the television series "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek." It was his work on "The Time Machine" that earned him an Oscar for special effects.

Chang is survived by a half-sister, Lana Price of Carmel, and several nieces and nephews. His wife of nearly 60 years died in 1997.

Police say man shot by officer in Vegas yard plotted to kill dog

LAS VEGAS -- A suspected prowler shot by Las Vegas police in a gated community intended to kill a Rottweiler that had mauled a neighbor's dog, authorities said.

Melvin Gilchrist, 26, who survived the Dec. 5 shooting, plotted with an accomplice, Ryan Schiestel, 25, to kill the animal in the back yard of a home in the upscale Summerlin section of Las Vegas, police said.

"It's probably one of the strangest cases I've worked in 24 years," said Las Vegas police Sgt. Mike Thompson.

Gilchrist was freed on bail Dec. 9 after being jailed on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. He was accused of approaching Officer Bryan Yant with a baseball bat and a butcher knife before he was shot in the hip.

Gilchrist and Schiestel face a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to maim, poison or kill another person's animal, police said.

Schiestel denied any wrongdoing.

Authorities said the plot to kill the Rottweiler came after the dog attacked and killed a 10-pound Italian greyhound on Dec. 4. Rosemary Sketchley-Deets said her 10-year-old son was walking the dog, named Sasha, when the Rottweiler attacked.

Sketchley-Deets said she does not know the two men. Thompson said police believe another neighbor angered by the attack told one of the men about it.

Wisconsin bar owner accused of sexually assaulting women who mysteriously passed out

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A bar owner apparently drugged nearly a dozen women by spiking their drinks, then sexually assaulted them, sometimes videotaping the acts, prosecutors say.

Marcus B. Somerhalder, 28, faces 18 felony charges in Green Bay, including sexual assault and taking nude photos without consent. The alleged offenses date back to 1999.

The women said they mysteriously blacked out after drinking with him.

"A number of women clearly thought they may have been drugged," Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "That's the only way to describe what happened, the only plausible explanation for what happened."

Somerhalder, owner of The Velvet Room and The Washington Street Lounge in Green Bay, was jailed on $50,000 bail.

His attorney, Jackson Main, said he believes his client is innocent. "This is a guy who's never been in trouble before," Main said.

Somerhalder was initially charged in early December with five counts. The additional charges were filed Tuesday after police tracked down women in nude photos seized from Somerhalder's apartment and interviewed dozens of others.

Women told investigators they met with Somerhalder and had drinks, then passed out or became sick and woke up naked, in some cases in his bed.

Two women said that they got pregnant and that Somerhalder paid each of them $700 for abortions, authorities said.

Ohio Supreme Court upholds stepfather rape conviction over artificial insemination

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the rape conviction of a man who forcibly impregnated his stepdaughter through artificial insemination.

The court, without comment, let stand a lower court ruling that affirmed the 2002 conviction of John Goff on rape and child endangerment charges.

Goff, of Akron, was found guilty of using a syringe to impregnate his then 16-year-old stepdaughter. He is serving a 20-year prison term. His wife, Narda Goff, served about eight months of a three-year sentence for complicity.

The girl testified that she agreed to be inseminated because Goff threatened her with a gun and said he would hurt her mother if she did not comply. Narda Goff was unable to have more children because of health problems. The girl's son, born in 1999, was placed in foster care.

The appeal by Goff, 42, had argued in part that jurors should not have been told that a legal definition of force can be met simply by the fact he was the girl's parent.

The 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals had rejected that argument, saying: "The parent's position of authority and power, in relation to a child's vulnerability, creates a unique situation of dominance and control."

Mortgage company employees find real-life Christmas story

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Mortgage company employees who donated nearly $7,000 worth of toys for abused children, then discovered them stolen, watched a real-life Christmas story unfold as substitute Santas across California replaced them before Christmas Eve.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies on Wednesday arrested a former volunteer for the Sacramento Children's Home Christmas toy drive in the theft. Catherine Lynch, 34, of Sacramento, was jailed on allegations of felony grand theft.

"What started off as a lesson in what Christmas is all about turned into a lesson that life is difficult and unfortunate -- and then turned into the greatest lesson of all," said Laura Black, 30, who organized the toy drive. "It's been our own little Christmas miracle."

Black and other employees at Vitek Mortgage Group in Sacramento learned Saturday that toys they bought for the children's home had been carried away by a woman claiming to be a volunteer there. The feeling among employees, Black said, was "complete devastation."

But when media accounts appeared about the theft, dozens of people throughout Central and Northern California stepped in with musical instruments, gift certificates, toys and cash.

One person wrote a $5,000 check for children's Christmas gifts, said Roy Alexander, chief executive officer of the home where abused, neglected and emotionally disturbed children often stay for as long as 18 months.

Alexander said the 136-year-old home received toys and cash to cover the Christmas holiday "many times over," with presents left for birthdays and other holidays as well.

He said the home's 80 children will open gifts Christmas morning while on an overnight outing in the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Sheriff's Sgt. Lou Fatur said deputies arrested Lynch, who had no previous criminal history, at her house across the street from the mortgage company. Fatur said deputies found about 20 gifts at the house. The rest, he said, had been sold and traded.

"She pulled a scam and I'm glad we caught her," said Fatur.

He said deputies would take the gifts to the children's home Wednesday.

Black, mother of a 13-year-old daughter, said, "We heard so many stories. Single mothers struggling themselves wanted to donate 10 dollars. It's really just been like a dream state. We've agreed this will be our most incredible Christmas memory that we'll carry with us forever."

Fatur didn't know if Lynch posted a $5,000 bond after being booked into Sacramento County Jail, and repeated attempts to contact jail authorities were unsuccessful. The Sacramento telephone book contains no listing for Catherine Lynch, and it could not be immediately determined if she had retained an attorney.

People

DETROIT (AP) -- White Stripes lead singer Jack White has been booked on a misdemeanor aggravated assault charge from a a fight with the lead singer of another band.

The 28-year-old was fingerprinted and had his mug shot snapped Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press reported. He posted a $100 cash bond and will be arraigned next month.

Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Marcus Connor said White was cooperative.

"He was a gentleman throughout the whole process," Connor said.

White's attorney, Wally Piszczatowski, said the booking was routine.

"Everything went smoothly," he said. "One step at a time."

The Dec. 13 fight between White and Von Bondies lead singer Jason Stollsteimer began shortly before midnight at the Majestic Theater Center, where both men were in the audience for another concert.

Stollsteimer, 25, told police White had punched him seven times in the face. Police said Stollsteimer's right eye was bruised and swollen and he was bleeding from his nose.

White went to the police afterward and gave a statement saying he struck Stollsteimer in self defense. The Grammy-nominated singer faces anywhere from no jail time to a maximum of one year in prison if convicted.

DETROIT (AP) -- Jay Leno was warned that he may need a doctor, but went through with eating a 125-year-old fruitcake anyway.

"Is it crystalized," Leno said before eating a small bite pried from the cake with a pocketknife.

"It needs more time," he said after a deliberate chew.

Morgan Ford, 83, of Tecumseh, was a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He brought his great-grandmother Fidelia Bates' fruitcake to Burbank, Calif., to share a piece with Leno for Tuesday's night's show.

Ford is the caretaker of the fruitcake, which has been handed down through generations.

Ford's daughter, Julie Ruttinger of Tecumseh, e-mailed "The Tonight Show" recently about her family's antique fruitcake after seeing "The Fruitcake Lady" on the show. She wanted to tell them "we've got the real fruitcake."

NEW YORK (AP) -- Recording artists Van Cliburn, the Funk Brothers, Ella Jenkins, Sonny Rollins, Artie Shaw and Doc Watson will receive the 2004 Grammy lifetime achievement awards.

Trustee awards, which recognize contributions to the industry by nonperformers, will be presented to jazz producer Orrin Keepnews, the songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and pianist/radio host Marian McPartland, the Recording Academy announced Monday.

Both special merit awards are decided by a vote of the Recording Academy's national trustees.

"These recipients are being honored as legendary performers, cultural ambassadors, archetypal musicians and profoundly inspiring figures," Academy President Neil Portnow said in a statement.

Recipients will be acknowledged in a ceremony during a weeklong celebration leading up to the 46th annual Grammy Awards ceremony Feb. 8 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show will air live on CBS.

On the Net:

http://www.grammy.com/

NEW YORK (AP) -- Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson will be honored next month at the 15th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The awards gala is set for Jan. 11 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, the festival announced Monday.

"We are very excited to be honoring Scarlett Johansson with the festival's first-ever Rising Star Award," said chairman-elect Earl Greenburg in a statement. "(She) has already established herself as one of Hollywood's most versatile and talented young actresses."

Johansson, 19, has received a pair of Golden Globe nominations for her roles in "Lost in Translation" and "Girl With a Pearl Earring." Her films also include "The Horse Whisperer" and "Ghost World."

The festival, set for Jan. 8-19, will include more than 200 films from some 60 countries.

On the Net:

http://www.psfilmfest.org

NEW YORK (AP) -- The VH1 special about the making of Warren Zevon's final album, "The Wind," will be released on DVD in March.

The album, which includes a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and the poignant "Keep Me in Your Heart," was released to critical acclaim shortly before the singer-songwriter's death in September. Zevon died at age 56 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.

Jordan Zevon, executive producer of "The Wind," says the DVD will show things that wouldn't fit in the VH1 special and will include footage that shows his father's personality.

"We got together with Artemis (Records) ... and I went through all the tapes and tried to pick some extra tracks to put on there," he told AP Radio in a recent interview.

"They're all moments that are uncut. They're not edited together for the sake of time and go from bit to bit. They're actually just little moments in the making of the record."

Warren Zevon has been nominated for five Grammy Awards including song of the year for "Keep Me in Your Heart." The Grammys will be presented Feb. 8 in Los Angeles.

On the Net:

http://www.warrenzevon.com/

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A sign that points travelers to the most accessible view of western North Carolina's Cold Mountain is back in place, in time for Thursday's opening of the film of the same name.

Phil Noblitt, a spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway, said Tuesday that a redwood sign marking the parkway's Cold Mountain Overlook was re-erected Monday, after being removed temporarily for refurbishment.

The sign is in a parking area near mile marker 412 on the parkway. From there, travelers have a view to the west of 6,030-foot Cold Mountain.

The movie, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger and based on the best-selling book by Charles Frazier, opens Christmas Day. It already has received extensive praise from critics and earned a leading eight Golden Globe nominations.

It tells the story of a wounded Confederate soldier's journey back to his North Carolina home during the Civil War. Though set in Virginia and North Carolina, nearly all the movie was filmed in Romania.

The Cold Mountain Overlook is the only marked view of the mountain that is reachable by travelers during the winter months, when much of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed because of snow and poor weather at higher elevations.

It's accessible via U.S. Highway 276, which runs between Waynesville west of the parkway and Etowah, to the east. Another view of the mountain, near mile marker 431 at the Haywood-Jackson Overlook, is closed for most of the winter.



Odds & Ends

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Linda Exler is celebrating what she calls her "Christmas miracle."

Exler accidentally threw away a manila envelope with $200 in cash in it -- and actually got it back.

She called the Idaho Falls Sanitation Department to see if they could find the money she tossed in the trash.

The Bonneville Transfer Station processes tons of trash a day from more than 50,000 residents, but that didn't stop employee Chad Holverson from looking.

"I just pushed stuff to one corner in between loading trucks. Got out, started kicking around some garbage bags, saw something brown in one of the clear ones, saw (a) manila envelope, tore it open and saw 200 bucks cash," he told television station KIDK.

Exler says it's her "Christmas miracle," but Holverson says it was just the right thing to do.

KILLINGLY, Conn. (AP) -- Christmas just won't be the same for this small eastern Connecticut town that has been set aglow during the holidays by one man and his spirit.

Mervin Whipple, known as "Mr. Christmas" to the people of Killingly, has decided to pull the plug on his brilliant, gigantic holiday light display.

Partly, it was the pricey bills. But mostly, there just isn't enough Christmas spirit, the once-jolly Whipple said.

"It's a changed world," Whipple said while fighting back tears. "The spirit of Christmas is gone."

Whipple had threatened to close down the display in recent years. But now he says it's official: Whipple's Christmas Wonderland is no more.

More than 1.5 million people from across the country visited the display over its 35-year run. Decorated with 110,000 bright lights and 300 moving figures, including everything from Santa Claus to life-size angels, Whipple's home was a holiday tradition and a Connecticut landmark.

"He's our Father of Christmas," said Killingly resident Bethany Milardo, 29, who had visited the display every year for as long as she could remember. "I have never, ever seen anything like it before, and I doubt I will ever find anything that tops it."

Whipple said volunteers began to dwindle over the past few years, and the bill -- $19,000 last year -- had grown too costly.

"Help was becoming far and few between and I kept getting bigger and bigger," he said. "I just couldn't keep up anymore."

ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) -- It got a little too hot at the fire station, so Anderson Fire Chief Mike McKinley pulled the plug on Internet access.

A computer technician discovered adult pornography sites on the hard drive after it crashed.

McKinley immediately blocked Internet access. Computers in other fire stations are also being reviewed and will be reformatted.

"We are checking to see what has and hasn't happened," McKinley said.

The fire department may have a hard time determining who accessed the porn sites.

"Unless someone steps forward, we have no way of proving it," Capt. Dan Dykes said.

McKinley and incoming Fire Chief J.R. Rosencrans said they planned to meet with all firefighters to tell them pornography was not allowed.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- This thief is charmed, not armed.

Police say a bank robber has used his good manners to rob thousands of dollars, usually wishing tellers a Merry Christmas before he steals the money.

He walks into a bank, always unarmed, approaches a teller and offers a warm greeting, police said.

"I hope you have a Merry Christmas," he says as he hands over a note demanding money.

Police said the note says, "I am a robber, give me all the money, don't give me any dye pack, you have 20 seconds."

The man then takes the cash, puts it in his own envelope and calmly leaves. Police suspect he hit banks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties over the past month. The latest strike came Monday at a Wachovia Bank in Hollywood, when he walked off with more than $5,000.

"In all of them he is extremely polite," Hollywood police Capt. Tony Rode said. "Notwithstanding his polite manners we consider him a dangerous felon."