
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993                   TAG: 9305300131
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

HE'LL GET TO KEEP ALL OF THIS PRIZE

A retired longshoreman who's awaiting a judge's verdict on whether he gets to keep all of a $9 million Lotto prize has again picked some lucky numbers, lottery officials said Friday.

Walter Cole won $10,000 by choosing all four correct numbers in the Pick 4 game May 14, Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto said.

Cole played the combination 1-2-8-8 twice at a Chesapeake, Va., convenience store.

Otto said Cole claimed his winnings - two $5,000 checks - on May 17 at a regional lottery office in Hampton, Va.

Cole, 70, a retired longshoreman, was tight-lipped Friday about his winning ways.

"I just write down what I think," he said during a brief telephone interview from his home in Elizabeth City.

Cole's big jackpot, meanwhile, awaits a decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The court will rule this summer on an appeal of a lawsuit Cole won in December.

The suit was filed in Elizabeth City by four former betting buddies who claim that they pitched in to buy the winning ticket and are entitled to a share of the prize.

The four men also sued in Virginia, where a Chesapeake Circuit Court judge said he would await the North Carolina appellate court's decision before ruling on jurisdictional questions.

Cole's attorney said his client's more recent good fortune won't tip the scales of justice.

"It won't affect the case at all," lawyer Frank W. Ballance Jr. said. "But he's a very lucky fellow."

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB