Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray Reed
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: Your computer-issued ticket can be a duplicate of someone else's numbers.
Various lottery computer terminals can pick the same number, just as people can.
And even if 7 million tickets were purchased by computer pick, there's no guarantee that someone would win. There's a likelihood, certainly, but not a guarantee.
Absolutely no manipulation is done for the numbers chosen by the computerized "easy pick" that's offered in Lotto, said Cherie Phaup of the Virginia Lottery. No combination is eliminated by the computer, even if it already has been sold once, twice or a dozen times.
The terminal at the location where the lottery ticket is purchased selects "easy pick" numbers from a program inside its own box, Phaup said. Terminals in Norfolk, Martinsville and Roanoke could, simply by chance, print out identical numbers.
Only after those tickets are sold are the numbers transmitted to the lottery's central computer in Richmond.
That's how the lottery folks know after the drawings whether winning tickets were sold, and where.
The program that selects the numbers is so randomized that a given terminal could issue the same numbers to several customers, Phaup said.
Midwestern sandbags
Q: Where do people get the sand to fill all the sandbags in the Midwest flood area? M.B., Roanoke
A: From as close by as they can.
Cities dig sand from public lands and truck it to the riverside.
Owners of small parcels sometimes pay contractors to bring sand, or dig it from their own land.
Farmers may push dirt - preferably clay - from their fields to build levees, often plowing up hundreds of acres of crops.
The opposite problem prevails in the Midwest now. Those cities are wondering what to do with 20 million sandbags as the water goes down.
Ste. Genevieve, Mo., a picturesque town, looked like a fortified defense position, said Bob Anderson of the Army Corps of Engineers in Memphis.
Ballplayer tantrums
Q: When a major-league player has a tantrum in the clubhouse, does he pay for the damage he causes or does his team? P.M., Roanoke
A: Apparently each team has its own policy.
The Baltimore Orioles said the player gets billed. Period. End of discussion.
The Atlanta Braves said it "depends on the situation." The Braves don't have a hard-and-fast rule on who pays for smashed water coolers and such.
Perhaps we can assume that if the player's upset about an umpire's call, and the manager is, too, the team picks up the tab.
Got a question about something that might affect other people too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB