6 JUL 05: THANK YOU, GEORGIA

The winner of a big "Fantasy Five" lottery prize was revealed Tuesday. The winning ticket was sold in Columbus - and bought by a man who lives in Smiths Station. If this income shift keeps happening, Alabama Governor Bob Riley actually might start to like lotteries.

James Edwards of Smiths Station bought a winning Fantasy Five ticket last Tuesday, worth more than $670,000. It's too bad tax money already was spent to fulfill Smiths Station residents' biggest fantasy - railroad crossing gates near U.S. 280.

A Georgia Lottery news release claimed James Edwards bought his winning Fantasy Five ticket at "a Crown station" on South Lumpkin Road. Well, not quite - since all the Crown stations have turned into Spectrums in recent months. So with a winner from Smiths Station, Columbus has lost its Crowns in more ways than one....

(The convenience store also gets a cash prize, for selling the winning ticket. Conflicting reports put the amount between $2,000 and $13,000 - so once again, we don't know how low gas prices will drop, or for how long.)

James Edwards had no secret formula for his winning Fantasy Five ticket. He used the "Quik-Pik" method, where the lottery computer picks the numbers. This store is so close to Fort Benning -- yet sometimes dumb luck works far better than strategic planning.

Isn't Georgia to some extent a big loser in this particular drawing? James Edwards will pay state income tax on his Fantasy Five fortune to Alabama -- unless the Governor lives up to his promise, and refuses to balance the state budget with lottery games.

This Fantasy Five win was actually the second big payoff in our area in recent weeks. A retired college instructor in Americus won a Lotto South drawing for millions of dollars -- meaning it's only a matter of time until Millard Fuller knocks on his door asking for a donation.

(The store in Americus which sold that winning Lotto South ticket is called "Wayne's World." Do you think the staff heard that news, gave each other "high-fives" and shouted, "Party time! Excellent!"?)

And to think about ten years ago, I refused to shop at stores which sold lottery tickets. The church I attended at the time declared all forms of gambling wrong. Trouble was, I lived in suburban Atlanta - and when the gas tank ran low in the wrong part of town, you couldn't drive to Phenix City for relief.

I still don't play Georgia Lottery games - but once in awhile I try the Publishers Clearing House online lotto game. It's free to play, has a million-dollar daily drawing, and everyone who plays winds up getting something. Most of the time it's only your e-mail address on a spam list - but at least that's something.

But before we go online and play, let's work on some other items from the Tuesday news:

+ The biennial "Ranger Rendezvous" began at Fort Benning, with a mass tactical parachute jump by about 1,200 people. But am I missing something here? Why do you never hear "Might as Well Jump" by Van Halen at one of these events?

+ The evening news revealed Columbus soon will have a T.G.I. Friday's on Whittlesey Road, near the Lowe's store. Well, it's about time! Local Walgreens stores have been selling gift cards for those restaurants for months - as if they want people to leave town and dine in Atlanta.

(I didn't realize until I checked online that the closest T.G.I. Friday's to my home is inside the Atlanta airport. We may be on to something here. How about a renovation to create the "Columbus Metropolitan Airport and Strip Mall?")

+ WRBL's web site added something new and potentially annoying. Call up a news story, and you'll find an embedded 30-second car commercial which you can't close without leaving the page. Well, at least Fireworks Outlet won't have any more ads until December.

+ The Albany Herald reported funding for Albany's Independence Day fireworks was cut out of next year's city budget. I have some neighbors you can borrow next July 4, to fill in....

+ The search for a missing Clark Atlanta University student had a surprising ending - with the discovery that she was in an Atlanta jail for disturbing the peace! By not telling her family in San Francisco, she should add a second count of disturbing THEIR peace.

+ Instant Message to a woman I'll call Ms. F: Please get well soon. Thank you for your service, your help, your friendship - and your constructive criticism. For instance, that day when you said my jokes were "sometimes funny...."

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We're still receiving e-mail about our recent comments concerning religion. We'll address those messages in a separate entry this weekend.)

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