Lottery Man' betting on Pakistani district
Powerball fortune used to help quake victims
BATAGRAM, Pakistan -- The mayor looks at
the shabby tents where earthquake victims have
lived for the five months since their mountain
village was destroyed.
Ihsan Khan, 47, is not like any other
government official in this country. He is a former
Chicago resident and Northern Illinois University student,
a one-time cab driver in Washington, D.C., and a citizen
of both the U.S. and Pakistan. He is also a
multimillion-dollar Powerball winner who was
elected mayor of his hometown district in Pakistan
two days before the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.
Now Khan is helping his destroyed district
with his lottery winnings.
On this day, Khan is not happy with what he sees in the
government refugee camp--the people cooking over stoves
in cramped tents, the tent that caught fire the day before,
the tents pitched on sticks.
"This is appalling," Khan said. "What you see here--they could have done better than this."
This is his home, and he feels it is his responsibility.
After spending half his life in the U.S., Khan has left
his American Dream behind, or at least put it on hold,
to help the place where he grew up. Khan won election
as nazim, or mayor, of Batagram district after deciding
to run against the local families who had controlled
this region for generations. Nothing his opponents
called him--"American Dollar Man" or "Lottery Man"--
kept him from getting votes.
see more at ,,,,,,,,,,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603120373mar12,1,3231902.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
see some free Powerball lottery reports and stats
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