Big Jackpot Winners Toe the Line

They may have bigger cars, larger apartments or new VCRs but, a year after winning a share of a $41-million jackpot, 19 of 21 factory workers are still working on an assembly line. “We’re not poor, but we’re not millionaires,” said Kevin Fleming. The men, from 14 countries, had pooled their money and wound up with one of three winning tickets in the Aug. 21, 1985, New York state lottery drawing, which had a jackpot of $41 million to be paid out over 20 years. They agreed to split their $13,666,667 total winnings evenly. Each of the “Lucky 21” receives about $24,000 a year, after federal taxes. Manuel Garcete, who was credited with picking the six winning numbers, has returned to his native Paraguay. Jimmy Chew has gone into business for himself. But the others still report to work at 7 a.m. every Monday through Friday at the Hantscho printing press factory in Mount Vernon, N.Y. “If it were a bad place to work, I’d quit,” Fleming said. “But it’s not.”

--At 19, Robert Hendry became perhaps the youngest police chief in the country when he was hired in March to serve as the only lawman in Laurel Hill, Fla., population 675. Now, he is the youngest ex-police chief. The Town Council voted 3 to 2 to fire him after residents charged that Hendry, now 20, had used his patrol car for out-of-town personal business and had been driving carelessly. He had been given a month to “straighten up,” but, Councilman Vizell Robbins said, “Everything has just gotten out of hand.” Hendry implied that some citizens were simply out to get him. At the council meeting before his firing, he said: “I’ve arrested a bunch of y’all in here. No wonder you’re here. And there’s a few people I could’ve taken to jail here, but I’ve given them breaks.” One of his defenders, Councilwoman Myrtle Jernigan, said: “It was just those people who had a grudge against him. They had it out for him.”

--Call it a case of life imitating art. Jennifer Mann, 15, of Midland Park, N.J., was in bed reading Stephen King’s popular horror novel “The Shining” when a bolt of lightning ripped through her bedroom wall and set her bed on fire. “It was pretty weird,” said Jennifer, who suffered only ringing ears and a tingling jaw.

--Charges of heroin possession against singer Boy George’s transvestite friend, pop star Marilyn, were dropped for lack of evidence. But George’s brother, Kevin O’Dowd, was released on $7,500 bail on charges of conspiring to supply drugs to George. Marilyn, whose real name is Peter Anthony Robinson, told reporters outside court: “It was not what I expected. I am ecstatic and very happy.”