What were the odds? Fox News anchor wins Mat-Su Youth Court raffle

Posted by matsublog

Posted: October 20, 2008 - 3:59 pm

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WASILLA -- As the crew of SNL’s weekend update might say, “Really? Seriously? Are you kidding me?”

The winner of the Mat-Su Youth Court raffle drawn at last week’s Wasilla city council meeting was none other than Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. Van Susteren, best known as host of “On the Record,” got hit up by Wasilla Mayor Dianne Keller to buy tickets when she came to Alaska to profile Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. On her blog, GretaWire, Van Susteren gushes about winning $620 in the raffle under the headline: “I LOVE WASILLA !!! (now every journalist will want to go!)”

Locals, including Keller who bought a losing ticket, could understandably be peeved about getting beat by an Outsider, and part of the media elite at that. But no one is holding a grudge since Van Susteren shelled out to buy ten of the $2-a-pop tickets and agreed to forfeit her winnings to the youth court program.

Lisa Albert-Konecky, who helps manage the non-profit program, said the money will be put to good use to send kids to a statewide youth court conference in Anchorage. The program, which has a counterpart in Anchorage, allows teenagers to set up their own court in which they handle mostly minor but real crimes committed by juveniles. The Mat-Su program currently has 70 teenagers and hears about a 100 cases a year from misdemeanor drug offenses to shoplifting, according to Albert-Konecky.

Still for those wondering what the odds were. Albert-Konecky said 620 tickets were sold. Van Susteren bought 10, which made the chances of her winning 1 in 62.

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