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Huge Powerball jackpot brings 'em out in droves By KELLY STEWART Just before 6 a.m. Saturday, Karen McKilligan looked out the window of the Minute Market where she works to see people pounding on the store's windows and doors. McKilligan, a clerk at Medford's Highland Avenue store, unlocked the doors to the Minute Market seven minutes before opening time, only to find the anxious people simply wanted to buy lottery tickets. "I thought it was something important," McKilligan said of her morning ordeal. "I guess it was." Saturday night, Oregonians had a chance to win $100 million in the Powerball jackpot. Although Saturday's jackpot was considerably less than the record Powerball sum of $295 million, Rogue Valley residents weren't complaining. After purchasing a Powerball ticket at the Minute Market, Charlie Steringer of Medford said he would buy a local hospital if he won. "I'd give a lot of health care to people who can't afford it," he said. At the 7-Eleven on Crater Lake Avenue in Medford, clerk Kevin Curphey said lottery business was up Saturday. One person picked up 20 tickets; the average is about three, he said. "A hundred million is a lot of money," Curphey said. But Powerball ticket buyers were not hounding Medford's South Gateway Fred Meyer. "It hasn't been real heavy," said clerk Lillia Plankenhorn. But she expected the numbers to rise before the evening's drawing. After clipping her lottery tickets from the Fred Meyer machine, Sarah Townsend of Medford expressed her wish if she won the big money: "I'd share it with my children." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA