Source: AP
By:
(DENVER, CO) — The owner of several strip clubs wants to donate 600,000 shares of stock in an outdoor advertising company to help build a new library at Columbine High School.
Troy Lowrie agreed to donate the stock at the request of Angela Sanders, one of his strippers and the daughter of teacher Dave Sanders, who was among those killed during a shooting rampage at the school.
"It was a tragedy," Lowrie said. "And my work with Angela Sanders brings us a little closer to the tragedy than we normally would be, and she’s a great person. She asked me for a donation and I gave her a little more than she was bargaining for, I think."
The stock is from New Millennium Media International Inc., a Florida outdoor advertising company in which Lowrie has a 9 percent interest. The stock was worth 75 cents a share at the end of trading Friday, making the donation worth $450,000.
Lowrie plans to donate the shares to HOPE, Healing of People Everywhere, a group of Columbine survivors and family members trying to raise $3.1 million to replace the old school library, where most of the 13 victims were gunned down.
HOPE spokeswoman Kyla Thompson said the group hasn’t decided whether to accept the donation.
"They have to discuss it as a family group and they haven’t done that yet," she said.
There are constraints, including limits on how long a nonprofit group such as HOPE can hold a donation. The group needs $3.1 million in hand before construction of the library can begin, so the stock might be worthless to the group if it needs the cash right away.
Lowrie hopes his business dealings will not stop the group from accepting the stock.
"Most of my net worth is from the stock market. This money is from a media company that is not related to the adult industry. I hope they wouldn’t turn it down," he said.
