Ballantine files Chapter 7

Now that's a lotta money to owe:

Former state Sen. Patrick Ballantine has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing assets of $819,937 and liabilities of $6.2 million, according to court records.

Ballantine, of Wilmington, listed debts totaling more than $3 million in connection with investments in The Peninsula development in Ocean Isle Beach, where he held a 12.5 percent interest, according to the filing in late June in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Eastern North Carolina.

"My family is just one of the millions of families" going through bad times, Ballantine said.

Er, how many of those "millions of families" could get their hands on six million bucks?