you might show what is actually in owners.txt
the $read with the s switch, when it finds the matching text, it returns what ever is After the match
if owners text has me me
$read(ownders.txt,s,me) would return "me"
if it has just "me" it wont return anything even though it has found the text "me" because there isnt anything After the word on that line
try the w switch and see if that makes a difference.