Those Little Bastids Would Just Go Hungry That Day!

[dougeetx]

School cooks win over $95 million in Powerball


07:43 AM CST on Tuesday, October 28, 2003


Associated Press


ROSEVILLE, Minn. - They waited until the students got their
lunch, then 15 school cooks and one janitor who each put a
quarter into a lottery pool came forward Monday night as the
holders of a Powerball ticket worth more than $95 million.


The women started their first Monday as millionaires back on
the school lunch line where they fed the students in the tiny
Holdingford School District before hopping a bus to the state
lottery headquarters to claim their prize.


"It was really tough to be concentrating on the meal," said
winner Karen Overman. "I know there's a need for news
conferences in the morning, but we've got breakfast to put
out."


The school workers bought one of two winning tickets for the
$190.9 million Powerball jackpot. No one has claimed a second
ticket that was sold in a small southwestern Indiana town.


Each paycheck, the Minnesota women would put a quarter toward
four Powerball tickets -- a routine they have followed since
1990.


The women, who call themselves the "Happy Huskers" after the
school's mascot, the Huskers, range in age from 35 to "old
enough to retire," in Donna Lange's case.


Lange said she realized that the ticket, which was posted on a
school bulletin board, was a winner after checking the numbers
she copied down with a Sunday newspaper. She immediately
called Overman, who had a key to the school.


"I called her a liar like three times," Overman said.


At a news conference Monday night, the smiling women said they
still had not decided whether to choose the cash option, which
would amount to $2.1 million apiece after taxes.


Some in the group said they didn't plan on giving up their
school lunch jobs just yet.


"The kids come first," Overman said of the tiny school
district outside of St. Cloud, in central Minnesota.


"One of the students asked me how it felt to be a
millionaire," said winner Elaine Schumer. "I said, 'I don't
know about that, but you're very lucky to have million dollar
cooks."'


The winning numbers were 6-17-45-47-48 and Powerball 4.


The winners can take $95.45 million worth of annual payments
over 30 years or $49.8 million in cash before taxes.

[Rinaldo]

nice,...