Posted on 08/07/2006 1:09:31 PM PDT by Red Badger
(CBS/AP) About 100 cheese-factory workers in the Wisconsin town of Saint Cloud have been celebrating — because they say they're $208 million richer.
Wisconsin state lottery officials say no one has officially stepped forward to claim Saturday's Powerball jackpot.
But a large contingent of employees from Sargento Cheese say they have the winning ticket locked in a safe.
Eric Heimermann is one member of the celebrating group. He told the Fond du Lac Reporter that the mostly second shift workers had chipped in $1 apiece to a pool to purchase lottery tickets.
Heimermann, 24, of St. Cloud, spoke with the newspaper in a telephone interview from Fat Boys Tavern in St. Cloud. The newspaper said many of the winners went to the tavern Sunday night to celebrate.
"I think everybody pretty much decided we're going to pay our bills and we're going to take it from there," he told the newspaper. "We're all going to work tomorrow. We still have a job to do."
It's not clear when the group will try to redeem the ticket. Lottery spokeswoman Jessica Iverson says it can take several days or weeks for a winner to come forward.
The winning numbers drawn Saturday night were two, three, nine, 48 and 50 and the Powerball was 23.
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Retire-Close-to-the-beach money..........
Follow up from the AP tihs afternoon.
Cheese-factory workers say they're the Powerball winners
By EMILY FREDRIX
Associated Press Writer
PLYMOUTH, Wis. (AP) -- Some cheese company workers returned to their jobs Monday, although they said they were part of a group of about 100 workers who won a $208.6 million Powerball jackpot.
Andrea Fink, 26, of Sheboygan, said she arrived early for her second shift Monday afternoon at Sargento Foods to talk with other winners about what to do.
But she said she didn't plan to leave her job, which she has held for six years.
"I'm too young to retire," she said.
Fink said she found out the group had won Sunday. She said she planned to take a lump sum rather than annual payments and intends to buy a house.
"I don't know what to say. I can't believe it. It just seems unreal," she said.
But Wisconsin Lottery spokeswoman Jessica Iverson said Monday no one had yet come forward to formally claim the prize from Saturday's drawing.
Workers streamed into the factory Monday afternoon, many of them smiling but declining to comment.
Theresa Hermann, 52, of Glenbeulah, said she hopes to take her grandchildren to Walt Disney World and do some work on her house. She said she planned to stay at Sargento, where she's worked for six years.
"This is the most exciting day," she said. "There will be a lot of tears. I like my job and I love the people."
Colleen Sumner, 51, Crystal Lake, said she was not sure if she will keep on working at Sargento, where she has been employed for nearly 19 years.
"It's going to help how many different families? It's super. It's a lot better than one person winning," she said.
Lou Gentine, chief executive officer of the family-owned packager of shredded, snack, specialty cheeses and other snack foods, said he has received calls from a number of workers reporting that they won.
"Sargento always states it has a passion for cheese. We really have an equal passion for our employees. We are just so pleased this happened to our group of people," he said.
Gentine said he expects the majority of winning workers to remain at the factory. But he knew of at least one worker who asked for the day off Monday so he could sort out his affairs.
The majority of the 100 employees work on the second shift, but some work on the third shift and reported to work Sunday night, he said. Gentine said the workers he has heard from are all different ages and some may be near retirement.
"I think most employees, regardless of whether they won or not, are happy for those that won," he said. "I think that's cool."
Some of the ticket-holders gathered Sunday night at Fat Boys tavern in St. Cloud to celebrate.
The winning numbers drawn Saturday night were 2, 3, 9, 48 and 50 and the Powerball was 23.
The jackpot is the largest in Wisconsin history, Iverson said. Previously, the largest jackpot won in the state had been a Powerball jackpot worth $195 million, bought by an Illinois couple in May 1998.
Iverson said the $208.6 million could be paid in 30 installments. But she said the winner or winners could choose a lump sum payment, which she said would be $95.8 million. Both those figures are before taxes, Iverson said.
The winning ticket for a jackpot of that size has to be submitted at lottery headquarters in Madison, she said.
State law requires that payment be made to a single winner unless a court order is obtained, Iverson said. Then multiple winners could choose individually whether to receive a lump sum or get the larger amount spread over 30 payments, the lottery spokeswoman said.
The winning ticket was sold at Ma and Pa's Grocery Express in Fond du Lac along the so-called "Miracle Mile." South Main Street earned that nickname because several stores sold multimillion-dollar tickets during the 1990s.
Ma and Pa's - which will receive $100,000 - sold a winning Megabucks ticket worth $6.5 million in 1994 and has sold winning tickets for $500,000, $250,000 and $100,000 too, among others.
A sign out front Monday proclaimed the store sold the latest winning Powerball ticket.
Pat Moses, who owns Ma and Pa's with her son Phil, said Wisconsin Lottery officials and some Sargento representatives visited the store Monday.
Moses said is mystified as to how the store can turn out so many winners.
"I can't still believe it," she said. "It's almost spooky, like the Bermuda Triangle where there's that magnetism."
Store employee Mike Forsyth said he split a $138,000 jackpot with Phil several years ago and said about a month ago he won a $64,000 jackpot that he split with someone else.
Powerball is played in 29 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"Yes, and what a friend we have in cheeses!" LMAO
"It's going to help how many different families? It's super. It's a lot better than one person winning," she said.
Not if that one person had been ME! LOL!
100 winners. 200 million. $600,000 after taxes doesn't compute.
They had better. Most of them would burn through a $ million surprisingly quickly.
If it's like California, the advertised amount ($200M), is twice what they'll give you if you take the lump sum payout. Then there are taxes...
That will buy a lot of Cheez Its.
The lump-sum value is $95,800,000 - almost all lottery jackpots are based on the time value of money, IOW what they would have to invest, at a very conservative return, to end up with 208 million in 30 years (or 20.) A smart investor though could make MUCH more than that by taking the smaller lump sum.
So-divide that by 100 people and you have $958 grand a piece. After taxes, about $600,000.
I seldom participate in the lottery; it's pretty new here, and besides, my dad calls it an "ignorance tax," lol. But, I'll go for it when the payout gets way up there, like this one. I buy ten Power Play tickets, and let the computer choose the numbers. I've won enough to get my money back all four times I've tried it, most recently on Saturday ... $28.00 for $20.00 spent. This would have been my best yet, had the Power Play number been something other than 2.
That's 840K 1.04 million. I'd take it.
Still The IRS grabs 28% off the top.
So each is going to get $604K to $720K, and heck, I'll take that too!
But it's not a retire now and forever thing unless you are close already...
Even in a modest 5% interest account, $50,000/yr isn't so bad; with good investment, they'd have a fortune...
600 grand might just be pretty handy for your average second shift cheese worker. I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers (with or without cheese) myself....
I ususally buy one ticket when the jackpot gets above $100 million.
They say dreams are free, but for a dollar and a dream for a couple of days it is pretty close to free.
Exactly. At my age (29 Friday) I couldn't retire, but I'd certainly take it!
I think it would be the top tax rate of around 36%, plus in Wisconsin the top tax rate is an additional 7.5%.
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