Central Oregonians hit big lottery prizes

Tuesday, March 07, 2006 posted 05:15 AM EST

A Redmond couple and a Chemult gas station employee have something special in common - each have won a $667,142 Powerball Match 5 Bonus prize from last month's frenzy surrounding the record $365 million jackpot in the multi-state game.

Duane Hazen bought five sets of "Quick Pick" numbers at Ray's Food Place in Redmond. His first set matched five numbers, without the power ball, making him one of four Match 5 bonus winners. Overall, Oregon Lottery Powerball players won more than $3.9 million in prizes from the Feb. 18 drawing.

The others were sold in Chemult, Redmond, Tigard and Ashland. The winning ticket from Ashland also included a "power play" option, increasing that prize to $1.26 million, officials said Monday.

As for Crescent resident Lori Miller, she works at Cussins Texaco in Chemult, where she parlayed some change into a pretty big prize (before federal and state taxes are withheld).

"I was getting ready to leave for the day, and discovered four quarters in my purse," Miller said. "I asked the boos to give me a Powerball ticket."

She later scanned her ticket at work and saw the message to see the retailer, meaning she won something. At first, she thought it was $200,000, unaware of the Match 5 prize pool bonus.

Miller and her fiance, Lawrence, were having pizza when her brother called and told her the prize was $667,142. But Miller initially wrote down $67,142, and showed Lawrence, who wondered how the prize had been reduced. Then she realized she'd written it down wrong.

Miller said buying a home and setting up college funds for her kids tops the list of things planned for her prize money.

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