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They won $100,000, $10,000 and $10,000

Three area residents cash in lottery tickets for big winnings

Submitted photo

Paul Curtis shows his $10,000 check.

By Dee Henry | Hickory Daily Record

Published: January 23, 2009

CONOVER - Conover may be the lucky place in Catawba County when it comes to the North Carolina lottery.

Of the people announced most recently as winners, two live in Conover and the third ticket, worth $100,000, was purchased at a Conover store.

On Jan. 19, Rebecca Carrier of Taylorsville, stopped at the Market Basket on N.C. 16 North in Conover, as she does on a regular basis on her way to work, and purchased a $5 Mega Bucks ticket.

"I took it out to my car to scratch it off," she said, "and I took it back in to the manager and asked him, 'Is this what I think it is?'"

Carrier said coming back from Raleigh Thursday afternoon was an experience.

"My hands were shaking," she said. "I didn't know if I was having a heart attack or a stroke."

Carrier is a little bit luckier than her recent $100,000 prize. She has been on a winning streak, purchasing a ticket worth $1,000 Jan. 17 and another worth $500 Jan. 15. She bought those tickets at Propst's Superette on N.C. 16.

"And I'm not through yet," she said. "I haven't gotten the big one yet and that's what I've always said I was going to do."

Paul Curtis of Conover won $10,000 in the Jan. 17 Powerball, but it was a bittersweet win.

"I had every number except for one," Curtis said. "I came that close to winning $164 million. If I had done that, I would be on a boat in the Caribbean."

Curtis had won $7 on a previously bought ticket and used that, along with $3 more, to purchase 10 $1 tickets.

Curtis said he will use the money to pay off some bills. As a contractor, business has been kind of slow recently, but he still manages to buy about $5 to $10 each week in tickets.

Another local winner is Vickie Johnson of Conover who won $10,000 in the $200,000 Jackpot. Attempts to reach Johnson were unsuccessful.

Harold Buff, of Lincolnton, won $69,555 in the Jan. 16 Carolina Cash 5 Drawing. He bought the winning ticket at the Cubbard Express on N.C. 127 in Hickory.