For 20 years, Clyde Persley of Santa Cruz worked more than 60 hours a week making candy, driving limousines and waiting by the phone to pick up extra hours at a restaurant. He bought lottery tickets and hoped for his big break.

And he got it.

Persley, 49, turned in his winning SuperLotto Plus ticket to the California Lottery office Tuesday night, said California Lottery spokeswoman Cathy Doyle Johnston, and will receive a check for about $16 million in four to six weeks.

“I’m so happy for my family,” said Persley, who is married with a 4-year-old daughter. “We gotta’ get the money first, but we are definitely not going to waste it.”

Persley’s big plans? To sit on it.

“The next step is to get financial advisers,” he said Wednesday outside his apartment building off Soquel Drive near Dominican Hospital. “But I have to take my wife to Hawaii. She really wants that.”

Persley is a Santa Cruzan through and through. He was born in Santa Cruz and he graduated from Santa Cruz High School in 1977.

Twice a week, Persley would stop in at the Santa Cruz Market, the store that will get $140,000 for selling the winning ticket, to play the lottery.

“I always imagined I would walk into the store and find out that I won,” he said.

And that’s what happened Monday.

When he went into the market to buy lotto tickets, Bankook Choi, the store owner, told him the store had won and to check his tickets. Persley went to visit

his wife, Pauline, at work and checked the numbers in the parking lot. All six numbers matched.

“I felt calm, and just so happy,” he said. “I told my wife and she started screaming and jumping up and down.”

Persley has been working three jobs for the past six years to support his family. He worked part time as a limousine driver and on-call at El Palomar restaurant, but he worked full time for Santa Cruz Nutritionals, formerly Harmony Foods, operating candy-making machines.

Although he no longer has to work, Persley finds it hard to think about leaving his job.

“I really appreciate my life with Harmony Foods,” he said of his 26-year stint there. “I can’t say enough how much my work has meant to me.”

While there are no plans for penthouses or private jets just yet, Persley does see relaxation and family time in his future.

“People think we are going to jump up and start spending all our money,” he said. “But that’s just not the way this works.”

His priorities include a college fund for his daughter, support for his mother and his father-in-law and traveling.

“I want to live a quiet life without stress,” Persley said. “There is not much more you could ask for.”

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(June 18) – A volunteer at a Florida swamp sanctuary got an incredibly lucky shot on Tuesday: he filmed the first clear video of a Florida panther in the wild. Dick Brewer, a retired school teacher, began his day at the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary walking the boardwalk with a friend and fellow volunteer.
Brewer spotted what he first thought was a deer on the boardwalk, but soon realized there was a rare Florida panther standing 20 yards from him. He took out his camera and immediately began filming, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Brewer, 64, has volunteered at the Naples, Fla., sanctuary for 11 years and has caught everything from a black bear and her cubs to some amorous otters on his ever-present video camera. But according to the Times, the odds of seeing a Florida panther are on par with winning the lottery.
Only about 100 Florida panthers survive today, making them one of the rarest animals on Earth. Mark Lotz, a panther specialist with the Florida Wildlife Commission, believes the panther is an adult 100-pound female, Brewer wrote in an e-mail to AOL News.
Brewer and his friend watched and filmed the panther for 44 seconds before it left the boardwalk and headed off into the forest. Brewer also captured a photo of the animal on his digital camera, which he had purchased just the day before.

For more on the story, read the St. Petersburg Times.

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A jobless Taiwan man released from prison stole a box of cotton swabs just to get arrested again because he “could not forget the police department boxed lunches,” officers and local media said Tuesday.

The homeless man in Taipei first stole a pair of shoes on Sunday, was detained and released, the Liberty Times said. He then resorted to stealing again the next day just to get back inside and be fed for free.

 

“If someone’s not doing well and comes in around meal time, we’ll definitely prepare food,” said an officer, surnamed Wang, at the Hsinyi District police station, which handled the case but again released the suspect, Tsou Hao-lan.

In another sign of the times on the recession-hit island, a man who had been without a job for four months stole a motor scooter and drove it to a Taipei-area police station, the paper said.

Taiwan is in recession and economists see more weakness through most of 2009, given falling demand for Taiwan’s electronics goods overseas.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sugita Katyal)

Emma Dausman and Judy Conner are great-grandmothers.

They are state champion bowlers, too.

The Grand Rapids pair recently won the Division 2 doubles title at the United States Bowling Congress’ Women’s Bowling Association state tournament near Bay City.

 
“It was such an accomplishment for someone with my average. All I could say was ‘Wow,’” said Dausman, 86, who has been bowling for 44 years but was in just her 10th state tournament. “It’s still the same 12-pound ball I’ve been using for 44 years. I started with it, and it fits my hand. It does have a few more scratches now, but I am throwing it straighter.”

Added Conner, 69, who has been bowling for 34 years and competed in 33 state tournaments: “We proved that you are not too old to bowl in this tournament and shine.” In a tournament open to any USBC-sanctioned state bowler, the pair won with a total score of 1,607 — 32 pins better than the second-place team. Dausman had games of 192, 189 and 173 for a personal-best 554 series.

And, since she carries a 125 average, Dausman had a 297 handicap. Conner had games of a 178, 203 and 176 for a 557 series. She carries a 161 average and had a 199 handicap.They had their outstanding series on the final day of the tournament last month.

A total of 4,436 doubles team competed in this year’s tournament, which for the first time was broken up into three divisions based on averages.

Michigan USBC Women’s Bowling Association Vice President Sharon Schildroth said the duo’s feat is a rare one.

“Most good scores and winners are by young people,” Schildroth said. “Over the years, women these ages just don’t win it but, in this case, it was just outstanding.”

Conner was ecstatic when she finally learned a week after they bowled that she and Dausman won their first state championships.Dausman gives credit to Conner for helping her.

“That was my best series ever, and I did it because of Judy,” Dausman said. “She is such a good bowler, and she really encouraged me the whole day. If it wasn’t for Judy relaxing me, I don’t think that I would have done so well.”

As for defending their title next year, that will have to wait.

Dausman and Conner are on a team of six who bowl at The Clique, and each year they rotate doubles partners in the state tournament.

The next time the two will bowl together will be in five years, when Dausman is 91, and Conner 74.

“I think when other bowlers reach their 80s, they may say to themselves that ‘If she can do it, I can do it,’” Dausman said.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you enjoy it and relax, you never know how high you can score. And if you can win.”

Source

By: Andy Barr (Politico)The Olive Garden restaurant chain is denying that it canceled all of its scheduled ads on CBS late night comic David Letterman’s “Late Show” in response to a crude joke Letterman told about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter and instead contends that its ad schedule concluded.

POLITICO reported Thursday that the company would pull its remaining television spots and was emailing Letterman critics with a note informing them that “there will be no more Olive Garden ads scheduled for ‘The Late Show’ with David Letterman in this year’s broadcast schedule,” citing the talk show host’s “inappropriate comments.”

“We apologize that Mr. Letterman’s mistake, which was not consistent with our standards and values, left you with a bad impression of Olive Garden,” wrote Sherri Bruen, the company’s guest relations manager.

Bruen said the company “screens network television programs whenever possible,” but explained that “telecasts, such as ‘The Late Show’ with David Letterman, are taped on a daily basis, preventing advertisers from reviewing the content prior to airing.”

Olive Garden’s manager of media relations, who asked not to be quoted on the record, confirmed to POLITICO Thursday that the emails were sent by the restaurant chain, and also confirmed that the company would be pulling its remaining television spots on the program for the rest of the year when asked that question.

But in a statement released later in the day, Olive Garden Director of Media Relations Rich Jeffers disputed POLITICO’s report as “erroneous.”

“No authorized spokesperson for the company confirmed the information in his report,” Jeffers said. “The Olive Garden media schedule is planned months in advance. The schedule for the Late Show with David Letterman was completed earlier this month. We take all guest concerns seriously. And, as always, we will factor those concerns in as we plan our advertising schedule in the future.”

When asked about the cancellation confirmation POLITICO obtained from the company’s media relations office, Jeffers responded in an email that the individual listed as the press contact on the company’s website was unauthorized to speak for the company.

“The so called ‘confirmation’ didn’t come from an authorized spokesperson for the company. The guest email you received did not say any ads were pulled. And as our statement says, the schedule — which is set months in advance — was completed earlier this month.”

// CBS did not return several calls seeking comment.

Letterman has apologized for his comment last week about Palin’s daughter getting “knocked up by Alex Rodriguez” during the governor’s recent visit to a Yankees baseball game. Palin attended the game as part of a trip to New York.

“I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception,” Letterman said. “And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke.”

After repeatedly blasting the late night comic in statements and interviews last week, Palin accepted Letterman’s apology on Tuesday.

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” she said in a statement.