Lotto Luck Strikes 3 Times In County

Lotto luck strikes 3 times in county

By BARBARA MISLE

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

JAN 29 1986

In a little more than a week, the Michigan Lottery has been tapped for some $5.7 million by three Washtenaw County winners.

James Israel, 49, who lives in Milan and is a “semi-regular” Lotto player, discovered he was a $1 million winner by reading the newspaper early Sunday morning.

Ann Arbor residents Daniel and Cindy Yesko were notified last Saturday that they also had won more than $1 million.

And on Jan. 19, Ypsilanti Township resident Robert Parks, 53, a forklift operator at General Motors Hy-dra-Matic plant, won a swelled jackpot of $3.7 million.

Each of the winners received initial payments of $51,332 that will be followed by annual installments of $50,200 through the year 2005.

Israel, a millwright at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Milan, is the second winner known to use a deck of cards in a version of a solitaire game to capture a top prize. He purchased his winning ticket at The Little Store in Milan and was overjoyed to find out that he won.

“I got quite excited,” Israel said this morning. “My wife was still in bed and I went and woke her up after I collected myself. I don’t know if I was quite collected.”

On Monday morning, Israel drove to Lansing to pick up his check. He said he was a little disheartened by the routine manner in which Lotto workers dispense the winning checks.

“It’s amazing. They don’t get too excited up there because I guess they are used to handing out millions of dollars,” Israel said. “The fella took his time coming to the window.

“He asked me how many numbers I got. I said all of them and there was no reaction. I just got a form, he stapled the ticket to it and told me to take it to the next door.”

Israel plans to keep several “promises” he made to himself over the years when he would imagine what he would do if he won $1 million. For instance, he plans to buy a car. “I haven’t had a new one since 1979,” he said.

He also is considering giving up working overtime at the Ford plant, where he has been a 29-year-employee, and using the Lotto money to build a retirement fund.

Israel and his wife, Janice, a medical receptionist, said 10 percent of their winnings would go to their church.

Yesko, a salesman, let the lottery computer terminal at Falsetta’s Market in Ann Arbor pick his winning numbers in an Easy Pick selection. He discovered his win while watching the evening news.

Yesko, who has two children, said he would use his winnings to purchase a home, start an educational fund and make investments.

But this morning, Yesko would not comment on his win. He said he wanted some time to “settle down” before talking to reporters.

“Maybe in a week or so I will talk,” Yesko said.

Parks could not be reached this morning for comment.