Man finds work in Mt. Pleasant to be rewarding

CLIVE ? A Massachusetts man working in Mt. Pleasant won a $100,000 lottery prize.

Richard ?Rick? Merrill of Abington, Mass. claimed the fourth of sixth top prizes of $100,000 available in the Iowa Lottery?s ?Cash Frenzy? scratch game.

Merrill said he was hired by Innovairre in Mt. Pleasant to fix some printing equipment last week. During a break for lunch on May 12, Merrill stopped at Hy-Vee in Mt. Pleasant and purchased a lottery ticket that ended up winning a big prize.

He said he saw that he?d won $100,000 and went over to the customer service counter to confirm his winnings.

?There were three women behind the counter ? they all got excited,? Merrill told lottery employees later the same day as he claimed his prize at the lottery?s regional office in Cedar Rapids. ?The woman behind the counter that scanned my ticket goes, ?I?m sorry but I have to do this.? And she puts her hands over her head and goes, ?Woo-hoo!? and dances around in a circle.?

Merrill is no stranger to winning big lottery prizes. He said he?s won $10,000 twice several years ago on scratch tickets he purchased back home.

He said he only told one person about his most recent lottery win, but word traveled quickly.

?I told one guy that I?m working with and the next thing you know everybody in the plant is like, ?Hey, are you the one that won the money??? Merrill said.

Merrill travels all over the country for this job. He said his lottery winnings will be put toward a new roof and other improvements to his home.

He also said he plans to put some of his winnings toward an upcoming vacation to Maine.