By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
Tue, May 13 2008 NORWICH _ Diane Scheer, 63, of Norwich, has won the state's $1 million Lottery prize. The mother of four and grandmother of 11 was feted during a celebration at the Norwich Price Chopper on Thursday morning. With a throng of curious shoppers watching, Lottery spokeswoman Marissa Rodriguez said that on March 13, Scheer bought a $2 ticket that guarantees winners a minimum payout of $1 million. ``Then she waited five days to claim it,'' Rodriguez said. ``I couldn't believe my eyes,'' said Scheer, who had worked as a seamstress at Champion Products Inc. in Norwich until the factory closed in 1994. Scheer said she bought the ``Win $1,000 for Life'' ticket while she was grocery shopping at Price Chopper. ``Then I went home and scratched it off about 15 minutes later,'' she said, facing a bank of video and still cameras in the store. She was incredulous, she said, ``and when I called the kids, none of them believed me.'' ``When she told me, I said, You've got to be kidding,'" said her son, Chris Scheer of Norwich. ``You never think something like that is really going to happen in your family.'' His sister, Theresa Cook, said she, too, could hardly believe her mother's good fortune. Rodriguez asked Scheer what she plans to do with the money. ``I don't have any real plans for it, but it's nice to know it's there,'' she said. Her children and grandchildren will share in the proceeds, Scheer said. ``Right now, I'm going to go home, put on my sweatpants and have a stiff drink,'' she said to chuckles from the crowd. According to the Lottery website, the odds against winning the top prize of $1,000 a week for life are 7,520,000 to 1. Rodriguez said the state Lottery has been in operation 40 years and has ``generated more than $31 billion to support education in New York state.'' In that time span, according to materials supplied by Lottery officials, Norwich city schools have received more than $41 million. After the Scheers spoke to the crowd and the media, Rodriguez invited those present to have some ``lucky millionaires' cake.'' Other Chenango County residents who've won $1 million or more from the Lottery include Marc Tucker of Sherburne; Kathleen Fierthaler of Bainbridge; Leland Head of Norwich; Patrick O'Neil of Norwich; Howard Franklin of Norwich and Dale Foster of Bainbridge.
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