Quotes From Around Yon Goofysphere

On New Year's Day, Phil Moses was atop a ladder, putting some big news up on the marquis outside Ma & Pa's Grocery Express in Fond du Lac.

Another winning $1 million lottery ticket was sold at the legendary little store located at 506 S. Main St., along a strip dubbed "The Miracle Mile."

"I don't want to sound arrogant, " Phil quipped, "but I seriously don't understand why people buy lottery tickets at any other location."

A $100,000 winning ticket was also sold at Pick 'n Save, 55 W. Pioneer Road. Both tickets purchased were offered in the Wisconsin Lottery's Holiday Millions Raffle game. The winning $1 million ticket number was 300142.

. . . Wisconsin Lottery Director of Operations Andrew Bohage said the store has a cache of luck associated with it.

"It's true that in the lottery industry, in general, those who sell the most tickets tend to have more big winners," he said shortly after drawing the winners on Tuesday.

Ma & Pa's sold a $6.5 million Megabucks ticket in May 1994 and a $208.6 million Powerball ticket in August 2006. Since 1994 the "mom and pop" store has sold other winning lottery tickets that total over $1.2 million.

-- SHARON ROZNIK

An elderly Cave Creek man was mauled by a buffalo Monday as he was attempting to ride it.

The 75-year-old man sustained non-life threatening injuries but was flown to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborne for treatment, said John Kraetz, Rural/Metro district chief.

-- ARI COHEN

Linda Vancel scoured her home for a week looking for her mother's diamond ring, which disappeared earlier this month after Vancel took it off to make homemade fudge.

She even dumped the trash can on the kitchen floor looking for the white gold ring her mother, who died 15 years ago, wore for 50 years before passing it on.

"It's a very sentimental ring," Vancel said. "It has no real value dollarwise."

When she couldn't find the ring, she tracked down and sent a long-shot e-mail to the woman who had purchased the fudge during a bake sale at State Farm Insurance in West Lafayette, where Vancel works as an underwriter.

The reply came the next week when Linda Rhoades . . . returned from vacation. It read: "Boy, do I have a story for you, and YES, I have your ring!"

-- MERANDA WATLING

The maker of Bubble Wrap -- the famously addictive packaging that people love to pop, crackle and stomp on – says the popping of gunshots from a nearby police shooting range is giving its employees a headache.

Sealed Air Corp., maker of the cushioned plastic since 1957, says the noise from gunfire at the police department's firing range is "disruptive and unsettling" to its employees, according to a letter sent to borough officials.

-- GIOVANNA FABRIANO

For just an instant Saturday night, Reggie Damone said he knew what it must feel like to hold a winning lottery ticket.

He picked up a nondescript envelope on the sidewalk in front of Dunkin' Donuts in downtown Norwich to write down a phone number for a friend. He tore the corner to reveal a check for $185,000 inside.

-- GREG SMITH

Getting a tattoo can be a painful proposition, but usually it’s just the needle you have to worry about. Two men trying to trace a loaded .357-caliber Magnum as a pattern for a tattoo accidentally shot themselves, the Otero County Sheriff’s Department said. Robert Glasser and Joey Acosta, both 22, were treated at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, after the shooting Thursday evening in nearby Chaparral. Authorities said Glasser was struck in the hand when the gun accidentally went off, and Acosta was hit in the left arm. Their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A man passed a note to a bank teller yesterday in a Dorchester bank, demanding large bills and no "funny money," police said.

Little did he know, Officer Kamau Pritchard was standing right behind him, in uniform, about to pull out his service weapon and place the man under arrest.

"He doesn't realize I'm behind him," said Pritchard, 30, who has worked two years for the Boston Police Department. "He's focused on actually getting the money."

-- NOAH BIERMAN

Photo by Patrick Flood/The (Fon du Lac) Reporter
Hat tip to The Obscure Store for several of the items.