School district employees split jackpot

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. -- Two dozen school district employees in suburban Kansas City will split the $1.5 million jackpot they won by matching all six numbers in Saturday's Missouri Lottery drawing.

The 24 transportation department employees opted to take the $750,000 immediate payout instead of the $1.5 million payout over 25 years.

The workers will get $31,250 each before taxes.

The winning numbers were 12, 13, 18, 22, 31 and 37. Jessie Journagan, 72, of Blue Springs, purchased the group's randomly-drawn tickets at a QuikTrip gas station in Blue Springs.

Journagan is thinking about taking a vacation.

"I've always wanted to see Hawaii," she said.

For the past three years, the school district employees have given one dollar for a Powerball ticket and another dollar for a Missouri Lottery ticket for each drawing.

The other winners were: Phyllis Baxter, 63, Suzanne Becker, 56, Theresa Braley, 47, Mignon Hollis, 65, Harold Jordan, 74, Rae Meuninck, 48, Dena Montes, 56, Donald Phillips, 68, Nancy Ryland, 60, Elizabeth Sloan, 62, and Alfred Stansfield, 59, all of Blue Springs; James Hegarty, 72, Joyce Hegarty, 69, Marci Martin, 52, Kenneth Steuer, 76, Betty Travis, 61, Tammy Walker, 40, and Peggy Wilson, 54, all of Independence; Patricia Matticks, 59, and Gloria Simpson, 58, both of Grain Valley; Joanne Davis, 60, of Bates City; Connie Leven, 54, of Lake Lotawana; and Britta Willingham, 56, of Pea Ridge, Ark.