ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Peach giveaway spirals downhill as pickers descend

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.

Owners of a western Colorado orchard say they’ve soured on the idea of peach giveaways after a slew of pickers descended on their property and wreaked havoc.

The Daily Sentinel reports that orchard owners Don and Marilyn Schanaman couldn’t sell their first peach crop because the fruit was too small, so they offered it for free to those willing to pick it.

The peaches were gone within days, but people kept coming, even though the Schanamans posted signs saying the orchard was closed and trespassing was prohibited.

The couple says people still knocked on their door, one person threw rocks, and others drove into the orchard, hitting a tree and breaking pipes.

Some helped themselves to apples that hadn’t been offered, while others took from a neighbor’s orchard, too.

Marilyn Schanaman says she and her husband won’t be giving away peaches again.

Man in Massachusetts gets ‘wrong’ lottery ticket, wins $1M

BRAINTREE, Mass.

When a store clerk gave a Massachusetts man a different kind of scratch-off lottery ticket than he asked for, he didn’t make a big deal about the mistake; he said he just “rolled with it.”

It was a good decision: He won $1 million.

Richard Brown of Taunton said he went into Gulf Taunton recently and asked for a $5 “Blue Ice 7s” ticket, but the clerk was distracted and instead gave him a “Sizzlin 7s” ticket.

Brown selected the cash option on the prize and received a one-time lump sum payment of about $430,000 after taxes.

He plans to use the money for a new roof on his home and to take a trip to San Francisco.

The store gets a $10,000 commission.

Associated Press