A Mizer Has Just the Ticket for Employees’ Yule Bonus

Harry (Corky) Mizer, operator of a pest control firm, couldn’t afford Christmas bonuses for his employees, so he bought 105 lottery tickets for them.

One of the $1 tickets turned up a winner, and now Mizer and each of his employees is $1,000 richer.

“I was jumping up and down,” Mizer said. “But the guy who scratched off the winning ticket just looked at it for a long time before he said anything. Everybody expects me to be a Scrooge with a last name like mine.”

The winning ticket turned up three aces Monday, yielding an instant $25,000 prize. Mizer said the winnings will be split among himself and the other 24 workers at his business, Corky’s Pest Control.

Mizer said as soon as the shock of winning wore off, he selected someone he knew didn’t owe the state any money--personnel director Jo Blanchard--to sign for the winning ticket.

State lottery winners who owe money to the state have that amount deducted from their payoff.