By Holly Fesperman Lee

Salisbury Post

The manager of a Salisbury Rushco convenience store and one of his employees won more than $170,000 in the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Jimmie Hadden, manager of Rushco # 5, and Beth Campbell, a cashier, drove to Raleigh early Monday to claim their prize.

Hadden and Campbell will split a total of $173,956. They won the money in the Carolina Cash 5 lottery game.

“Yeah, buddy,” Hadden said.

The two don’t normally pick numbers together — Friday was the first time.

“And it won’t be the last,” Hadden said.

How it all happened is a strange story, Hadden said.

“She said, ‘Give me two numbers.’ I said, ‘7 and 19.’ She said, ’23 and 24.’ She said, ‘Give me a single number.’ I said, ‘2.’ She said, ‘9.’ ”

After asking Hadden for lottery numbers, Campbell said “OK, we’ll play the Cash 5 with that.”

The winning numbers were 7, 19, 23, 24 and 29.

“So now we’re gonna work on the Powerball,” Hadden said.

The store gets a printout of winning numbers every day and Campbell was checking around 5:30 a.m. Monday.

“We were both at work this morning” when Beth let out a scream, Hadden said.

Everyone in the store and the McDonald’s restaurant that shares the space heard the screams.

“I thought maybe the store had been robbed or something,” Hadden said.

“I was shaking so bad I couldn’t stand it,” Campbell said.

Hadden soon discovered that he and Campbell had the winning numbers. They double-checked several times to be sure.

Hadden called his wife, Cindy, to tell her the good news.

She called him back several minutes later and asked, “Did you tell me you won the lottery or was I dreaming?”

She wasn’t.

Hadden soon called Janet Hill, another Rushco manager, to help him find other employees to cover the store while he and Campbell drove to Raleigh.

When they reached the claim office, Campbell said she wouldn’t let the ticket out of her sight.

“I took it to the bathroom with me,” She said.

Both Hadden and Campbell said they weren’t planning to buy anything special with the money– only pay bills.

” Most of it will probably go to the kids,” Hadden said.

The Haddens have five children.

“We’re just excited,” he said.

Hadden and Campbell’s prize is the largest won at Rushco No. 5.

It’s one of only three prizes at or above the $100,000 mark that have been awarded to Rowan County residents since the lottery started, according to Veronica Green with the North Carolina Lottery Commission.

The odds of winning the Cash 5 game are 1 in 575,757 according to the North Carolina Education Lottery Web site.

Contact Holly Lee at 704-797-7683 or hlee@salisburypost.com