Dream sprouts in farm belt

A SMALL TOWN in Illinois is consumed by speculation over who has just become a multimillionaire.

There were three winning tickets in Friday’s $656 million lottery — one in the tiny Illinois town of Red Bud, where rumors swirled Sunday that the lucky winner was named Gary Liefer.

Two local men with that name have been bombarded with attention. But both say they have not struck it rich.

“I’m not the person who won,” Gary Liefer, 44, a lawn care worker, said. “I did not buy a ticket.”

His voice mailbox has filled up over the weekend since his name surfaced in the press, and he’s lying low. “I’m staying away from home,” Liefer said.

But he still hopes for a taste of the winnings. “I hope the winner will do the right thing and will feel generous and think of those poor Garys,” he said.

The winning ticket was sold at Motomart, a Red Bud convenience store, lottery officials say.

The 2-square mile town has a population of just 3,700. The farming community is known for its namesake redbud trees, in blossom this month.

A second Gary Liefer, a 54-yearold farmer in nearby Baldwin, also has been inundated with attention.

“I got a lot of calls, some from people I had not heard from for a very long time, ”said Liefer’s wife, Bonnie, 58.

Bonnie Liefer did buy a ticket for the Mega Millions, but it was no winner, she says.

The estimated jackpot has risen from $640 million to $656 million because of the huge number of tickets sold.

The world may never learn who holds the winning ticket, since grand prize winners can claim their dough anonymously.

But at a Queens Japanese restaurant, a dozen workers who went in on a ticket that was one of 142 second-place winners weren’t keeping a low profile.

The employees at Fuji Japanese Cuisine on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills will split $250,000.

“That’s why they were so happy,” customer Marius Munteanu, 43, said. “They usually don’t smile.”