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Forget the millennium. New Year's '99 was much moremomentous for Carrie Gross and Debbie Paszyc. After all, January 1,1999, was the day they became the proud owners of three Augusta,Maine-area Dairy Queens.
Gross, 24, and Paszyc, 26, have a long history with Dairy Queen;both worked part time for one Augusta store when they were 14,continued working there through college and eventually becameassistant managers. After earning a business degree from theUniversity of Maine, Farmington, Gross left Dairy Queen to work foran insurance company; Paszyc, who majored in elementary educationat the University of Maine, Orono, became a junior high schoolteacher.
Before long, though, Dairy Queen was back in the picture. Grossand Paszyc returned as employees to the store where they'dworked and were soon in discussions with the owners, who werelooking to sell three stores they owned. A year later, Gross andPaszyc became franchisees, owning two stores in Augusta and one inHallowell.
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