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Deputies stay busy on Fourth holiday

A boat injury,a machine gun mishap and complaints about noise from fireworks keep deputies and rescue workers hopping.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published July 6, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Celebrating freedom can sometimes be dangerous - and that made July Fourth a busy day for law enforcement and fire rescue officials in Hernando.

Kevin Tadema, 27, was riding on a blue rental boat on the Weeki Wachee River with his friend Oneil Font, 30, at the controls. For some reason, Tadema decided to jump overboard, the Sheriff's Office said.

The boat's propeller ran over Tadema, leaving a deep cut to his buttocks. He was taken to Oak Hill Hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.

Elsewhere, a celebration of the Second Amendment turned dangerous.

The Hernando Sportsman's Club was hosting its machine gun shoot, where 120 shooters trained their weapons on used cars and other targets.

Around noon, something went wrong. Vito Sereidio was firing a .308-caliber belt-fed machine gun. The gun jammed, so he took it apart and removed the barrel, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Sereidio was pulling a shell casing out of the barrel when the round blew up in his hand. Sereidio was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.

He was released from the hospital Wednesday.

In South Brooksville, about 11 p.m., two men were cited for causing trouble with fireworks near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Twigg Street.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Bruce O. Woods Sr., 48, was seen throwing an exploding firecracker at a passing car. The firecracker hit the car and blew up on the ground.

Deputy Dane Jenkins detained Woods for the use of illegal fireworks and, when searching him, Jenkins found a crack pipe, the sheriff's report said.

Woods was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Another man, Michael Roundtree, was cited in the area and accused of throwing a firecracker at a group of people, the Sheriff's Office said.

Those were the only two fireworks citations given out in all the Fourth of July festivities, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Donna L. Black.

She said the department responded to more than 75 fireworks-related noise complaints, but had difficulty catching people in the act.

The problem, Sheriff Richard Nugent said, is the legal contradiction: fireworks are legal to sell, just not to use.

Nugent said it is hard for a deputy to get enthusiastic about citing someone who has just spent a few hundred dollars buying fireworks legally.

"All the counties are having the same problem," Nugent said. "The state and the counties need to get their act together and stop the sale of these things."

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified July 6, 2006, 12:10:57]