Deputies: Man made explosive

By HELEN ANNE TRAVIS
Published July 11, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - Pasco deputies arrested a Quick Mart maintenance man Monday after police say he made explosives out of a pool umbrella to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Kevin Flinn told police he was "drinking and partying" at the Garland Motel on Land O'Lakes Boulevard the night of the Fourth. Using the pool umbrella, gun powder he bought from Wal-Mart and bottle rockets, Flinn made and lit three explosive devices.

Police explained to Flinn, 46, Monday that it is illegal to make such devices. Flinn told police he likes to construct pyrotechnics to celebrate New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July. When police confiscated the gun powder, Flinn became upset.

"What am I going to use for the New Year?" he said, according to the police report.

Police said Flinn, who lives in a trailer near the motel property, goes by the alias "Elmer Fudd." He does a pretty good impression of the cartoon character, said Robert Harlow, who said he saw Flinn make and set off the device.

Flinn was in the Land O'Lakes jail Tuesday in lieu of $2,500 bail.

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at 352-521-6518 or htravis@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 10, 2007, 22:16:39]