Digest

Checkpoints target drivers who are drunk

By TIMES STAFF
Published August 16, 2007

PASCO COUNTY

With Labor Day just weeks away, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and local police departments are cracking down on drunken drivers. An initiative titled "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest" kicks off Friday and runs through Labor Day weekend. New Port Richey and Zephyrhills police departments and the Florida Highway Patrol, among other law enforcement agencies, will join forces with the Sheriff's Office using sobriety checkpoints and undercover officers to crack down on drunken drivers. As part of those efforts, a DUI checkpoint will be set up on U.S. 19 from 10 p.m. Aug. 31 to 3 a.m. Sept. 1.

HOLIDAY

Homemade bombs detonate at 2 homes

Two homemade bombs exploded at different residences in Holiday Lake Estates this week, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. The first incident was about 1 a.m. Tuesday at 3206 Fairmount Drive. A 55-year-old man at that address was sitting in the living room when he heard a loud boom outside the front door, according to sheriff's reports. In front of his doorway, the man found a plastic bottle filled with chemicals that deputies say caused the explosion. The second incident was about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday at 3209 Wellington Drive. Deputies say a 35-year-old man and his family were asleep when they heard a sound similar to a gunshot. The man went to the front door and saw smoke coming from the patio and front yard, the report said. He also found a plastic bottle with an unknown liquid in a flower pot. Another bottle was found in the front yard. Deputies have not found any suspects.

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 08:14:22]