Digest

Dateline Florida

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 18, 2007

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE OHIO TO FLEE A HURRICANE

An 8-year-old DeLand girl who recently moved to Florida caused a panic when she tried to ride back home to Ohio on her bicycle out of fear of hurricanes. Heather Snoke's mother told police the little girl was riding her bicycle in front of her home Wednesday when she disappeared. Police, aided by tracking dogs and a helicopter, found the girl an hour later, the Daytona-Beach News Journal reported. Heather said "she was headed back to Columbus, Ohio, because she was afraid of hurricanes and that was her home." Deputy Chief Randel Henderson said: "It is amusing but at the same time sad."

Correction

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan was one of the four-member majority that voted in June to consider disbanding the wetlands management division. Commissioner Al Higginbotham dissented. A story Friday was incorrect about their votes.

In case you missed the trial

The Beach Theater in St. Pete Beach on Monday night will show USA vs. Al-Arian, the 90-minute documentary on the terrorism trial of Sami Al-Arian. The film follows Al-Arian and his family from May 2005, just before the trial, to the August 2006 sentencing. The former University of South Florida professor was accused of being a leader of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was acquitted on eights counts of links to terrorism, while a jury deadlocked on nine others. He pleaded guilty to one count of providing nonviolent aid to associates of PIJ and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. The movie was directed by Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen, who is sympathetic to the Al-Arians. Showtimes: 6:30, 9 p.m.

First fire, now ice is missing

Life in South Florida keeps body-slamming Hulk Hogan, reports the Miami Herald. First his Lamborghini went up in flames. And then his home was burglarized by crooks who made off with $100,000 worth of goodies. Hogan was moving out of his home Thursday when jewelry - including a platinum diamond watch and dog tags - vanished. Hogan, a.k.a Terry Bollea, and his family are likely headed back to the Tampa Bay area and the 17,145-square-foot Bellair estate they still own.

[Last modified August 18, 2007, 00:22:18]